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2eb45444 | 1 | GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1998-03-04 |
28f540f4 | 2 | |
da2d1bc5 | 3 | Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
28f540f4 RM |
4 | See the end for copying conditions. |
5 | ||
33a934a3 | 6 | Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to |
af6f3906 | 7 | <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to |
2eb45444 | 8 | <bug-glibc@gnu.org>. |
28f540f4 | 9 | \f |
c84142e8 UD |
10 | Version 2.1 |
11 | ||
da2d1bc5 UD |
12 | * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to |
13 | conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been | |
14 | adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications, | |
15 | but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use | |
16 | struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present | |
17 | a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries. | |
18 | ||
c84142e8 | 19 | * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale |
1fb05e3d | 20 | model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper. |
c84142e8 | 21 | |
1fb05e3d | 22 | * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on |
c84142e8 UD |
23 | symbol level. |
24 | ||
25 | * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical | |
26 | command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt. | |
377a515b | 27 | |
cbdee279 | 28 | * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X. |
377a515b UD |
29 | |
30 | * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point | |
cbdee279 | 31 | numbers. |
377a515b | 32 | |
cbdee279 | 33 | * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers. |
e61abf83 UD |
34 | |
35 | * the new header <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides information and | |
cbdee279 | 36 | interfaces for the available integer types. |
e61abf83 UD |
37 | |
38 | * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math | |
cbdee279 UD |
39 | functions from ISO C 9X. |
40 | ||
41 | * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or | |
42 | real valued functions. | |
e61abf83 | 43 | |
a5a0310d | 44 | * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2. |
e61abf83 | 45 | |
a5a0310d UD |
46 | * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library. |
47 | ||
48 | * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon. | |
cbdee279 UD |
49 | |
50 | * Ulrich Drepper added character conversion functions. | |
51 | ||
52 | * Optimized string functions have been added. | |
53 | ||
54 | * The localedata addon is now part of glibc. | |
2eb45444 UD |
55 | |
56 | * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper. | |
ea278354 UD |
57 | |
58 | * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for a caching daemon for NSS | |
59 | (nscd). | |
60 | ||
61 | * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family. | |
a5a0310d UD |
62 | \f |
63 | Version 2.0.5 | |
64 | ||
65 | * more bug fixes | |
66 | ||
67 | * inet_ntoa is thread-safe | |
68 | ||
69 | * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc | |
70 | ||
71 | * rewrite of cbrt function | |
72 | ||
73 | * update of timezone data | |
74 | \f | |
75 | Version 2.0.4 | |
76 | ||
77 | * more bug fixes | |
78 | \f | |
79 | Version 2.0.3 | |
80 | ||
81 | * more bug fixes | |
c84142e8 | 82 | \f |
795fbc9a UD |
83 | Version 2.0.2 |
84 | ||
85 | * more bug fixes | |
86 | ||
87 | * add atoll function | |
88 | ||
89 | * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code | |
e61abf83 UD |
90 | |
91 | * fix math functions | |
795fbc9a UD |
92 | \f |
93 | Version 2.0.1 | |
94 | ||
95 | * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific) | |
96 | ||
97 | * dynamic loader preserves all registers | |
98 | ||
99 | * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in | |
100 | the ELF dynamic loader. | |
101 | ||
102 | * support for parallel builds is improved | |
103 | \f | |
40a4b79f | 104 | Version 2.0 |
28f540f4 | 105 | |
d3669add RM |
106 | * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you |
107 | must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with | |
108 | `-D_GNU_SOURCE'. | |
109 | ||
28f540f4 RM |
110 | * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak |
111 | symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak | |
112 | symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There | |
113 | is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the | |
787126fe RM |
114 | `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and |
115 | `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion | |
28f540f4 RM |
116 | of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of |
117 | the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to | |
118 | less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files. | |
dcf0671d UD |
119 | There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on |
120 | files in the ELF format. | |
49e522bf RM |
121 | |
122 | * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options. | |
123 | Run `configure --help' to see the details. | |
124 | ||
125 | * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized | |
b25c5d66 RM |
126 | (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The |
127 | `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to | |
128 | `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is | |
129 | built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries | |
130 | are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time | |
131 | loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The | |
132 | new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time | |
33a934a3 UD |
133 | dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the |
134 | application of same name on other systems and it provides information | |
135 | about dynamically linked binaries. | |
49e522bf | 136 | |
71733723 RM |
137 | * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling |
138 | executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code | |
d3669add RM |
139 | through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by |
140 | the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils); | |
141 | the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang. | |
71733723 | 142 | |
f7eac6eb | 143 | * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from |
33a934a3 UD |
144 | Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by |
145 | Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double' | |
146 | functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so | |
147 | programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands. | |
148 | ||
149 | * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions. | |
f7eac6eb | 150 | |
5f0e6fc7 RM |
151 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf' |
152 | mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the | |
33a934a3 UD |
153 | group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers, |
154 | shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf' | |
155 | file controls what services are used for each individual database. This | |
156 | works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf', | |
157 | so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even | |
158 | relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based | |
159 | NSS services available. | |
5f0e6fc7 | 160 | |
49e522bf RM |
161 | * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from |
162 | strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and | |
163 | `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities). | |
164 | ||
165 | * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from | |
166 | strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values, | |
167 | respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same). | |
168 | ||
169 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point | |
170 | printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and | |
171 | `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly | |
172 | accurate, and much faster than the old ones. | |
173 | ||
33a934a3 UD |
