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1Installing the GNU C Library
2****************************
3
4Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
5<https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ>. It answers common questions
6and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7installation.
8
9 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
10and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
11below.
12
13Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
14===========================================
15
16The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
17build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
18unpacked the GNU C Library sources in '/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create a
19directory '/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
20allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs, which
21is 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
24at 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
29directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
30directories in the source directory.
31
32'configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
33mandatory is '--prefix'. This option tells 'configure' where you want
34the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to '/usr/local', but the
35normal setting to install as the standard system library is
36'--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and '--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
37for GNU/Hurd systems.
38
39 It may also be useful to pass 'CC=COMPILER' and 'CFLAGS=FLAGS'
40arguments to 'configure'. 'CC' selects the C compiler that will be
41used, and 'CFLAGS' sets optimization options for the compiler. Any
42compiler options required for all compilations, such as options
43selecting an ABI or a processor for which to generate code, should be
44included in 'CC'. Options that may be overridden by the GNU C Library
45build system for particular files, such as for optimization and
46debugging, should go in 'CFLAGS'. The default value of 'CFLAGS' is '-g
47-O2', and the GNU C Library cannot be compiled without optimization, so
48if '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 x86_64 and x32 with GCC 8 and binutils 2.29 or later.
145 With '--enable-cet', it is an error to dlopen a non CET enabled
146 shared library in CET enabled application. With
147 '--enable-cet=permissive', CET is disabled when dlopening a non CET
148 enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
149
150 NOTE: '--enable-cet' is only supported on x86_64 and x32.
151
152'--enable-memory-tagging'
153 Enable memory tagging support if the architecture supports it.
154 When the GNU C Library is built with this option then the resulting
155 library will be able to control the use of tagged memory when
156 hardware support is present by use of the tunable
157 'glibc.mem.tagging'. This includes the generation of tagged memory
158 when using the 'malloc' APIs.
159
160 At present only AArch64 platforms with MTE provide this
161 functionality, although the library will still operate (without
162 memory tagging) on older versions of the architecture.
163
164 The default is to disable support for memory tagging.
165
166'--disable-profile'
167 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
168 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
169
170'--enable-static-nss'
171 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
172 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
173 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
174 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
175
176'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
177 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
178 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
179 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
180
181'--disable-timezone-tools'
182 By default, time zone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
183 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
184 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
185 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
186
187 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
188 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
189 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
190 for more details.
191
192'--enable-stack-protector'
193'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
194'--enable-stack-protector=all'
195 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
196 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
197 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
198 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
199 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
200 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
201 protection.
202
203'--enable-bind-now'
204 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects and programs.
205 This provides additional security hardening because it enables full
206 RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
207 slightly increased program load times.
208
209'--enable-pt_chown'
210 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
211 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
212 up pseudo-terminal ownership on GNU/Hurd. It is not required on
213 GNU/Linux, and the GNU C Library will not use the installed
214 'pt_chown' program when configured with '--enable-pt_chown'.
215
216'--disable-werror'
217 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
218 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
219 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
220 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
221 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
222
223'--disable-mathvec'
224 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
225 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
226
227'--disable-static-c++-tests'
228 By default, if the C++ toolchain lacks support for static linking,
229 configure fails to find the C++ header files and the glibc build
230 fails. '--disable-static-c++-link-check' allows the glibc build to
231 finish, but static C++ tests will fail if the C++ toolchain doesn't
232 have the necessary static C++ libraries. Use this option to skip
233 the static C++ tests. This option implies
234 '--disable-static-c++-link-check'.
235
236'--disable-static-c++-link-check'
237 By default, if the C++ toolchain lacks support for static linking,
238 configure fails to find the C++ header files and the glibc build
239 fails. Use this option to disable the static C++ link check so
240 that the C++ header files can be located. The newly built libc.a
241 can be used to create static C++ tests if the C++ toolchain has the
242 necessary static C++ libraries.
243
244'--disable-scv'
245 Disable using 'scv' instruction for syscalls. All syscalls will
246 use 'sc' instead, even if the kernel supports 'scv'. PowerPC only.
247
248'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
249'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
250 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
251 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
252 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
253 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
254 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
255 the compiler and/or binutils.
256
257 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
258 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
259 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
260 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
261 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
262 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
263 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
264 'CC'.
