path: root/INSTALL

Library Maintenance
*******************

How to Install the GNU C Library
================================

   Installation of the GNU C library is relatively simple, but usually
requires several GNU tools to be installed already.

   To configure the GNU C library for your system, run the shell script
`configure' with `sh'.  Use an argument which is the conventional GNU
name for your system configuration--for example, `sparc-sun-sunos4.1',
for a Sun 4 running SunOS 4.1.  *Note Installation:
(gcc.info)Installation, for a full description of standard GNU
configuration names.  If you omit the configuration name, `configure'
will try to guess one for you by inspecting the system it is running
on.  It may or may not be able to come up with a guess, and the its
guess might be wrong.  `configure' will tell you the canonical name of
the chosen configuration before proceeding.

   Here are some options that you should specify (if appropriate) when
you run `configure':

`--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
     Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in `DIRECTORY', not the
     ones the C compiler would default to.  You could use this option if
     the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
     constructs in the GNU C library.  (`configure' will detect the
     problem and suppress these constructs, so the library will still
     be usable, but functionality may be lost--for example, you can not
     build a shared libc with old binutils.)

`--without-fp'
`--nfp'
     Use this option if your computer lacks hardware floating-point
     support and your operating system does not emulate an FPU.

`--prefix=DIRECTORY'
     Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
     `DIRECTORY'.  (You can also set this in `configparms'; see below.)
     The default is to install in `/usr/local'.

`--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
     Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
     subdirectories of `DIRECTORY'.  (You can also set this in
     `configparms'; see below.)  The default is to use <prefix>/bin and
     <prefix>/sbin.

`--enable-shared'
`--disable-shared'
     Enable or disable building of an ELF shared library on systems that
     support it.  The default is to build the shared library on systems
     using ELF when the GNU `binutils' are available.

`--enable-profile'
`--disable-profile'
     Enable or disable building of the profiled C library, `-lc_p'.  The
     default is to build the profiled library.  You may wish to disable
     it if you don't plan to do profiling, because it doubles the build
     time of compiling just the unprofiled static library.

`--enable-omitfp'
     Enable building a highly-optimized but possibly undebuggable
     static C library.  This causes the normal static and shared (if
     enabled) C libraries to be compiled with maximal optimization,
     including the `-fomit-frame-pointer' switch that makes debugging
     impossible on many machines, and without debugging information
     (which makes the binaries substantially smaller).  An additional
     static library is compiled with no optimization and full debugging
     information, and installed as `-lc_g'.

   The simplest way to run `configure' is to do it in the directory
that contains the library sources.  This prepares to build the library
in that very directory.

   You can prepare to build the library in some other directory by going
to that other directory to run `configure'.  In order to run configure,
you will have to specify a directory for it, like this:

     mkdir sun4
     cd sun4
     ../configure sparc-sun-sunos4.1

`configure' looks for the sources in whatever directory you specified
for finding `configure' itself.  It does not matter where in the file
system the source and build directories are--as long as you specify the
source directory when you run `configure', you will get the proper
results.

   This feature lets you keep sources and binaries in different
directories, and that makes it easy to build the library for several
different machines from the same set of sources.  Simply create a build
directory for each target machine, and run `configure' in that
directory specifying the target machine's configuration name.

   The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters.
These are defined in the file `Makeconfig'; see the comments in that
file for the details.

   But don't edit the file `Makeconfig' yourself--instead, create a
file `configparms' in the directory where you are building the library,
and define in that file the parameters you want to specify.
`configparms' should *not* be an edited copy of `Makeconfig'; specify
only the parameters that you want to override.  To see how to set these
parameters, find the section of `Makeconfig' that says "These are the
configuration variables." Then for each parameter that you want to
change, copy the definition from `Makeconfig' to your new `configparms'
file, and change the value as appropriate for your system.

   It is easy to configure the GNU C library for cross-compilation by
setting a few variables in `configparms'.  Set `CC' to the
cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
important to use this same `CC' value when running `configure', like
this: `CC=TARGET-gcc configure TARGET'.  Set `BUILD_CC' to the compiler
to use for for programs run on the build system as part of compiling
the library.  You may need to set `AR' and `RANLIB' to cross-compiling
versions of `ar' and `ranlib' if the native tools are not configured to
work with object files for the target you configured for.

   Some of the machine-dependent code for some machines uses extensions
in the GNU C compiler, so you may need to compile the library with GCC.
(In fact, all of the existing complete ports require GCC.)