174 | * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by |
175 | Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale' | |
176 | to compile the POSIX locale definition. | |
177 | ||
178 | * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are | |
179 | now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The | |
180 | collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions. | |
181 | ||
49e522bf RM |
182 | * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing |
183 | various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale'). | |
184 | ||
f7eac6eb | 185 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on |
33a934a3 | 186 | wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>; |
b7407d63 | 187 | and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>. |
33a934a3 UD |
188 | These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification. |
189 | ||
190 | * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available. | |
191 | It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified | |
192 | by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper. | |
f7eac6eb | 193 | |
71733723 | 194 | * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings |
49e522bf RM |
195 | for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example, |
196 | `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints | |
197 | ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different | |
d365fd2c RM |
198 | format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate |
199 | different orderings of the values being printed. To support this | |
49e522bf | 200 | feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see |
d365fd2c | 201 | the header file <printf.h> for details. |
49e522bf RM |
202 | |
203 | * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new | |
204 | formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says | |
205 | to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this | |
206 | says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping | |
207 | separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are | |
208 | not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual | |
209 | conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale). | |
28f540f4 RM |
210 | |
211 | * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much | |
212 | less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid', | |
213 | which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no | |
214 | argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are | |
215 | provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp' | |
216 | with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it. | |
217 | ||
218 | * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that | |
219 | operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
220 | ||
33a934a3 UD |
221 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release. |
222 | Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the | |
223 | NSS scheme used in glibc. | |
28f540f4 RM |
224 | |
225 | * The new function `malloc_find_object_address' finds the starting address | |
282d8743 RM |
226 | of a malloc'd block, given any address within the block; |
227 | `malloc_object_allocated_size' returns the size of an allocated block; | |
228 | and `malloc_walk' lets you walk through all allocated blocks. These can | |
229 | be useful for debugging; see <malloc.h> for the interfaces. | |
28f540f4 | 230 | |
28f540f4 RM |
231 | * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'. |
232 | ||
233 | * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for | |
234 | `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and | |
235 | their use is discouraged. | |
236 | ||
237 | * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now | |
238 | done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld. | |
787126fe | 239 | |
22a1292a RM |
240 | * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access', |
241 | but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs. | |
49e522bf RM |
242 | |
243 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest | |
244 | local time conventions of the countries of the world. | |
245 | ||
246 | * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream; | |
247 | see <dirent.h>. | |
248 | ||
249 | * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface | |
250 | for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for | |
33a934a3 UD |
251 | compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are |
252 | also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and | |
253 | all functions also exist in a reentrant form. | |
342414a6 RM |
254 | |
255 | * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various | |
256 | functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to | |
257 | system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for | |
258 | allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device. | |
c709e372 RM |
259 | |
260 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style | |
261 | shared memory and IPC on systems that support it. | |
262 | ||
263 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found | |
264 | in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective | |
265 | implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple | |
266 | binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random | |
267 | number generator. | |
268 | ||
269 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the | |
270 | `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc. | |
271 | ||
272 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several | |
273 | string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors. | |
274 | ||
71733723 | 275 | * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely |
c709e372 | 276 | on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux. |
33a934a3 UD |
277 | The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later, |
278 | using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux). | |
c709e372 | 279 | |
d3669add RM |
280 | * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux). |
281 | ||
33a934a3 UD |
282 | * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library |
283 | to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the | |
284 | dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha. | |
285 | ||
286 | * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function | |
287 | for arithmetic and string handling. | |
d3669add | 288 | |
c709e372 | 289 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to |
40a4b79f RM |
290 | support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with |
291 | his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed | |
292 | catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean. | |
293 | ||
294 | * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat' | |
295 | program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it | |
296 | creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the | |
297 | <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with | |
298 | programs already written to use it.) | |
71733723 RM |
299 | |
300 | * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h> | |
301 | constants. | |
302 | ||
303 | * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility | |
304 | with 4.4 BSD. | |
305 | ||
306 | * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has | |
307 | a given effective group ID. | |
308 | ||
309 | * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a | |
310 | special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *', | |
311 | `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic | |
312 | `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning. | |
313 | ||
314 | * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient | |
6d52618b | 315 | function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the |
71733723 RM |
316 | canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn', |
317 | and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for | |
318 | doing the same thing. | |
319 | ||
320 | * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the | |
