]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/glibc.git/blob - INSTALL
Add GLRO(dl_hwcap2) for new AT_HWCAP2 auxv_t a_type.
[thirdparty/glibc.git] / INSTALL
1 Installing the GNU C Library
2 ****************************
3
4 Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
5 `http://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ'. It answers common questions
6 and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7 installation.
8
9 Features can be added to the GNU C Library via "add-on" bundles.
10 These are separate tar files, which you unpack into the top level of
11 the source tree. Then you give `configure' the `--enable-add-ons'
12 option to activate them, and they will be compiled into the library.
13
14 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
15 and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
16 below.
17
18 Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
19 ===========================================
20
21 The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
22 build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
23 unpacked the GNU C Library sources in `/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create
24 a directory `/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
25 allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs,
26 which is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
27
28 From your object directory, run the shell script `configure' located
29 at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
30
31 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
32
33 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
34 directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
35 directories in the source directory.
36
37 `configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
38 mandatory is `--prefix'. This option tells `configure' where you want
39 the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to `/usr/local', but the
40 normal setting to install as the standard system library is
41 `--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and `--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
42 for GNU/Hurd systems.
43
44 It may also be useful to set the CC and CFLAGS variables in the
45 environment when running `configure'. CC selects the C compiler that
46 will be used, and CFLAGS sets optimization options for the compiler.
47
48 The following list describes all of the available options for
49 `configure':
50
51 `--prefix=DIRECTORY'
52 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
53 `DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in `/usr/local'.
54
55 `--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
56 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
57 subdirectories of `DIRECTORY'. The default is to the `--prefix'
58 directory if that option is specified, or `/usr/local' otherwise.
59
60 `--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
61 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not `/usr/include'.
62 The GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
63 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
64 normally look in `/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
65 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
66
67 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
68 `/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
69 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
70 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
71 set of kernel headers than the ones found in `/usr/include'.
72
73 `--enable-add-ons[=LIST]'
74 Specify add-on packages to include in the build. If this option is
75 specified with no list, it enables all the add-on packages it
76 finds in the main source directory; this is the default behavior.
77 You may specify an explicit list of add-ons to use in LIST,
78 separated by spaces or commas (if you use spaces, remember to
79 quote them from the shell). Each add-on in LIST can be an
80 absolute directory name or can be a directory name relative to the
81 main source directory, or relative to the build directory (that
82 is, the current working directory). For example,
83 `--enable-add-ons=nptl,../glibc-libidn-VERSION'.
84
85 `--enable-kernel=VERSION'
86 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
87 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
88 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
89 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
90 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
91
92 `--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
93 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in `DIRECTORY', not the
94 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
95 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
96 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, `configure' will
97 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
98 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
99 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
100
101 `--without-fp'
102 Use this option if your computer lacks hardware floating-point
103 support and your operating system does not emulate an FPU.
104
105 `--disable-shared'
106 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
107 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
108 (currently) the GNU linker.
109
110 `--disable-profile'
111 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
112 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
113
114 `--disable-versioning'
115 Don't compile the shared libraries with symbol version information.
116 Doing this will make the resulting library incompatible with old
117 binaries, so it's not recommended.
118
119 `--enable-static-nss'
120 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
121 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
122 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
123 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
124
125 `--without-tls'
126 By default the C library is built with support for thread-local
127 storage if the used tools support it. By using `--without-tls'
128 this can be prevented though there generally is no reason since it
129 creates compatibility problems.
130
131 `--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
132 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
133 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
134 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
135
136 `--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
137 `--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
138 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both
139 options and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, `configure'
140 will prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM
141 to be used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the
142 `--with-headers' option too, and you may have to override
143 CONFIGURE's selection of the compiler and/or binutils.
144
145 If you only specify `--host', `configure' will prepare for a
146 native compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what
147 your system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel.