   To build the library and related programs, type `make'.  This will
produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from `make'
(but isn't).  Look for error messages from `make' containing `***'.
Those indicate that something is really wrong.

   To build and run some test programs which exercise some of the
library facilities, type `make check'.  This will produce several files
with names like `PROGRAM.out'.

   To format the `GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
`make dvi'.  You need a working TeX installation to do this.

   To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of
the manual, type `make install'.  This will build things if necessary,
before installing them.  If you want to install the files in a different
place than the one specified at configuration time you can specify a
value for the Makefile variable `install_root' on the command line.
This is useful to create chroot'ed environment or to prepare binary
releases.

Recommended Tools to Install the GNU C Library
----------------------------------------------

   We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
build the GNU C library:

   * `make' 3.76.1

     You need the latest version of GNU `make'.  Modifying the GNU C
     Library to work with other `make' programs would be so hard that we
     recommend you port GNU `make' instead.  *Really.*  We recommend
     version GNU `make' version 3.75, 3.76.1 or later.  Version 3.76 is
     known to have a bug which only shows up in big projects like GNU
     `libc'.

   * GCC 2.7.2.3

     On most platforms, the GNU C library can only be compiled with the
     GNU C compiler.  We recommend GCC version 2.7.2 or later; earlier
     versions may have problems.

     On PowerPC, GCC versions dated earlier than 970904 are known not
     to work (they crash), including 2.7.2.

   * `binutils' 2.8.1

     Using the GNU `binutils' (assembler, linker, and related tools) is
     preferable when possible, and they are required to build an ELF
     shared C library.  We recommend `binutils' version 2.8.1 or later;
     earlier versions are known to have problems or to not support all
     architectures.

   * `texinfo' 3.11

     To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
     need this version of the `texinfo' package.  Former versions did
     not understand all the tags used in the document and also the
     installation mechanisms for the info files was not present or
     worked differently.

     On some Debian Linux based systems the used `install-info' program
     works differently.  Here you have to run make like this:

          make INSTALL_INFO=/path/to/GNU/install-info install

   If you change any configuration file you will need also

   * `autoconf' 2.12

and if you change any of the message translation files you will also
need

   * `GNU gettext' 0.10 or later

If you upgrade your source tree using the patches made available you
probably will need those package above in any case.

Supported Configurations
------------------------

   The GNU C Library currently supports configurations that match the
following patterns:

     alpha-ANYTHING-linux
     iX86-ANYTHING-gnu
     iX86-ANYTHING-linux
     m68k-ANYTHING-linux
     powerpc-ANYTHING-linux
     sparc64-ANYTHING-linux

   Former releases of this library (version 1.09.1 and perhaps earlier
versions) used to run on the following configurations:

     alpha-dec-osf1
     alpha-ANYTHING-linuxecoff
     iX86-ANYTHING-bsd4.3
     iX86-ANYTHING-isc2.2
     iX86-ANYTHING-isc3.N
     iX86-ANYTHING-sco3.2
     iX86-ANYTHING-sco3.2v4
     iX86-ANYTHING-sysv
     iX86-ANYTHING-sysv4
     iX86-force_cpu386-none
     iX86-sequent-bsd
     i960-nindy960-none
     m68k-hp-bsd4.3
     m68k-mvme135-none
     m68k-mvme136-none
     m68k-sony-newsos3
     m68k-sony-newsos4
     m68k-sun-sunos4.N
     mips-dec-ultrix4.N
     mips-sgi-irix4.N
     sparc-sun-solaris2.N
     sparc-sun-sunos4.N

   Since no one has volunteered to test and fix the above
configurations, these are not supported at the moment.  It's expected
that these don't work anymore.  Porting the library is not hard.  If
you are interested in doing a port, please contact the glibc
maintainers by sending electronic mail to <bug-glibc@prep.ai.mit.edu>.

   Each case of `iX86' can be `i386', `i486', `i586', or `i686'.  All
of those configurations produce a library that can run on any of these
processors.  The library will be optimized for the specified processor,
but will not use instructions not available on all of them.

   While no other configurations are supported, there are handy aliases
for these few.  (These aliases work in other GNU software as well.)

     decstation
     hp320-bsd4.3 hp300bsd
     i486-gnu
     i586-linux
     i386-sco
     i386-sco3.2v4
     i386-sequent-dynix
     i386-svr4
     news
     sun3-sunos4.N sun3
     sun4-solaris2.N sun4-sunos5.N
     sun4-sunos4.N sun4

Reporting Bugs
==============

   There are probably bugs in the GNU C library.  There are certainly
errors and omissions in this manual.  If you report them, they will get
fixed.  If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.