265
266 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
267
268'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
269 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
270 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
271 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
272 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
273 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
274
275'--with-bugurl=URL'
276 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
277 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
278 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
279 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
280
281'--enable-fortify-source'
282'--enable-fortify-source=LEVEL'
283 Use -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE='LEVEL' to control hardening in the GNU C
284 Library. If not provided, 'LEVEL' defaults to highest possible
285 value supported by the build compiler.
286
287 Default is to disable fortification.
288
289 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
290produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
291but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
292Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
293
294 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
295configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
296take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
297machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
298
299 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
300an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
301'make' version, though.
302
303 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
304facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
305not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
306problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
307on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
308being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
309Library as an unprivileged user.
310
311 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
312The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
313system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
314files must all contain correct and sensible content.
315
316 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
317problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
318You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
319make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
320failure occurs.
321
322 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
323'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
324distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
325files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
326'make info'.
327
328 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
329which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
330file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
331build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
332is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
333makefiles.
334
335 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
336setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
337cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
338important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
339this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
340to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
341library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
342if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
343target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
344may be tested using 'make check
345test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
346is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
347HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
348binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
349visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
350The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script requires 'flock' from 'util-linux' to
351work when GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING environment variable is set.
352
353 It is also possible to execute tests, which require setting the date
354on the target machine. Following use cases are supported:
355 * 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' is set in the environment in which
356 eligible tests are executed and have the privilege to run
357 'clock_settime'. In this case, nothing prevents those tests from
358 running in parallel, so the caller shall assure that those tests
359 are serialized or provide a proper wrapper script for them.
360
361 * The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script is used and one passes the
362 '--allow-time-setting' flag. In this case, both sets
363 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' and serialization of test execution
364 are assured automatically.
365
366 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
367to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
368This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
369working directory and the standard input, output and error file
370descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
371environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
372program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
373assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
374before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
375the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
376precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
377program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
378directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
379the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
380semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
381rather than the ambient set.
382
383 For AArch64 with SVE, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper'
384may be set to "SRCDIR/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/aarch64/vltest.py
385VECTOR-LENGTH" to change Vector Length.
386
387Installing the C Library
388========================
389
390To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
391manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
392before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
393first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
394library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
395first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
396when the library changes out from underneath.
397
398 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
399installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
400headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
401generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
402do things in the following order.
403
404 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
405check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
406install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
407directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
408files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
409library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
410library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
411directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
412headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
413headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
414installing the library.
415
416 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
417configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
418on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
419prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
420setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
421directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
422with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
423not supported.
424
425 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
426may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
427dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
428well.
429
430 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
431'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
432program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
433a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
434using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
435'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
436
437 After installation you should configure the time zone ruleset and
438install locales for your system. The time zone ruleset ensures that
439timestamps are processed correctly for your location. The locales
440ensure that the display of information on your system matches the
441expectations of your language and geographic region.
442
443 The GNU C Library is able to use two kinds of localization
444information sources, the first is a locale database named
445'locale-archive' which is generally installed as
446'/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. The locale archive has the benefit of
447taking up less space and being very fast to load, but only if you plan
448to install sixty or more locales. If you plan to install one or two
449locales you can instead install individual locales into their self-named
450directories e.g. '/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8'. For example to install
451the German locale using the character set for UTF-8 with name 'de_DE'
452into the locale archive issue the command 'localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8
453de_DE', and to install just the one locale issue the command 'localedef
454--no-archive -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
455are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
456directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales' to install all
457locales into the locale archive or 'make
458localedata/install-locale-files' to install all locales as files in the
459default configured locale installation directory (derived from
460'--prefix' or '--localedir'). To install into an alternative system
461root use 'DESTDIR' e.g. 'make localedata/install-locale-files
462DESTDIR=/opt/glibc', but note that this does not change the configured
463prefix.
464
465 To configure the time zone ruleset, set the 'TZ' environment
466variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
467As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
468'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
469are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the time zone file
470which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
471Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
472/etc/localtime'.
473
474Recommended Tools for Compilation
475=================================
476
477We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
478build the GNU C Library:
479
480 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
481
482 As of release time, GNU 'make' 4.4.1 is the newest verified to work
483 to build the GNU C Library.
