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1 Installing the GNU C Library
2 ****************************
3
4 Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
5 <https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ>. It answers common questions
6 and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7 installation.
8
9 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
10 and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
11 below.
12
13 Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
14 ===========================================
15
16 The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
17 build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
18 unpacked the GNU C Library sources in '/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create a
19 directory '/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
20 allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs, which
21 is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
22
23 From your object directory, run the shell script 'configure' located
24 at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
25
26 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
27
28 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
29 directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
30 directories in the source directory.
31
32 'configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
33 mandatory is '--prefix'. This option tells 'configure' where you want
34 the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to '/usr/local', but the
35 normal setting to install as the standard system library is
36 '--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and '--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
37 for GNU/Hurd systems.
38
39 It may also be useful to pass 'CC=COMPILER' and 'CFLAGS=FLAGS'
40 arguments to 'configure'. 'CC' selects the C compiler that will be
41 used, and 'CFLAGS' sets optimization options for the compiler. Any
42 compiler options required for all compilations, such as options
43 selecting an ABI or a processor for which to generate code, should be
44 included in 'CC'. Options that may be overridden by the GNU C Library
45 build system for particular files, such as for optimization and
46 debugging, should go in 'CFLAGS'. The default value of 'CFLAGS' is '-g
47 -O2', and the GNU C Library cannot be compiled without optimization, so
48 if 'CFLAGS' is specified it must enable optimization. For example:
49
50 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure CC="gcc -m32" CFLAGS="-O3"
51
52 The following list describes all of the available options for
53 'configure':
54
55 '--prefix=DIRECTORY'
56 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
57 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in '/usr/local'.
58
59 '--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
60 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
61 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
62 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
63
64 '--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
65 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not '/usr/include'. The
66 GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
67 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
68 normally look in '/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
69 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
70
71 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
72 '/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
73 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
74 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
75 set of kernel headers than the ones found in '/usr/include'.
76
77 '--enable-kernel=VERSION'
78 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
79 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
80 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
81 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
82 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
83
84 '--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
85 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in 'DIRECTORY', not the
86 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
87 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
88 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, 'configure' will
89 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
90 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
91 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
92
93 '--with-nonshared-cflags=CFLAGS'
94 Use additional compiler flags CFLAGS to build the parts of the
95 library which are always statically linked into applications and
96 libraries even with shared linking (that is, the object files
97 contained in 'lib*_nonshared.a' libraries). The build process will
98 automatically use the appropriate flags, but this option can be
99 used to set additional flags required for building applications and
100 libraries, to match local policy. For example, if such a policy
101 requires that all code linked into applications must be built with
102 source fortification,
103 '--with-nonshared-cflags=-Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' will make sure
104 that the objects in 'libc_nonshared.a' are compiled with this flag
105 (although this will not affect the generated code in this
106 particular case and potentially change debugging information and
107 metadata only).
108
109 '--with-rtld-early-cflags=CFLAGS'
110 Use additional compiler flags CFLAGS to build the early startup
111 code of the dynamic linker. These flags can be used to enable
112 early dynamic linker diagnostics to run on CPUs which are not
113 compatible with the rest of the GNU C Library, for example, due to
114 compiler flags which target a later instruction set architecture
115 (ISA).
116
117 '--with-timeoutfactor=NUM'
118 Specify an integer NUM to scale the timeout of test programs. This
119 factor can be changed at run time using 'TIMEOUTFACTOR' environment
120 variable.
121
122 '--disable-shared'
123 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
124 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
125 (currently) the GNU linker.
126
127 '--disable-default-pie'
128 Don't build glibc programs and the testsuite as position
129 independent executables (PIE). By default, glibc programs and tests
130 are created as position independent executables on targets that
131 support it. If the toolchain and architecture support it, static
132 executables are built as static PIE and the resulting glibc can be
133 used with the GCC option, -static-pie, which is available with GCC
134 8 or above, to create static PIE.