   To report a bug, first you must find it.  Hopefully, this will be the
hard part.  Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug.  A
good way to do this is to see if the GNU C library behaves the same way
some other C library does.  If so, probably you are wrong and the
libraries are right (but not necessarily).  If not, one of the libraries
is probably wrong.

   Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
smallest test case that reproduces the problem.  In the case of a C
library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
call, if possible.  This should not be too difficult.

   The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
When reporting a bug, send your test case, the results you got, the
results you expected, what you think the problem might be (if you've
thought of anything), your system type, and the version of the GNU C
library which you are using.  Also include the files `config.status'
and `config.make' which are created by running `configure'; they will
be in whatever directory was current when you ran `configure'.

   If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C library does
not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
Portability::.), that is definitely a bug.  Report it!

   Send bug reports to the Internet address <bug-glibc@prep.ai.mit.edu>
or the UUCP path <mit-eddie!prep.ai.mit.edu!bug-glibc>.  If you have
other problems with installation or use, please report those as well.

   If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual.  Report that too!  If the
function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement.  If you find any
errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the Internet
address <bug-glibc-manual@prep.ai.mit.edu> or the UUCP path
<mit-eddie!prep.ai.mit.edu!bug-glibc-manual>.

Adding New Functions
====================

   The process of building the library is driven by the makefiles, which
make heavy use of special features of GNU `make'.  The makefiles are
very complex, and you probably don't want to try to understand them.
But what they do is fairly straightforward, and only requires that you
define a few variables in the right places.

   The library sources are divided into subdirectories, grouped by
topic.

   The `string' subdirectory has all the string-manipulation functions,
`math' has all the mathematical functions, etc.

   Each subdirectory contains a simple makefile, called `Makefile',
which defines a few `make' variables and then includes the global
makefile `Rules' with a line like:

     include ../Rules

The basic variables that a subdirectory makefile defines are:

`subdir'
     The name of the subdirectory, for example `stdio'.  This variable
     *must* be defined.

`headers'
     The names of the header files in this section of the library, such
     as `stdio.h'.

`routines'
`aux'
     The names of the modules (source files) in this section of the
     library.  These should be simple names, such as `strlen' (rather
     than complete file names, such as `strlen.c').  Use `routines' for
     modules that define functions in the library, and `aux' for
     auxiliary modules containing things like data definitions.  But the
     values of `routines' and `aux' are just concatenated, so there
     really is no practical difference.

`tests'
     The names of test programs for this section of the library.  These
     should be simple names, such as `tester' (rather than complete file
     names, such as `tester.c').  `make tests' will build and run all
     the test programs.  If a test program needs input, put the test
     data in a file called `TEST-PROGRAM.input'; it will be given to
     the test program on its standard input.  If a test program wants
     to be run with arguments, put the arguments (all on a single line)
     in a file called `TEST-PROGRAM.args'.  Test programs should exit
     with zero status when the test passes, and nonzero status when the
     test indicates a bug in the library or error in building.

`others'
     The names of "other" programs associated with this section of the
     library.  These are programs which are not tests per se, but are
     other small programs included with the library.  They are built by
     `make others'.

`install-lib'
`install-data'
`install'
     Files to be installed by `make install'.  Files listed in
     `install-lib' are installed in the directory specified by `libdir'
     in `configparms' or `Makeconfig' (*note Installation::.).  Files
     listed in `install-data' are installed in the directory specified
     by `datadir' in `configparms' or `Makeconfig'.  Files listed in
     `install' are installed in the directory specified by `bindir' in
     `configparms' or `Makeconfig'.

`distribute'
     Other files from this subdirectory which should be put into a
     distribution tar file.  You need not list here the makefile itself
     or the source and header files listed in the other standard
     variables.  Only define `distribute' if there are files used in an
     unusual way that should go into the distribution.

`generated'
     Files which are generated by `Makefile' in this subdirectory.
     These files will be removed by `make clean', and they will never
     go into a distribution.

`extra-objs'
     Extra object files which are built by `Makefile' in this
     subdirectory.  This should be a list of file names like `foo.o';
     the files will actually be found in whatever directory object
     files are being built in.  These files will be removed by
     `make clean'.  This variable is used for secondary object files
     needed to build `others' or `tests'.

