1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-05-28
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 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 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
14 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
16 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
18 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
20 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
21 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
23 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
25 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.2-5 which supports
26 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger and Adam D. Bradley.
28 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
29 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
30 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
32 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
33 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
34 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
36 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
37 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
38 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
39 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
41 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
45 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
47 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
50 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
52 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
54 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
69 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
71 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
73 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
75 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
77 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
79 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
81 * Update timezone data files.
83 * lots of charmaps corrections
85 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
90 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
91 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
92 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
93 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
94 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
95 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
97 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
98 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
100 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
103 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
104 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
106 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
108 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
111 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
113 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
114 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
116 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
119 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
120 functions from ISO C 9X.
122 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
123 real valued functions.
125 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
127 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
129 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
131 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
133 * Optimized string functions have been added.
135 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
137 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
139 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
140 daemon for NSS (nscd).
142 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
143 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
147 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
149 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
151 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
153 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
155 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
157 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
159 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
160 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
163 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
164 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
166 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
168 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
170 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
171 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
173 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
175 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
178 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
179 latest draft standards.
181 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
183 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
184 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
185 addseverity NEW: Unix98
187 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
188 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
189 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
190 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
191 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
192 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
193 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
194 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
195 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
196 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
197 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
198 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
199 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
200 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
201 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
202 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
206 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
207 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
217 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
218 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
223 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
224 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
226 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
239 clearerr_locked REMOVED
240 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
243 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
244 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
275 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
276 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
277 endutxent NEW: Unix98
289 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
290 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
291 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
292 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
293 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
295 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
296 ferror_locked REMOVED
297 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
298 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
299 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
300 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
301 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
302 fflush_locked REMOVED
306 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
307 fileno_locked REMOVED
320 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
321 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
332 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
333 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
337 getchar_locked REMOVED
339 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
340 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
342 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
343 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
345 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
347 getutxent NEW: Unix98
349 getutxline NEW: Unix98
351 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
352 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
353 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
354 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
355 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
357 iconv_close NEW: iconv
358 iconv_open NEW: iconv
359 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
360 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
361 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
362 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
363 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
364 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
365 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
366 isastream NEW: STREAMS
367 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
368 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
369 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
370 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
371 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
372 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
373 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
374 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
375 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
376 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
378 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
379 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
380 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
381 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
382 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
390 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
391 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
393 makecontext NEW: Unix98
394 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
397 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
401 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
402 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
403 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
404 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
405 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
406 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
407 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
408 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
412 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
418 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
419 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
420 profil_counter REMOVED
421 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
422 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
423 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
424 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
426 putchar_locked REMOVED
427 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
430 pututxline NEW: Unix98
436 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
437 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
442 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
443 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
444 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
447 setcontext NEW: Unix98
449 setutxent NEW: Unix98
451 sigignore NEW: Unix98
452 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
455 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
456 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
458 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
459 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
463 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
464 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
465 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
466 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
467 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
468 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
469 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
470 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
471 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
472 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
474 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
475 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
482 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
484 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
485 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
486 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
487 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
489 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
490 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
491 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
492 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
493 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
494 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
495 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
498 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
499 write_profiling REMOVED
500 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
501 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
502 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
503 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
504 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
505 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
506 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
507 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
508 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
509 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
510 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
511 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
512 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
513 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
514 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
515 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
526 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
528 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
530 * rewrite of cbrt function
532 * update of timezone data
548 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
554 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
556 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
558 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
559 the ELF dynamic loader.
561 * support for parallel builds is improved
565 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
566 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
569 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
570 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
571 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
572 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
573 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
574 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
575 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
576 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
577 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
578 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
579 files in the ELF format.
581 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
582 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
584 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
585 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
586 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
587 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
588 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
589 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
590 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
591 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
592 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
593 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
594 about dynamically linked binaries.