148 For example, if `configure' guesses your machine as
149 `i686-pc-linux-gnu' but you want to compile a library for 586es,
150 give `--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just `--host=i586-linux' and add
151 the appropriate compiler flags (`-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
152 CFLAGS.
153
154 If you specify just `--build', `configure' will get confused.
155
156 `--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
157 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
158 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in `--version'
159 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
160 example, `--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
161 The default value is `GNU libc'.
162
163 `--with-bugurl=URL'
164 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
165 bug, to be included in `--help' output from programs installed with
166 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
167 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
168
169 To build the library and related programs, type `make'. This will
170 produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from `make'
171 but isn't. Look for error messages from `make' containing `***'.
172 Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
173
174 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
175 configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
176 take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
177 machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
178
179 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the `-j' option with
180 an appropriate numeric parameter to `make'. You need a recent GNU
181 `make' version, though.
182
183 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
184 facilities, type `make check'. If it does not complete successfully,
185 do not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
186 problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
187 on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
188 being run by `root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
189 Library as an unprivileged user.
190
191 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
192 The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
193 system such as `/etc/passwd', `/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
194 files must all contain correct and sensible content.
195
196 To format the `GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
197 `make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
198 distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as
199 Info files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually
200 with `make info'.
201
202 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
203 which you can find in `Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
204 file `configparms'. To change them, create a `configparms' in your
205 build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The
206 file is included and parsed by `make' and has to follow the conventions
207 for makefiles.
208
209 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
210 setting a few variables in `configparms'. Set `CC' to the
211 cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
212 important to use this same `CC' value when running `configure', like
213 this: `CC=TARGET-gcc configure TARGET'. Set `BUILD_CC' to the compiler
214 to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
215 library. You may need to set `AR' to cross-compiling versions of `ar'
216 if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for
217 the target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library,
218 it may be tested using `make check
219 test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
220 is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
221 HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
222 binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must
223 be visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
224
225 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, `test-wrapper' may be set
226 to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
227 This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
228 working directory, all environment variables set as part of testing and
229 the standard input, output and error file descriptors. If
230 `TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with environment
231 variables set, then `test-wrapper-env' must be set to a program that
232 runs a newly built program with environment variable assignments in
233 effect, those assignments being specified as `VAR=VALUE' before the
234 name of the program to be run.
235
236 Installing the C Library
237 ========================
238
239 To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
240 manual, type `env LANGUAGE=C LC_ALL=C make install'. This will build
241 things, if necessary, before installing them; however, you should still
242 compile everything first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as
243 your primary C library, we recommend that you shut the system down to
244 single-user mode first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk
245 of breaking things when the library changes out from underneath.
246
247 `make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
248 installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
249 headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
250 generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you
251 can do things in the following order.
252
253 You must first build the library (`make'), optionally check it
254 (`make check'), switch the include directories and then install (`make
255 install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
256 directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
257 files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
258 library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
259 library. The new `/usr/include', after switching the include
260 directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
261 headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore
262 any headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
263 installing the library.
264
265 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
266 configured it to go by setting the `install_root' variable on the
267 command line for `make install'. The value of this variable is
268 prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
269 setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution.
270 The directory should be specified with an absolute file name.
271
272 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called `nscd', which you may or
273 may not want to run. `nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
274 dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
275 well.
276
277 One auxiliary program, `/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
278 `root'. This program is invoked by the `grantpt' function; it sets the
279 permissions on a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling
280 process. This means programs like `xterm' and `screen' do not have to
281 be setuid to get a pty. (There may be other reasons why they need
282 privileges.) If you are using a Linux kernel with the `devptsfs' or
283 `devfs' filesystems providing pty slaves, you don't need this program;
284 otherwise you do. The source for `pt_chown' is in
285 `login/programs/pt_chown.c'.
286
287 After installation you might want to configure the timezone and
288 locale installation of your system. The GNU C Library comes with a
289 locale database which gets configured with `localedef'. For example, to
290 set up a German locale with name `de_DE', simply issue the command
291 `localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE'. To configure all locales
292 that are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
293 directory the command `make localedata/install-locales'.