Porting the GNU C Library
=========================

   The GNU C library is written to be easily portable to a variety of
machines and operating systems.  Machine- and operating system-dependent
functions are well separated to make it easy to add implementations for
new machines or operating systems.  This section describes the layout of
the library source tree and explains the mechanisms used to select
machine-dependent code to use.

   All the machine-dependent and operating system-dependent files in the
library are in the subdirectory `sysdeps' under the top-level library
source directory.  This directory contains a hierarchy of
subdirectories (*note Hierarchy Conventions::.).

   Each subdirectory of `sysdeps' contains source files for a
particular machine or operating system, or for a class of machine or
operating system (for example, systems by a particular vendor, or all
machines that use IEEE 754 floating-point format).  A configuration
specifies an ordered list of these subdirectories.  Each subdirectory
implicitly appends its parent directory to the list.  For example,
specifying the list `unix/bsd/vax' is equivalent to specifying the list
`unix/bsd/vax unix/bsd unix'.  A subdirectory can also specify that it
implies other subdirectories which are not directly above it in the
directory hierarchy.  If the file `Implies' exists in a subdirectory,
it lists other subdirectories of `sysdeps' which are appended to the
list, appearing after the subdirectory containing the `Implies' file.
Lines in an `Implies' file that begin with a `#' character are ignored
as comments.  For example, `unix/bsd/Implies' contains:
     # BSD has Internet-related things.
     unix/inet

and `unix/Implies' contains:
     posix

So the final list is `unix/bsd/vax unix/bsd unix/inet unix posix'.

   `sysdeps' has a "special" subdirectory called `generic'.  It is
always implicitly appended to the list of subdirectories, so you
needn't put it in an `Implies' file, and you should not create any
subdirectories under it intended to be new specific categories.
`generic' serves two purposes.  First, the makefiles do not bother to
look for a system-dependent version of a file that's not in `generic'.
This means that any system-dependent source file must have an analogue
in `generic', even if the routines defined by that file are not
implemented on other platforms.  Second. the `generic' version of a
system-dependent file is used if the makefiles do not find a version
specific to the system you're compiling for.

   If it is possible to implement the routines in a `generic' file in
machine-independent C, using only other machine-independent functions in
the C library, then you should do so.  Otherwise, make them stubs.  A
"stub" function is a function which cannot be implemented on a
particular machine or operating system.  Stub functions always return an
error, and set `errno' to `ENOSYS' (Function not implemented).  *Note
Error Reporting::.  If you define a stub function, you must place the
statement `stub_warning(FUNCTION)', where FUNCTION is the name of your
function, after its definition; also, you must include the file
`<stub-tag.h>' into your file.  This causes the function to be listed
in the installed `<gnu/stubs.h>', and makes GNU ld warn when the
function is used.

   Some rare functions are only useful on specific systems and aren't
defined at all on others; these do not appear anywhere in the
system-independent source code or makefiles (including the `generic'
and `stub' directories), only in the system-dependent `Makefile' in the
specific system's subdirectory.

   If you come across a file that is in one of the main source
directories (`string', `stdio', etc.), and you want to write a machine-
or operating system-dependent version of it, move the file into
`sysdeps/generic' and write your new implementation in the appropriate
system-specific subdirectory.  Note that if a file is to be
system-dependent, it *must not* appear in one of the main source
directories.

   There are a few special files that may exist in each subdirectory of
`sysdeps':

`Makefile'
     A makefile for this machine or operating system, or class of
     machine or operating system.  This file is included by the library
     makefile `Makerules', which is used by the top-level makefile and
     the subdirectory makefiles.  It can change the variables set in the
     including makefile or add new rules.  It can use GNU `make'
     conditional directives based on the variable `subdir' (see above)
     to select different sets of variables and rules for different
     sections of the library.  It can also set the `make' variable
     `sysdep-routines', to specify extra modules to be included in the
     library.  You should use `sysdep-routines' rather than adding
     modules to `routines' because the latter is used in determining
     what to distribute for each subdirectory of the main source tree.

     Each makefile in a subdirectory in the ordered list of
     subdirectories to be searched is included in order.  Since several
     system-dependent makefiles may be included, each should append to
     `sysdep-routines' rather than simply setting it:

          sysdep-routines := $(sysdep-routines) foo bar

`Subdirs'
     This file contains the names of new whole subdirectories under the
     top-level library source tree that should be included for this
     system.  These subdirectories are treated just like the
     system-independent subdirectories in the library source tree, such
     as `stdio' and `math'.