596 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
597 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
598 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
599 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
600 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
602 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
603 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
604 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
605 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
606 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
608 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
610 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
611 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
612 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
613 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
614 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
615 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
616 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
617 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
618 NSS services available.
620 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
621 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
622 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
624 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
625 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
626 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
628 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
629 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
630 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
631 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
633 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
634 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
635 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
637 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
638 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
639 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
641 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
642 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
644 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
645 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
646 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
647 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
649 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
650 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
651 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
653 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
654 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
655 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
656 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
657 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
658 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
659 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
660 the header file <printf.h> for details.
662 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
663 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
664 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
665 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
666 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
667 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
668 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
670 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
671 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
672 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
673 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
674 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
675 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
677 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
678 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
680 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
681 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
682 NSS scheme used in glibc.
684 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
686 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
687 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
688 their use is discouraged.
690 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
691 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
693 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
694 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
696 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
697 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
699 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
702 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
703 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
704 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
705 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
706 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
708 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
709 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
710 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
711 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
713 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
714 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
716 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
717 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
718 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
719 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
722 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
723 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
725 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
726 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
728 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
729 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
730 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
731 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
733 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
735 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
736 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
737 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
739 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
740 for arithmetic and string handling.
742 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
743 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
744 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
745 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
747 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
748 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
749 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
750 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
751 programs already written to use it.)
753 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
756 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
759 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
760 a given effective group ID.
762 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
763 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
764 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
765 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
767 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
768 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
769 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
770 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
771 doing the same thing.
773 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
774 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
776 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
777 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
779 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
781 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
782 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
783 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
784 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
785 `-ldb' to get these functions.
787 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
788 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
790 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
791 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
792 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
795 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
797 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
798 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
801 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
802 and writing the utmp file.
804 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
807 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
808 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
809 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
811 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
812 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
814 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
815 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
818 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
819 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
820 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
821 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
823 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
824 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
825 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
827 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
828 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
829 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
832 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
835 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
838 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
840 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
841 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
842 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
846 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
848 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
849 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
851 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
852 want to put themselves in the background.
854 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
855 run without an operating system.
857 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
858 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
860 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
861 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
863 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
865 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
866 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
869 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
872 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
873 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
877 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
878 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
879 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
881 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
882 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
884 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
885 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
887 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
889 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
891 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
894 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
895 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
896 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
898 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
900 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
901 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
902 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
904 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
905 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
906 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
907 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
908 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
911 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
912 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
913 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
914 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
915 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
918 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
919 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
923 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
924 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
926 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
927 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
928 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
930 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
931 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
932 address of the last character written.
934 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
935 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
937 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
938 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
940 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
941 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
942 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
943 you dereference this pointer.
945 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
946 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
948 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
949 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
950 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
951 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
953 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
954 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
955 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
956 EAGAIN in every system call function.
960 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
961 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
962 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
963 in Emacs or the `info' program.
964 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
966 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
968 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
970 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
971 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
973 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
974 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
976 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
977 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
979 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
980 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
981 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
982 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
983 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
985 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
986 to the error code in `errno'.
988 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
989 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
990 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
993 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
994 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
995 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
997 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
998 uniquely-named temporary file.
1002 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1003 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1004 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1006 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1009 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1010 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1012 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1016 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1017 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1018 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1019 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1021 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1022 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1023 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1025 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1026 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1028 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1029 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1030 made itself into a shared library.
1032 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1033 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1035 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1036 with limited length.
1038 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1040 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1042 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1044 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1045 function for traversing a directory tree.
1047 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1048 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1049 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1050 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1052 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1053 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1055 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1057 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1058 things to your strings.
1060 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1062 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1063 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1064 supporting those systems.
1066 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1067 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1068 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1069 configuration files.
1071 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1072 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1074 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1075 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1077 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1078 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1079 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1080 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1081 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1082 required storage is not available.
1084 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1085 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1086 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1087 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1088 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1089 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1090 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1091 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1092 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1093 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1095 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1096 latest files released from Berkeley.
1098 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1099 Copyright information:
1101 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1103 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1104 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1105 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1106 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1108 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1109 of this document, or of portions of it,
1110 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1111 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1114 version-control: never
git://sourceware.org / glibc.git / blob