484
485 * GCC 6.2 or newer
486
487 GCC 6.2 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
488 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
489 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
490 better code. As of release time, GCC 14.1 is the newest compiler
491 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
492
493 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), a GCC version with
494 support for '-mno-gnu-attribute', '-mabi=ieeelongdouble', and
495 '-mabi=ibmlongdouble' is required. Likewise, the compiler must
496 also support passing '-mlong-double-128' with the preceding
497 options. As of release, this implies GCC 7.4 and newer (excepting
498 GCC 7.5.0, see GCC PR94200). These additional features are
499 required for building the GNU C Library with support for IEEE long
500 double.
501
502 For ARC architecture builds, GCC 8.3 or higher is needed.
503
504 For s390x architecture builds, GCC 7.1 or higher is needed (See gcc
505 Bug 98269).
506
507 For AArch64 architecture builds with mathvec enabled, GCC 10 or
508 higher is needed due to dependency on arm_sve.h.
509
510 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
511 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
512 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
513 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
514 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
515 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
516 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
517 'gcc/config.gcc'.
518
519 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
520 the GNU C Library.
521
522 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
523 platforms.
524
525 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
526
527 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
528 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
529 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.42 is the newest
530 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
531
532 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), 'objcopy' is
533 required to support '--update-section'. This option requires
534 binutils 2.26 or newer.
535
536 ARC architecture needs 'binutils' 2.32 or higher for TLS related
537 fixes.
538
539 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
540
541 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
542 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
543 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
544 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
545 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 7.1 is the newest
546 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
547
548 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
549
550 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
551 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
552 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
553 version 5.3.0 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
554 Library.
555
556 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
557
558 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
559 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.8.2 is the
560 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
561
562 * Perl 5
563
564 Perl is not required, but if present it is used in some tests and
565 the 'mtrace' program, to build the GNU C Library manual. As of
566 release time 'perl' version 5.40.0 is the newest verified to work
567 to build the GNU C Library.
568
569 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
570
571 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
572 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
573 4.9 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
574
575 * Python 3.4 or later
576
577 Python is required to build the GNU C Library. As of release time,
578 Python 3.12 is the newest verified to work for building and testing
579 the GNU C Library.
580
581 * PExpect 4.0
582
583 The pretty printer tests drive GDB through test programs and
584 compare its output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture
585 the output of GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version
586 in your system. As of release time PExpect 4.9.0 is the newest
587 verified to work to test the pretty printers.
588
589 * The Python 'abnf' module.
590
591 This module is optional and used to verify some ABNF grammars in
592 the manual. Version 2.2.0 has been confirmed to work as expected.
593 A missing 'abnf' module does not reduce the test coverage of the
594 library itself.
595
596 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7/3.4 or later
597
598 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
599 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
600 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
601 system's Python and GDB's have the same version. As of release
602 time GNU 'debugger' 14.2 is the newest verified to work to test the
603 pretty printers.
604
605 Unless Python, PExpect and GDB with Python support are present, the
606 printer tests will report themselves as 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that
607 some of the printer tests require the GNU C Library to be compiled
608 with debugging symbols.
609
610If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
611
612 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.72 (exactly)
613
614and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
615
616 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
617
618 As of release time, GNU 'gettext' version 0.22.4 is the newest
619 version verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
620
621You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
622patches, although we try to avoid this.
623
624Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
625=====================================
626
627If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
628to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
629reference. These headers must be installed using 'make
630headers_install'; the headers present in the kernel source directory are
631not suitable for direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to
632use that kernel, just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library
633can access them, referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way
634to do this is to unpack it in a directory such as
635'/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that directory, run 'make headers_install
636INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
637Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
638the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
639cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
640'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
641ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
642'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
643
644 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
645directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
646replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
647'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
648'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
649Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
650provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
651by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
652are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
653directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
654not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
655kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
656using '--with-headers'.
657
658 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
659components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
660'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
661Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
662to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
663
664 As of release time, Linux version 6.6 is the newest stable version
665verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
666
667Reporting Bugs
668==============
669
670There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
671errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
672fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
673remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
674
675 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
676reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
677a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
678system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
679WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
680report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
681
682 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
683the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
684good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
685some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
686libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
687is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
688Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
689twice.
690
691 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
692not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
693Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
694
695 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
696smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
697library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
698call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
699
700 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
701Do this at <https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
702
703 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
704doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
705function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
706or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
707errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
708database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
709include the section names for easier identification.
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