     Use this when there are completely new sets of functions and header
     files that should go into the library for the system this
     subdirectory of `sysdeps' implements.  For example,
     `sysdeps/unix/inet/Subdirs' contains `inet'; the `inet' directory
     contains various network-oriented operations which only make sense
     to put in the library on systems that support the Internet.

`Dist'
     This file contains the names of files (relative to the
     subdirectory of `sysdeps' in which it appears) which should be
     included in the distribution.  List any new files used by rules in
     the `Makefile' in the same directory, or header files used by the
     source files in that directory.  You don't need to list files that
     are implementations (either C or assembly source) of routines
     whose names are given in the machine-independent makefiles in the
     main source tree.

`configure'
     This file is a shell script fragment to be run at configuration
     time.  The top-level `configure' script uses the shell `.' command
     to read the `configure' file in each system-dependent directory
     chosen, in order.  The `configure' files are often generated from
     `configure.in' files using Autoconf.

     A system-dependent `configure' script will usually add things to
     the shell variables `DEFS' and `config_vars'; see the top-level
     `configure' script for details.  The script can check for
     `--with-PACKAGE' options that were passed to the top-level
     `configure'.  For an option `--with-PACKAGE=VALUE' `configure'
     sets the shell variable `with_PACKAGE' (with any dashes in PACKAGE
     converted to underscores) to VALUE; if the option is just
     `--with-PACKAGE' (no argument), then it sets `with_PACKAGE' to
     `yes'.

`configure.in'
     This file is an Autoconf input fragment to be processed into the
     file `configure' in this subdirectory.  *Note Introduction:
     (autoconf.info)Introduction, for a description of Autoconf.  You
     should write either `configure' or `configure.in', but not both.
     The first line of `configure.in' should invoke the `m4' macro
     `GLIBC_PROVIDES'.  This macro does several `AC_PROVIDE' calls for
     Autoconf macros which are used by the top-level `configure'
     script; without this, those macros might be invoked again
     unnecessarily by Autoconf.

   That is the general system for how system-dependencies are isolated.

Layout of the `sysdeps' Directory Hierarchy
-------------------------------------------

   A GNU configuration name has three parts: the CPU type, the
manufacturer's name, and the operating system.  `configure' uses these
to pick the list of system-dependent directories to look for.  If the
`--nfp' option is *not* passed to `configure', the directory
`MACHINE/fpu' is also used.  The operating system often has a "base
operating system"; for example, if the operating system is `sunos4.1',
the base operating system is `unix/bsd'.  The algorithm used to pick
the list of directories is simple: `configure' makes a list of the base
operating system, manufacturer, CPU type, and operating system, in that
order.  It then concatenates all these together with slashes in
between, to produce a directory name; for example, the configuration
`sparc-sun-sunos4.1' results in `unix/bsd/sun/sparc/sunos4.1'.
`configure' then tries removing each element of the list in turn, so
`unix/bsd/sparc' and `sun/sparc' are also tried, among others.  Since
the precise version number of the operating system is often not
important, and it would be very inconvenient, for example, to have
identical `sunos4.1.1' and `sunos4.1.2' directories, `configure' tries
successively less specific operating system names by removing trailing
suffixes starting with a period.

   As an example, here is the complete list of directories that would be
tried for the configuration `sparc-sun-sunos4.1' (without the `--nfp'
option):

     sparc/fpu
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos4.1/sparc
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos4.1
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos4/sparc
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos4
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos/sparc
     unix/bsd/sun/sunos
     unix/bsd/sun/sparc
     unix/bsd/sun
     unix/bsd/sunos4.1/sparc
     unix/bsd/sunos4.1
     unix/bsd/sunos4/sparc
     unix/bsd/sunos4
     unix/bsd/sunos/sparc
     unix/bsd/sunos
     unix/bsd/sparc
     unix/bsd
     unix/sun/sunos4.1/sparc
     unix/sun/sunos4.1
     unix/sun/sunos4/sparc
     unix/sun/sunos4
     unix/sun/sunos/sparc
     unix/sun/sunos
     unix/sun/sparc
     unix/sun
     unix/sunos4.1/sparc
     unix/sunos4.1
     unix/sunos4/sparc
     unix/sunos4
     unix/sunos/sparc
     unix/sunos
     unix/sparc
     unix
     sun/sunos4.1/sparc
     sun/sunos4.1
     sun/sunos4/sparc
     sun/sunos4
     sun/sunos/sparc
     sun/sunos
     sun/sparc
     sun
     sunos4.1/sparc
     sunos4.1
     sunos4/sparc
     sunos4
     sunos/sparc
     sunos
     sparc