135
136 '--enable-cet'
137 '--enable-cet=permissive'
138 Enable Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) support.
139 When the GNU C Library is built with '--enable-cet' or
140 '--enable-cet=permissive', the resulting library is protected with
141 indirect branch tracking (IBT) and shadow stack (SHSTK). When CET
142 is enabled, the GNU C Library is compatible with all existing
143 executables and shared libraries. This feature is currently
144 supported on i386, x86_64 and x32 with GCC 8 and binutils 2.29 or
145 later. Note that when CET is enabled, the GNU C Library requires
146 CPUs capable of multi-byte NOPs, like x86-64 processors as well as
147 Intel Pentium Pro or newer. With '--enable-cet', it is an error to
148 dlopen a non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
149 With '--enable-cet=permissive', CET is disabled when dlopening a
150 non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
151
152 NOTE: '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686, x86_64 and x32 on
153 non-CET processors. '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686,
154 x86_64 and x32 on CET processors.
155
156 '--enable-memory-tagging'
157 Enable memory tagging support if the architecture supports it.
158 When the GNU C Library is built with this option then the resulting
159 library will be able to control the use of tagged memory when
160 hardware support is present by use of the tunable
161 'glibc.mem.tagging'. This includes the generation of tagged memory
162 when using the 'malloc' APIs.
163
164 At present only AArch64 platforms with MTE provide this
165 functionality, although the library will still operate (without
166 memory tagging) on older versions of the architecture.
167
168 The default is to disable support for memory tagging.
169
170 '--disable-profile'
171 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
172 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
173
174 '--enable-static-nss'
175 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
176 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
177 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
178 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
179
180 '--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
181 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
182 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
183 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
184
185 '--disable-timezone-tools'
186 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
187 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
188 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
189 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
190
191 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
192 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
193 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
194 for more details.
195
196 '--enable-stack-protector'
197 '--enable-stack-protector=strong'
198 '--enable-stack-protector=all'
199 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
200 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
201 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
202 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
203 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
204 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
205 protection.
206
207 '--enable-bind-now'
208 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects and programs.
209 This provides additional security hardening because it enables full
210 RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
211 slightly increased program load times.
212
213 '--enable-pt_chown'
214 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
215 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
216 up pseudo-terminal ownership on GNU/Hurd. It is not required on
217 GNU/Linux, and the GNU C Library will not use the installed
218 'pt_chown' program when configured with '--enable-pt_chown'.
219
220 '--disable-werror'
221 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
222 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
223 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
224 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
225 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
226
227 '--disable-mathvec'
228 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
229 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
230
231 '--disable-crypt'
232 Do not install the passphrase-hashing library 'libcrypt' or the
233 header file 'crypt.h'. 'unistd.h' will still declare the function
234 'crypt'. Using this option does not change the set of programs
235 that may need to be linked with '-lcrypt'; it only means that the
236 GNU C Library will not provide that library.
237
238 This option is for hackers and distributions experimenting with
239 independently-maintained implementations of libcrypt. It may
240 become the default in a future release.
241
242 '--disable-scv'
243 Disable using 'scv' instruction for syscalls. All syscalls will
244 use 'sc' instead, even if the kernel supports 'scv'. PowerPC only.
245
246 '--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
247 '--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
248 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
249 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
250 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
251 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
252 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
253 the compiler and/or binutils.
254
255 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
256 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
257 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
258 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
259 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
260 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
261 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
262 'CC'.
263
264 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
265
266 '--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
267 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
268 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
269 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
270 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
271 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
272
273 '--with-bugurl=URL'
274 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
275 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
276 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
277 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
278
279 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
280 produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
281 but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
282 Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
283
284 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
285 configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
286 take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
287 machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
288
289 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
290 an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
291 'make' version, though.
292
293 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
294 facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
295 not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
296 problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
297 on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
298 being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
299 Library as an unprivileged user.
300
301 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
302 The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
303 system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
304 files must all contain correct and sensible content.