321 | POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion. | |
322 | ||
323 | * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD. | |
33a934a3 | 324 | `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available. |
71733723 RM |
325 | |
326 | * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it. | |
327 | ||
f7eac6eb RM |
328 | * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header |
329 | files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several | |
330 | types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is | |
6d52618b | 331 | an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with |
999493cb | 332 | `-ldb' to get these functions. |
f7eac6eb RM |
333 | |
334 | * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack | |
335 | space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'. | |
52e9a9d1 RM |
336 | |
337 | * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum | |
33a934a3 UD |
338 | number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and |
339 | `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa' | |
340 | function. | |
40a4b79f RM |
341 | |
342 | * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>. | |
343 | ||
344 | * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader | |
345 | provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated | |
346 | strings. | |
347 | ||
348 | * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading | |
349 | and writing the utmp file. | |
33a934a3 UD |
350 | |
351 | * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by | |
352 | Thorsten Kukuk. | |
353 | ||
354 | * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be | |
355 | completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality | |
356 | to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats. | |
357 | ||
358 | * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function | |
359 | defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value. | |
360 | ||
361 | * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone | |
362 | code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone | |
363 | specification. | |
364 | ||
365 | * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced | |
366 | by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger. | |
367 | The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is | |
368 | optimized for the use in multi threaded programs. | |
369 | ||
370 | * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of | |
371 | functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special | |
372 | salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems. | |
373 | ||
374 | * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper: | |
375 | `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal' | |
376 | to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style | |
377 | expression matcher. | |
378 | ||
379 | * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this | |
380 | functionality. | |
381 | ||
382 | * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed | |
383 | by Ulrich Drepper. | |
384 | ||
385 | * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe. | |
386 | ||
387 | * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available, | |
388 | `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an | |
389 | implementation of `getaddrinfo'. | |
28f540f4 RM |
390 | \f |
391 | Version 1.09 | |
392 | ||
393 | * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'. | |
394 | ||
395 | * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and | |
396 | friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
397 | ||
398 | * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that | |
399 | want to put themselves in the background. | |
400 | ||
401 | * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that | |
402 | run without an operating system. | |
403 | ||
404 | * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long | |
405 | long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'. | |
406 | ||
407 | * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking | |
408 | routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release. | |
409 | ||
410 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release. | |
411 | ||
412 | * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the | |
413 | YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which | |
414 | have YP (aka NIS). | |
415 | ||
416 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international | |
417 | conventions. | |
418 | ||
419 | * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in | |
420 | $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir). | |
421 | \f | |
422 | Version 1.08 | |
423 | ||
424 | * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free | |
425 | RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs | |
426 | are included. (There is still no support for YP.) | |
427 | ||
428 | * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running | |
429 | Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4). | |
430 | ||
431 | * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking | |
432 | facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility. | |
433 | ||
434 | * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility. | |
435 | ||
436 | * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility. | |
437 | ||
438 | * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for | |
439 | compatibility. | |
440 | ||
441 | * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes | |
442 | the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling | |
443 | function (with versions of GCC that support this). | |
444 | ||
445 | * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>. | |
446 | ||
447 | * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory | |
448 | management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and | |
449 | `madvise', on systems that support those facilities. | |
450 | ||
451 | * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to | |
452 | abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes | |
453 | an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function | |
454 | `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at | |
455 | any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc' | |
456 | on a block). | |
457 | ||
458 | * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one | |
459 | system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All | |
460 | you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the | |
461 | native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a | |
462 | few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the | |
463 | cross-compiler. | |
464 | ||
465 | * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes | |
466 | a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file. | |
467 | \f | |
468 | Version 1.07 | |
469 | ||
470 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha | |
471 | running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete. | |
472 | ||
473 | * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix | |
474 | to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install | |
475 | the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever. | |
476 | ||
477 | * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It | |
478 | copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the | |
479 | address of the last character written. | |
480 | ||
481 | * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is | |
482 | compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you. | |
483 | ||
484 | * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the | |
485 | stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor. | |
486 | ||
487 | * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it | |
488 | allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which | |
489 | you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if | |
490 | you dereference this pointer. | |
491 | ||
492 | * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either | |
493 | NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4. | |
