1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-04-29
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
14 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
16 * Fixed a number of bugs.
18 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
20 * New functions lock64 and strchrnul.
22 * Optimized a number of functions.
24 * Update timezone data files.
26 * lots of charmaps corrections
28 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
33 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
34 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
35 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
36 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
37 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
38 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
40 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
41 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
46 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
47 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
49 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
51 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
54 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
56 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
57 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
59 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
62 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
63 functions from ISO C 9X.
65 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
66 real valued functions.
68 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
70 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
72 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
74 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
76 * Optimized string functions have been added.
78 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
80 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
82 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
83 daemon for NSS (nscd).
85 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
86 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
90 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
92 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
94 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
96 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
98 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
100 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
102 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
103 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
106 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
107 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
109 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
111 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
113 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
114 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
116 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
118 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
121 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
122 latest draft standards.
124 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
126 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
127 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
128 addseverity NEW: Unix98
130 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
131 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
132 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
133 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
134 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
135 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
136 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
137 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
138 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
139 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
140 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
141 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
142 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
143 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
144 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
145 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
149 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
150 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
160 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
161 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
166 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
167 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
169 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
182 clearerr_locked REMOVED
183 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
186 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
187 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
218 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
219 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
220 endutxent NEW: Unix98
232 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
233 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
234 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
235 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
236 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
238 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
239 ferror_locked REMOVED
240 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
241 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
242 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
243 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
244 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
245 fflush_locked REMOVED
249 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
250 fileno_locked REMOVED
263 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
264 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
275 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
276 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
280 getchar_locked REMOVED
282 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
283 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
285 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
286 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
288 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
290 getutxent NEW: Unix98
292 getutxline NEW: Unix98
294 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
295 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
296 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
297 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
298 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
300 iconv_close NEW: iconv
301 iconv_open NEW: iconv
302 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
303 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
304 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
305 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
306 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
307 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
308 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
309 isastream NEW: STREAMS
310 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
311 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
312 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
313 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
314 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
315 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
316 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
317 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
318 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
319 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
321 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
322 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
323 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
324 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
325 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
333 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
334 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
336 makecontext NEW: Unix98
337 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
340 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
344 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
345 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
346 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
347 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
348 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
349 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
350 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
351 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
355 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
361 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
362 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
363 profil_counter REMOVED
364 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
365 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
366 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
367 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
369 putchar_locked REMOVED
370 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
373 pututxline NEW: Unix98
379 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
380 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
385 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
386 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
387 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
390 setcontext NEW: Unix98
392 setutxent NEW: Unix98
394 sigignore NEW: Unix98
395 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
398 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
399 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
401 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
402 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
406 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
407 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
408 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
409 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
410 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
411 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
412 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
413 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
414 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
415 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
417 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
418 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
425 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
427 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
428 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
429 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
430 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
432 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
433 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
434 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
435 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
436 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
437 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
438 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
441 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
442 write_profiling REMOVED
443 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
444 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
445 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
446 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
447 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
448 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
449 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
450 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
451 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
452 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
453 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
454 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
455 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
456 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
457 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
458 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
469 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
471 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
473 * rewrite of cbrt function
475 * update of timezone data
491 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
497 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
499 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
501 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
502 the ELF dynamic loader.
504 * support for parallel builds is improved
508 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
509 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
512 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
513 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
514 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
515 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
516 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
517 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
518 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
519 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
520 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
521 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
522 files in the ELF format.
524 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
525 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
527 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
528 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
529 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
530 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
531 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
532 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
533 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
534 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
535 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
536 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
537 about dynamically linked binaries.
539 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
540 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
541 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
542 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
543 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
545 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
546 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
547 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
548 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
549 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
551 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
553 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
554 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
555 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
556 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
557 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
558 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
559 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
560 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
561 NSS services available.
563 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
564 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
565 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
567 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
568 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
569 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
571 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
572 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
573 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
574 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
576 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
577 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
578 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
580 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
581 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
582 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
584 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
585 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
587 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
588 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
589 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
590 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
592 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
593 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
594 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
596 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
597 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
598 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
599 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
600 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
601 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
602 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
603 the header file <printf.h> for details.