305
306 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
307 problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
308 You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
309 make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
310 failure occurs.
311
312 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
313 'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
314 distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
315 files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
316 'make info'.
317
318 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
319 which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
320 file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
321 build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
322 is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
323 makefiles.
324
325 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
326 setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
327 cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
328 important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
329 this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
330 to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
331 library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
332 if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
333 target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
334 may be tested using 'make check
335 test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
336 is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
337 HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
338 binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
339 visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
340 The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script requires 'flock' from 'util-linux' to
341 work when GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING environment variable is set.
342
343 It is also possible to execute tests, which require setting the date
344 on the target machine. Following use cases are supported:
345 * 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' is set in the environment in which
346 eligible tests are executed and have the privilege to run
347 'clock_settime'. In this case, nothing prevents those tests from
348 running in parallel, so the caller shall assure that those tests
349 are serialized or provide a proper wrapper script for them.
350
351 * The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script is used and one passes the
352 '--allow-time-setting' flag. In this case, both sets
353 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' and serialization of test execution
354 are assured automatically.
355
356 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
357 to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
358 This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
359 working directory and the standard input, output and error file
360 descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
361 environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
362 program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
363 assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
364 before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
365 the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
366 precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
367 program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
368 directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
369 the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
370 semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
371 rather than the ambient set.
372
373 For AArch64 with SVE, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper'
374 may be set to "SRCDIR/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/aarch64/vltest.py
375 VECTOR-LENGTH" to change Vector Length.
376
377 Installing the C Library
378 ========================
379
380 To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
381 manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
382 before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
383 first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
384 library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
385 first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
386 when the library changes out from underneath.
387
388 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
389 installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
390 headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
391 generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
392 do things in the following order.
393
394 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
395 check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
396 install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
397 directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
398 files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
399 library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
400 library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
401 directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
402 headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
403 headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
404 installing the library.
405
406 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
407 configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
408 on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
409 prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
410 setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
411 directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
412 with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
413 not supported.
414
415 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
416 may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
417 dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
418 well.
419
420 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
421 'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
422 program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
423 a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
424 using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
425 '/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
426
427 After installation you should configure the timezone and install
428 locales for your system. The time zone configuration ensures that your
429 system time matches the time for your current timezone. The locales
430 ensure that the display of information on your system matches the
431 expectations of your language and geographic region.
432
433 The GNU C Library is able to use two kinds of localization
434 information sources, the first is a locale database named
435 'locale-archive' which is generally installed as
436 '/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. The locale archive has the benefit of
437 taking up less space and being very fast to load, but only if you plan
438 to install sixty or more locales. If you plan to install one or two
439 locales you can instead install individual locales into their self-named
440 directories e.g. '/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8'. For example to install
441 the German locale using the character set for UTF-8 with name 'de_DE'
442 into the locale archive issue the command 'localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8
443 de_DE', and to install just the one locale issue the command 'localedef
444 --no-archive -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
445 are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
446 directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales' to install all
447 locales into the locale archive or 'make
448 localedata/install-locale-files' to install all locales as files in the
449 default configured locale installation directory (derived from
450 '--prefix' or '--localedir'). To install into an alternative system
451 root use 'DESTDIR' e.g. 'make localedata/install-locale-files
452 DESTDIR=/opt/glibc', but note that this does not change the configured
453 prefix.
454
455 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
456 variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
457 As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
458 'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
459 are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
460 which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
461 Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
462 /etc/localtime'.
463
464 Recommended Tools for Compilation
465 =================================
466
467 We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
468 build the GNU C Library:
469
470 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
471
472 As of relase time, GNU 'make' 4.4 is the newest verified to work to
473 build the GNU C Library.