294
295 To configure the locally used timezone, set the `TZ' environment
296 variable. The script `tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
297 As an example, for Germany, `tzselect' would tell you to use
298 `TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
299 are for an installation with `--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
300 which is in `/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file `/etc/localtime'. For
301 Germany, you might execute `ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
302 /etc/localtime'.
303
304 Recommended Tools for Compilation
305 =================================
306
307 We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
308 build the GNU C Library:
309
310 * GNU `make' 3.79 or newer
311
312 You need the latest version of GNU `make'. Modifying the GNU C
313 Library to work with other `make' programs would be so difficult
314 that we recommend you port GNU `make' instead. *Really.* We
315 recommend GNU `make' version 3.79. All earlier versions have
316 severe bugs or lack features.
317
318 * GCC 4.4 or newer, GCC 4.6 recommended
319
320 GCC 4.4 or higher is required; as of this writing, GCC 4.6 is the
321 compiler we advise to use to build the GNU C Library.
322
323 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
324 the GNU C Library.
325
326 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
327 platforms.
328
329 * GNU `binutils' 2.20 or later
330
331 You must use GNU `binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
332 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
333 moment.
334
335 * GNU `texinfo' 4.5 or later
336
337 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
338 need this version of the `texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
339 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
340 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
341 differently.
342
343 * GNU `awk' 3.1.2, or higher
344
345 `awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some `gawk'
346 extensions are used, including the `asorti' function, which was
347 introduced in version 3.1.2 of `gawk'.
348
349 * Perl 5
350
351 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
352 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
353
354 * GNU `sed' 3.02 or newer
355
356 `Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
357 work with any version of `sed'. The known exception is the script
358 `po2test.sed' in the `intl' subdirectory which is used to generate
359 `msgs.h' for the test suite. This script works correctly only
360 with GNU `sed' 3.02. If you like to run the test suite, you
361 should definitely upgrade `sed'.
362
363
364 If you change any of the `configure.in' files you will also need
365
366 * GNU `autoconf' 2.53 or higher
367
368 and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
369
370 * GNU `gettext' 0.10.36 or later
371
372 You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
373 patches, although we try to avoid this.
374
375 Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
376 =====================================
377
378 If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
379 to have the header files from a 2.6.19.1 or newer kernel around for
380 reference. These headers must be installed using `make
381 headers_install'; the headers present in the kernel source directory
382 are not suitable for direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need
383 to use that kernel, just have its headers installed where the GNU C
384 Library can access them, referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The
385 easiest way to do this is to unpack it in a directory such as
386 `/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that directory, run `make headers_install
387 INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
388 Library with the option `--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'.
389 Use the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
390 cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
391 `ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the `make headers_install' command, where
392 ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
393 `x86' or `powerpc'.)
394
395 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
396 directories such as `/usr/include/linux' and `/usr/include/asm', and
397 replace them with copies of directories such as `linux' and `asm' from
398 `INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
399 `INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
400 Library provides its own version of `/usr/include/scsi'; the files
401 provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those
402 provided by the GNU C Library. The `linux', `asm' and `asm-generic'
403 directories are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library;
404 the other directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not
405 required if not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not
406 need to copy kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel
407 header source using `--with-headers'.
408
409 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
410 components of the GNU C Library installation to be in `/lib' and some
411 in `/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU
412 C Library with `--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow
413 it to default to `/usr/local', then all the components are installed
414 there.
415
416 Reporting Bugs
417 ==============
418
419 There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
420 errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
421 fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
422 remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
423
424 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
425 reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file `BUGS' describes
426 a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
427 system has a WWW interface at `http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/'. The
428 WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
429 report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
430
431 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will
432 be the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a
433 bug. A good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the
434 same way some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and
435 the libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the
436 libraries is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many
437 historical Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as
438 closing a file twice.
439
440 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
441 not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
442 Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
443
444 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
445 smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
446 library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
447 call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
448
449 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
450 Do this at `http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html'.
451
452 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
453 doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
454 function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
455 or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
456 errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
457 database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
458 include the section names for easier identification.