605 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
606 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
607 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
608 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
609 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
610 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
611 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
613 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
614 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
615 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
616 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
617 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
618 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
620 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
621 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
623 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
624 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
625 NSS scheme used in glibc.
627 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
629 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
630 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
631 their use is discouraged.
633 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
634 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
636 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
637 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
639 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
640 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
642 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
645 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
646 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
647 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
648 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
649 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
651 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
652 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
653 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
654 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
656 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
657 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
659 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
660 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
661 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
662 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
665 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
666 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
668 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
669 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
671 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
672 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
673 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
674 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
676 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
678 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
679 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
680 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
682 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
683 for arithmetic and string handling.
685 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
686 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
687 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
688 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
690 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
691 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
692 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
693 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
694 programs already written to use it.)
696 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
699 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
702 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
703 a given effective group ID.
705 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
706 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
707 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
708 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
710 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
711 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
712 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
713 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
714 doing the same thing.
716 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
717 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
719 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
720 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
722 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
724 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
725 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
726 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
727 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
728 `-ldb' to get these functions.
730 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
731 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
733 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
734 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
735 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
738 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
740 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
741 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
744 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
745 and writing the utmp file.
747 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
750 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
751 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
752 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
754 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
755 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
757 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
758 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
761 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
762 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
763 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
764 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
766 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
767 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
768 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
770 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
771 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
772 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
775 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
778 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
781 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
783 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
784 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
785 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
789 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
791 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
792 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
794 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
795 want to put themselves in the background.
797 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
798 run without an operating system.
800 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
801 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
803 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
804 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
806 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
808 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
809 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
812 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
815 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
816 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
820 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
821 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
822 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
824 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
825 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
827 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
828 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
830 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
832 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
834 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
837 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
838 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
839 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
841 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
843 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
844 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
845 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
847 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
848 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
849 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
850 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
851 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
854 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
855 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
856 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
857 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
858 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
861 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
862 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
866 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
867 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
869 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
870 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
871 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
873 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
874 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
875 address of the last character written.
877 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
878 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
880 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
881 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
883 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
884 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
885 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
886 you dereference this pointer.
888 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
889 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
891 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
892 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
893 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
894 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
896 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
897 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
898 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
899 EAGAIN in every system call function.
903 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
904 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
905 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
906 in Emacs or the `info' program.
907 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
909 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
911 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
913 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
914 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
916 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
917 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
919 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
920 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
922 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
923 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
924 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
925 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
926 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
928 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
929 to the error code in `errno'.
931 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
932 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
933 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
936 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
937 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
938 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
940 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
941 uniquely-named temporary file.
945 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
946 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
947 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
949 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
952 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
953 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
955 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
959 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
960 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
961 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
962 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
964 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
965 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
966 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
968 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
969 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
971 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
972 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
973 made itself into a shared library.
975 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
976 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
978 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
981 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
983 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
985 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
987 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
988 function for traversing a directory tree.
990 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
991 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
992 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
993 formatted output directly to an obstack.
995 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
996 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
998 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1000 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1001 things to your strings.
1003 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1005 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1006 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1007 supporting those systems.
1009 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1010 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1011 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1012 configuration files.
1014 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1015 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1017 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1018 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1020 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1021 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1022 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1023 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1024 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1025 required storage is not available.
1027 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1028 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1029 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1030 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1031 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1032 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1033 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1034 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1035 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1036 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1038 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1039 latest files released from Berkeley.
1041 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1042 Copyright information:
1044 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1046 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1047 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1048 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1049 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1051 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1052 of this document, or of portions of it,
1053 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1054 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1057 version-control: never
git://sourceware.org / glibc.git / blob