494 | ||
495 | * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function | |
496 | for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix | |
497 | systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as | |
498 | `pipe', `fork' and `getppid'). | |
499 | ||
500 | * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined | |
501 | to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels | |
502 | use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to | |
503 | EAGAIN in every system call function. | |
504 | \f | |
505 | Version 1.06 | |
506 | ||
507 | * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library. | |
508 | `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual. | |
509 | `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i | |
510 | in Emacs or the `info' program. | |
ea278354 | 511 | Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org. |
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512 | |
513 | * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4). | |
514 | ||
515 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2. | |
516 | ||
517 | * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running | |
518 | Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix). | |
519 | ||
520 | * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO | |
521 | ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2). | |
522 | ||
523 | * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when | |
524 | malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you. | |
525 | ||
526 | * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for | |
527 | its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation | |
528 | overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it | |
529 | needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a | |
530 | pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **'). | |
531 | ||
532 | * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding | |
533 | to the error code in `errno'. | |
534 | ||
535 | * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s' | |
536 | or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you | |
537 | pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a | |
538 | malloc'd string. | |
539 | ||
540 | * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and | |
541 | `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a | |
542 | name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching. | |
543 | ||
544 | * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a | |
545 | uniquely-named temporary file. | |
546 | \f | |
547 | Version 1.05 | |
548 | ||
549 | * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is | |
550 | has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more | |
551 | precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'. | |
552 | ||
553 | * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14 | |
554 | characters. | |
555 | ||
556 | * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE. | |
557 | These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'. | |
558 | ||
559 | * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD. | |
560 | \f | |
561 | Version 1.04 | |
562 | ||
563 | * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure' | |
564 | script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU | |
565 | packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged. | |
566 | The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail. | |
567 | ||
568 | * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and | |
569 | traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and | |
570 | it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional'). | |
571 | ||
572 | * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the | |
573 | MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4. | |
574 | ||
575 | * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries. | |
576 | Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be | |
577 | made itself into a shared library. | |
578 | ||
579 | * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems | |
580 | (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V. | |
581 | ||
582 | * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison | |
583 | with limited length. | |
584 | ||
585 | * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'. | |
586 | ||
587 | * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories. | |
588 | ||
589 | * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'. | |
590 | ||
591 | * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw' | |
592 | function for traversing a directory tree. | |
593 | ||
594 | * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library. | |
595 | The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that | |
596 | writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do | |
597 | formatted output directly to an obstack. | |
598 | ||
599 | * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only), | |
600 | cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid. | |
601 | ||
602 | * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'. | |
603 | ||
604 | * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful | |
605 | things to your strings. | |
606 | ||
607 | * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand. | |
608 | ||
609 | * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux. | |
610 | These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really | |
611 | supporting those systems. | |
612 | ||
613 | * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what | |
614 | the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'. | |
615 | This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local | |
616 | configuration files. | |
617 | ||
618 | * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++ | |
619 | compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code. | |
620 | ||
621 | * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy, | |
71733723 | 622 | bcmp, bzero, and ffs. |
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623 | |
624 | * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting | |
625 | function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be | |
626 | significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is | |
627 | now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot | |
628 | of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the | |
629 | required storage is not available. | |
630 | ||
631 | * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which | |
632 | provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points. | |
633 | Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations, | |
634 | we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library. | |
635 | There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called | |
636 | `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just | |
637 | unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and | |
638 | build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users | |
639 | outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from | |
640 | ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S. | |
641 | ||
642 | * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the | |
643 | latest files released from Berkeley. | |
644 | \f | |
645 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
646 | Copyright information: | |
647 | ||
71733723 | 648 | Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
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649 | |
650 | Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
651 | of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
652 | copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, | |
653 | thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn. | |
654 | ||
655 | Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
656 | of this document, or of portions of it, | |
657 | under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
658 | carry prominent notices stating who last changed them. | |
659 | \f | |
660 | Local variables: | |
661 | version-control: never | |
662 | end: |