474
475 * GCC 6.2 or newer
476
477 GCC 6.2 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
478 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
479 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
480 better code. As of release time, GCC 13.0 is the newest compiler
481 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
482
483 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), a GCC version with
484 support for '-mno-gnu-attribute', '-mabi=ieeelongdouble', and
485 '-mabi=ibmlondouble' is required. Likewise, the compiler must also
486 support passing '-mlong-double-128' with the preceding options. As
487 of release, this implies GCC 7.4 and newer (excepting GCC 7.5.0,
488 see GCC PR94200). These additional features are required for
489 building the GNU C Library with support for IEEE long double.
490
491 For ARC architecture builds, GCC 8.3 or higher is needed.
492
493 For s390x architecture builds, GCC 7.1 or higher is needed (See gcc
494 Bug 98269).
495
496 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
497 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
498 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
499 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
500 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
501 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
502 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
503 'gcc/config.gcc'.
504
505 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
506 the GNU C Library.
507
508 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
509 platforms.
510
511 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
512
513 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
514 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
515 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.39 is the newest
516 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
517
518 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), 'objcopy' is
519 required to support '--update-section'. This option requires
520 binutils 2.26 or newer.
521
522 ARC architecture needs 'binutils' 2.32 or higher for TLS related
523 fixes.
524
525 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
526
527 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
528 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
529 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
530 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
531 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 7.0.2 is the newest
532 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
533
534 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
535
536 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
537 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
538 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
539 version 5.1.1 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
540 Library.
541
542 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
543
544 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
545 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.8.2 is the
546 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
547
548 * Perl 5
549
550 Perl is not required, but if present it is used in some tests and
551 the 'mtrace' program, to build the GNU C Library manual. As of
552 release time 'perl' version 5.36.0 is the newest verified to work
553 to build the GNU C Library.
554
555 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
556
557 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
558 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
559 4.8 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
560
561 * Python 3.4 or later
562
563 Python is required to build the GNU C Library. As of release time,
564 Python 3.11 is the newest verified to work for building and testing
565 the GNU C Library.
566
567 * PExpect 4.0
568
569 The pretty printer tests drive GDB through test programs and
570 compare its output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture
571 the output of GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version
572 in your system. As of release time PExpect 4.8.0 is the newest
573 verified to work to test the pretty printers.
574
575 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7/3.4 or later
576
577 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
578 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
579 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
580 system's Python and GDB's have the same version. As of release
581 time GNU 'debugger' 12.1 is the newest verified to work to test the
582 pretty printers.
583
584 Unless Python, PExpect and GDB with Python support are present, the
585 printer tests will report themselves as 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that
586 some of the printer tests require the GNU C Library to be compiled
587 with debugging symbols.
588
589 If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
590
591 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
592
593 and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
594
595 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
596
597 As of release time, GNU 'gettext' version 0.21.1 is the newest
598 version verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
599
600 You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
601 patches, although we try to avoid this.
602
603 Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
604 =====================================
605
606 If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
607 to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
608 reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
609 because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
610 call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
611 the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
612 direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
613 just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
614 referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
615 unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
616 directory, run 'make headers_install
617 INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
618 Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
619 the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
620 cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
621 'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
622 ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
623 'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
624
625 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
626 directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
627 replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
628 'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
629 'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
630 Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
631 provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
632 by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
633 are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
634 directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
635 not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
636 kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
637 using '--with-headers'.
638
639 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
640 components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
641 '/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
642 Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
643 to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
644
645 As of release time, Linux version 6.1.5 is the newest stable version
646 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
647
648 Reporting Bugs
649 ==============
650
651 There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
652 errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
653 fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
654 remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
655
656 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
657 reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
658 a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
659 system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
660 WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
661 report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
662
663 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
664 the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
665 good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
666 some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
667 libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
668 is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
669 Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
670 twice.
671
672 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
673 not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
674 Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
675
676 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
677 smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
678 library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
679 call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
680
681 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
682 Do this at <https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
683
684 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
685 doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
686 function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
687 or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
688 errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
689 database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
690 include the section names for easier identification.