1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-05-18
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 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
14 * Update from Berkeley db 2.7.5.
19 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
21 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
23 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
25 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
27 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
29 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
31 * Update timezone data files.
33 * lots of charmaps corrections
35 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
40 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
41 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
42 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
43 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
44 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
45 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
47 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
48 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
50 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
53 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
54 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
56 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
58 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
61 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
63 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
64 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
66 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
69 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
70 functions from ISO C 9X.
72 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
73 real valued functions.
75 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
77 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
79 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
81 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
83 * Optimized string functions have been added.
85 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
87 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
89 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
90 daemon for NSS (nscd).
92 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
93 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
97 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
99 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
101 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
103 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
105 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
107 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
109 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
110 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
113 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
114 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
116 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
118 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
120 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
121 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
123 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
125 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
128 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
129 latest draft standards.
131 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
133 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
134 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
135 addseverity NEW: Unix98
137 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
138 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
139 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
140 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
141 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
142 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
143 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
144 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
145 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
146 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
147 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
148 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
149 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
150 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
151 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
152 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
156 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
157 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
167 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
168 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
173 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
174 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
176 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
189 clearerr_locked REMOVED
190 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
193 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
194 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
225 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
226 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
227 endutxent NEW: Unix98
239 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
240 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
241 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
242 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
243 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
245 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
246 ferror_locked REMOVED
247 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
248 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
249 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
250 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
251 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
252 fflush_locked REMOVED
256 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
257 fileno_locked REMOVED
270 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
271 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
282 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
283 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
287 getchar_locked REMOVED
289 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
290 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
292 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
293 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
295 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
297 getutxent NEW: Unix98
299 getutxline NEW: Unix98
301 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
302 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
303 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
304 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
305 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
307 iconv_close NEW: iconv
308 iconv_open NEW: iconv
309 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
310 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
311 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
312 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
313 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
314 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
315 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
316 isastream NEW: STREAMS
317 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
318 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
319 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
320 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
321 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
322 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
323 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
324 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
325 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
326 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
328 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
329 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
330 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
331 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
332 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
340 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
341 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
343 makecontext NEW: Unix98
344 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
347 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
351 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
352 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
353 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
354 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
355 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
356 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
357 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
358 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
362 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
368 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
369 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
370 profil_counter REMOVED
371 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
372 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
373 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
374 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
376 putchar_locked REMOVED
377 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
380 pututxline NEW: Unix98
386 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
387 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
392 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
393 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
394 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
397 setcontext NEW: Unix98
399 setutxent NEW: Unix98
401 sigignore NEW: Unix98
402 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
405 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
406 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
408 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
409 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
413 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
414 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
415 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
416 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
417 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
418 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
419 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
420 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
421 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
422 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
424 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
425 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
432 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
434 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
435 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
436 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
437 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
439 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
440 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
441 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
442 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
443 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
444 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
445 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
448 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
449 write_profiling REMOVED
450 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
451 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
452 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
453 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
454 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
455 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
456 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
457 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
458 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
459 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
460 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
461 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
462 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
463 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
464 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
465 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
476 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
478 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
480 * rewrite of cbrt function
482 * update of timezone data
498 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
504 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
506 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
508 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
509 the ELF dynamic loader.
511 * support for parallel builds is improved
515 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
516 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
519 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
520 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
521 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
522 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
523 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
524 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
525 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
526 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
527 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
528 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
529 files in the ELF format.
531 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
532 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
534 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
535 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
536 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
537 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
538 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
539 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
540 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
541 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
542 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
543 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
544 about dynamically linked binaries.
546 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
547 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
548 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
549 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
550 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
552 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
553 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
554 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
555 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
556 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
558 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
560 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
561 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
562 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
563 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
564 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
565 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
566 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
567 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
568 NSS services available.
570 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
571 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
572 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
574 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
575 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
576 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
578 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
579 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
580 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
581 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
583 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
584 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
585 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
587 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
588 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
589 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
591 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
592 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
594 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
595 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
596 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
597 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
599 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
600 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
601 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
603 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
604 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
605 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
606 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
607 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
608 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
609 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
610 the header file <printf.h> for details.
