bug-glibc
[Top][All Lists]
Advanced

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

glibc 2.3.2 released


From: Mark Brown
Subject: glibc 2.3.2 released
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 11:08:53 -0600

After several months of development glibc 2.3.2 is available.  It can be
downloaded at

  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/glibc

and all the mirrors.  Please always use your local mirrors.  The new
files are

  glibc-2.3.2.tar.bz2
  glibc-2.3.2.tar.gz
  glibc-linuxthreads-2.3.2.tar.bz2
  glibc-linuxthreads-2.3.2.tar.gz
  glibc-2.3.1-2.3.2.diff.bz2
  glibc-2.3.1-2.3.2.diff.gz

[use of the .bz2 files is preferred if possible, as they are
significantly smaller.]

This release is not just a bug fix release, it contains considerable
amount of new functionality.  The most important new features are:

Version 2.3.2

* Thread-safe interfaces for many functions that access locale data
  were added in version 2.3, but these features were omitted from NEWS.
  Many functions have variants with an `_l' suffix that take a `locale_t'
  object as a parameter rather than consulting the current locale.
  The new functions `newlocale', `duplocale', and `freelocale' in 
<locale.h>
  create and maintain `locale_t' objects.  Additionally, the new function
  `uselocale' sets "the current locale" (as used by functions not so
  parameterized) set for an individual thread.  These features were added
  in version 2.3, implemented by Ulrich Drepper and Roland McGrath.

* The functions getresuid, getresgid, setresuid, and setresgid, which
  have long been available, are now declared in <unistd.h>
  and are now also available on the Hurd.

* ELF thread-local storage support (TLS) now works on x86-64.

* The new dynamic string token $LIB is expanded in shared library names.
  This normally expands to lib, but on some 64-bit platforms to lib64
  instead.

* Aldy Hernandez contributed complete software floating point support for
  PowerPC machines with no FPU.

* fexecve is implemented.

* The `btowc' function should work at least twice as fast due to
  specialized callbacks in the iconv modules.  Implemented by Bruno 
Haible.

* With approriate thread add-ons cancelable functions are now implemented
  in libc.so as well.  No need to call the function in libpthread.  This
  change allowed to finally disable the incorrect and expensive handling
  of weak definition in ld.so.

* Yet more PLT entries in libc.so have been removed.  We finally arrived
  at the bare minimum.  Startup times improved appropriately.

* Support for the new Linux kernel x86 system call interface was added. 
The
  AT_SYSINFO auxiliary vector entry is recognized and handled.


Beside these changes there are many other internal changes, changes to
the build system, documentation.  The sources were also prepared to be
used with the NPTL thread library which is not yet included.

The support for the various platforms hasn't changed much.  New
platforms have better support now and what has worked in 2.3.1 should
work now.


Updating to this release is always advised.  But one thing hasn't
changed: it is not easy to build and install glibc.  In fact, it is very
hard and a mistake might ruin the entire system.  Therefore it is highly
advised to use the binaries by your vendor.  We are not responsible for
you blowing up your system.  And most problems with the installation
have been proven to be not reproducible so it is unlikely that any help
is available.


And on the topic of help: bugs must be reported to the vendor.  The
glibc developers are not a replacement for the frontline support of the
various vendors.  And reports of problems for anything but the latest
sources are most likely ignored as well.  Before reporting a problem
consult the mailing list archive for libc-alpha and eventually the
libc-hacker mailing list, available at

  http://sources.redhat.com/lists.html.

Also consult the documentation coming with the glibc sources.  They
might prove useful.  Real bug reports for the latest official sources
should be send using the glibcbug script or by using the GNATS web page at

  http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl



-------------------
Mark S. Brown 
address@hidden




reply via email to

[Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread]