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.
29 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
30 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
31 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
32 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
33 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
34 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
36 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
37 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
39 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
42 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
43 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
45 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
47 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
50 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
52 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
53 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
55 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
58 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
59 functions from ISO C 9X.
61 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
62 real valued functions.
64 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
66 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
68 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
70 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
72 * Optimized string functions have been added.
74 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
76 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
78 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
79 daemon for NSS (nscd).
81 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
82 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
86 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
88 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
90 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
92 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
94 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
96 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
98 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
99 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
102 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
103 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
105 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
107 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
109 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
110 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
112 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
114 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
117 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
118 latest draft standards.
120 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
122 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
123 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
124 addseverity NEW: Unix98
126 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
127 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
128 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
129 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
130 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
131 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
132 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
133 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
134 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
135 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
136 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
137 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
138 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
139 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
140 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
141 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
145 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
146 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
156 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
157 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
162 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
163 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
165 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
178 clearerr_locked REMOVED
179 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
182 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
183 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
214 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
215 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
216 endutxent NEW: Unix98
228 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
229 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
230 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
231 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
232 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
234 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
235 ferror_locked REMOVED
236 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
237 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
238 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
239 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
240 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
241 fflush_locked REMOVED
245 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
246 fileno_locked REMOVED
259 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
260 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
271 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
272 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
276 getchar_locked REMOVED
278 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
279 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
281 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
282 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
284 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
286 getutxent NEW: Unix98
288 getutxline NEW: Unix98
290 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
291 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
292 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
293 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
294 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
296 iconv_close NEW: iconv
297 iconv_open NEW: iconv
298 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
299 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
300 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
301 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
302 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
303 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
304 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
305 isastream NEW: STREAMS
306 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
307 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
308 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
309 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
310 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
311 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
312 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
313 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
314 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
315 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
317 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
318 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
319 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
320 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
321 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
329 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
330 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
332 makecontext NEW: Unix98
333 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
336 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
340 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
341 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
342 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
343 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
344 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
345 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
346 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
347 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
351 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
357 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
358 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
359 profil_counter REMOVED
360 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
361 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
362 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
363 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
365 putchar_locked REMOVED
366 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
369 pututxline NEW: Unix98
375 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
376 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
381 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
382 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
383 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
386 setcontext NEW: Unix98
388 setutxent NEW: Unix98
390 sigignore NEW: Unix98
391 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
394 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
395 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
397 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
398 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
402 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
403 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
404 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
405 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
406 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
407 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
408 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
409 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
410 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
411 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
413 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
414 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
421 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
423 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
424 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
425 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
426 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
428 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
429 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
430 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
431 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
432 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
433 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
434 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
437 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
438 write_profiling REMOVED
439 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
440 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
441 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
442 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
443 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
444 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
445 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
446 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
447 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
448 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
449 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
450 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
451 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
452 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
453 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
454 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
465 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
467 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
469 * rewrite of cbrt function
471 * update of timezone data
487 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
493 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
495 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
497 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
498 the ELF dynamic loader.
500 * support for parallel builds is improved
504 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
505 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
508 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
509 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
510 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
511 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
512 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
513 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
514 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
515 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
516 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
517 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
518 files in the ELF format.
520 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
521 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
523 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
524 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
525 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
526 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
527 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
528 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
529 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
530 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
531 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
532 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
533 about dynamically linked binaries.
535 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
536 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
537 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
538 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
539 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
541 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
542 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
543 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
544 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
545 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
547 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
549 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
550 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
551 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
552 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
553 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
554 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
555 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
556 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
557 NSS services available.
559 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
560 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
561 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
563 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
564 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
565 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
567 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
568 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
569 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
570 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
572 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
573 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
574 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
576 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
577 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
578 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
580 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
581 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
583 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
584 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
585 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
586 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
588 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
589 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
590 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
592 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
593 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
594 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
595 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
596 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
597 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
598 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
599 the header file <printf.h> for details.
601 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
602 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
603 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
604 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
605 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
606 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
607 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
609 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
610 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
611 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
612 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
613 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
614 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
616 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
617 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
619 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
620 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
621 NSS scheme used in glibc.
623 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
625 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
626 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
627 their use is discouraged.
629 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
630 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
632 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
633 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
635 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
636 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
638 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
641 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
642 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
643 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
644 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
645 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
647 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
648 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
649 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
650 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
652 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
653 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
655 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
656 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
657 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
658 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
661 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
662 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
664 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
665 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
667 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
668 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
669 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
670 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
672 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
674 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
675 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
676 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
678 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
679 for arithmetic and string handling.
681 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
682 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
683 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
684 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
686 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
687 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
688 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
689 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
690 programs already written to use it.)
692 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
695 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
698 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
699 a given effective group ID.
701 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
702 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
703 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
704 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
706 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
707 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
708 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
709 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
710 doing the same thing.
712 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
713 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
715 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
716 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
718 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
720 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
721 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
722 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
723 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
724 `-ldb' to get these functions.
726 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
727 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
729 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
730 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
731 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
734 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
736 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
737 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
740 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
741 and writing the utmp file.
743 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
746 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
747 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
748 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
750 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
751 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
753 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
754 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
757 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
758 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
759 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
760 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
762 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
763 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
764 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
766 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
767 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
768 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
771 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
774 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
777 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
779 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
780 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
781 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
785 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
787 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
788 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
790 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
791 want to put themselves in the background.
793 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
794 run without an operating system.
796 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
797 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
799 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
800 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
802 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
804 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
805 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
808 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
811 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
812 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
816 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
817 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
818 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
820 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
821 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
823 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
824 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
826 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
828 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
830 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
833 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
834 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
835 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
837 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
839 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
840 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
841 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
843 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
844 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
845 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
846 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
847 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
850 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
851 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
852 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
853 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
854 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
857 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
858 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
862 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
863 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
865 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
866 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
867 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
869 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
870 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
871 address of the last character written.
873 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
874 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
876 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
877 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
879 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
880 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
881 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
882 you dereference this pointer.
884 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
885 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
887 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
888 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
889 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
890 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
892 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
893 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
894 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
895 EAGAIN in every system call function.
899 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
900 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
901 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
902 in Emacs or the `info' program.
903 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
905 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
907 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
909 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
910 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
912 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
913 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
915 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
916 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
918 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
919 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
920 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
921 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
922 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
924 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
925 to the error code in `errno'.
927 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
928 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
929 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
932 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
933 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
934 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
936 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
937 uniquely-named temporary file.
941 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
942 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
943 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
945 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
948 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
949 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
951 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
955 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
956 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
957 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
958 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
960 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
961 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
962 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
964 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
965 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
967 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
968 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
969 made itself into a shared library.
971 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
972 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
974 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
977 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
979 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
981 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
983 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
984 function for traversing a directory tree.
986 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
987 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
988 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
989 formatted output directly to an obstack.
991 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
992 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
994 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
996 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
997 things to your strings.
999 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1001 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1002 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1003 supporting those systems.
1005 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1006 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1007 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1008 configuration files.
1010 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1011 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1013 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1014 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1016 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1017 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1018 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1019 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1020 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1021 required storage is not available.
1023 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1024 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1025 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1026 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1027 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1028 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1029 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1030 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1031 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1032 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1034 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1035 latest files released from Berkeley.
1037 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1038 Copyright information:
1040 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1042 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1043 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1044 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1045 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1047 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1048 of this document, or of portions of it,
1049 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1050 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1053 version-control: never
git://sourceware.org / glibc.git / blob