612 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
613 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
614 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
615 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
616 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
617 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
618 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
620 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
621 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
622 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
623 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
624 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
625 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
627 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
628 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
630 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
631 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
632 NSS scheme used in glibc.
634 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
636 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
637 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
638 their use is discouraged.
640 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
641 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
643 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
644 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
646 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
647 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
649 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
652 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
653 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
654 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
655 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
656 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
658 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
659 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
660 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
661 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
663 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
664 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
666 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
667 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
668 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
669 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
672 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
673 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
675 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
676 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
678 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
679 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
680 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
681 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
683 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
685 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
686 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
687 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
689 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
690 for arithmetic and string handling.
692 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
693 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
694 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
695 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
697 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
698 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
699 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
700 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
701 programs already written to use it.)
703 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
706 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
709 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
710 a given effective group ID.
712 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
713 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
714 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
715 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
717 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
718 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
719 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
720 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
721 doing the same thing.
723 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
724 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
726 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
727 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
729 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
731 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
732 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
733 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
734 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
735 `-ldb' to get these functions.
737 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
738 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
740 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
741 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
742 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
745 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
747 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
748 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
751 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
752 and writing the utmp file.
754 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
757 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
758 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
759 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
761 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
762 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
764 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
765 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
768 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
769 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
770 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
771 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
773 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
774 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
775 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
777 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
778 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
779 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
782 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
785 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
788 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
790 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
791 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
792 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
796 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
798 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
799 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
801 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
802 want to put themselves in the background.
804 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
805 run without an operating system.
807 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
808 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
810 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
811 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
813 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
815 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
816 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
819 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
822 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
823 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
827 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
828 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
829 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
831 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
832 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
834 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
835 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
837 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
839 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
841 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
844 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
845 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
846 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
848 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
850 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
851 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
852 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
854 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
855 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
856 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
857 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
858 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
861 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
862 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
863 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
864 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
865 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
868 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
869 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
873 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
874 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
876 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
877 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
878 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
880 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
881 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
882 address of the last character written.
884 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
885 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
887 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
888 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
890 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
891 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
892 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
893 you dereference this pointer.
895 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
896 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
898 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
899 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
900 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
901 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
903 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
904 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
905 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
906 EAGAIN in every system call function.
910 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
911 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
912 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
913 in Emacs or the `info' program.
914 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
916 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
918 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
920 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
921 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
923 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
924 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
926 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
927 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
929 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
930 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
931 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
932 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
933 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
935 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
936 to the error code in `errno'.
938 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
939 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
940 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
943 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
944 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
945 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
947 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
948 uniquely-named temporary file.
952 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
953 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
954 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
956 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
959 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
960 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
962 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
966 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
967 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
968 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
969 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
971 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
972 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
973 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
975 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
976 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
978 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
979 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
980 made itself into a shared library.
982 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
983 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
985 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
988 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
990 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
992 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
994 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
995 function for traversing a directory tree.
997 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
998 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
999 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1000 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1002 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1003 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1005 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1007 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1008 things to your strings.
1010 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1012 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1013 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1014 supporting those systems.
1016 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1017 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1018 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1019 configuration files.
1021 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1022 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1024 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1025 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1027 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1028 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1029 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1030 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1031 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1032 required storage is not available.
1034 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1035 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1036 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1037 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1038 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1039 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1040 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1041 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1042 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1043 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1045 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1046 latest files released from Berkeley.
1048 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1049 Copyright information:
1051 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1053 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1054 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1055 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1056 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1058 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1059 of this document, or of portions of it,
1060 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1061 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1064 version-control: never
git://sourceware.org / glibc.git / blob