   Different machine architectures are conventionally subdirectories at
the top level of the `sysdeps' directory tree.  For example,
`sysdeps/sparc' and `sysdeps/m68k'.  These contain files specific to
those machine architectures, but not specific to any particular
operating system.  There might be subdirectories for specializations of
those architectures, such as `sysdeps/m68k/68020'. Code which is
specific to the floating-point coprocessor used with a particular
machine should go in `sysdeps/MACHINE/fpu'.

   There are a few directories at the top level of the `sysdeps'
hierarchy that are not for particular machine architectures.

`generic'
     As described above (*note Porting::.), this is the subdirectory
     that every configuration implicitly uses after all others.

`ieee754'
     This directory is for code using the IEEE 754 floating-point
     format, where the C type `float' is IEEE 754 single-precision
     format, and `double' is IEEE 754 double-precision format.  Usually
     this directory is referred to in the `Implies' file in a machine
     architecture-specific directory, such as `m68k/Implies'.

`posix'
     This directory contains implementations of things in the library in
     terms of POSIX.1 functions.  This includes some of the POSIX.1
     functions themselves.  Of course, POSIX.1 cannot be completely
     implemented in terms of itself, so a configuration using just
     `posix' cannot be complete.

`unix'
     This is the directory for Unix-like things.  *Note Porting to
     Unix::.  `unix' implies `posix'.  There are some special-purpose
     subdirectories of `unix':

    `unix/common'
          This directory is for things common to both BSD and System V
          release 4.  Both `unix/bsd' and `unix/sysv/sysv4' imply
          `unix/common'.

    `unix/inet'
          This directory is for `socket' and related functions on Unix
          systems.  The `inet' top-level subdirectory is enabled by
          `unix/inet/Subdirs'.  `unix/common' implies `unix/inet'.

`mach'
     This is the directory for things based on the Mach microkernel
     from CMU (including the GNU operating system).  Other basic
     operating systems (VMS, for example) would have their own
     directories at the top level of the `sysdeps' hierarchy, parallel
     to `unix' and `mach'.

Porting the GNU C Library to Unix Systems
-----------------------------------------

   Most Unix systems are fundamentally very similar.  There are
variations between different machines, and variations in what
facilities are provided by the kernel.  But the interface to the
operating system facilities is, for the most part, pretty uniform and
simple.

   The code for Unix systems is in the directory `unix', at the top
level of the `sysdeps' hierarchy.  This directory contains
subdirectories (and subdirectory trees) for various Unix variants.

   The functions which are system calls in most Unix systems are
implemented in assembly code, which is generated automatically from
specifications in the file `sysdeps/unix/syscalls.list'.  Some special
system calls are implemented in files that are named with a suffix of
`.S'; for example, `_exit.S'.  Files ending in `.S' are run through the
C preprocessor before being fed to the assembler.

   These files all use a set of macros that should be defined in
`sysdep.h'.  The `sysdep.h' file in `sysdeps/unix' partially defines
them; a `sysdep.h' file in another directory must finish defining them
for the particular machine and operating system variant.  See
`sysdeps/unix/sysdep.h' and the machine-specific `sysdep.h'
implementations to see what these macros are and what they should do.

   The system-specific makefile for the `unix' directory (that is, the
file `sysdeps/unix/Makefile') gives rules to generate several files
from the Unix system you are building the library on (which is assumed
to be the target system you are building the library *for*).  All the
generated files are put in the directory where the object files are
kept; they should not affect the source tree itself.  The files
generated are `ioctls.h', `errnos.h', `sys/param.h', and `errlist.c'
(for the `stdio' section of the library).

Contributors to the GNU C Library
=================================

   The GNU C library was written originally by Roland McGrath.  Some
parts of the library were contributed or worked on by other people.

   * The `getopt' function and related code were written by Richard
     Stallman, David J. MacKenzie, and Roland McGrath.

   * The merge sort function `qsort' was written by Michael J. Haertel.

   * The quick sort function used as a fallback by `qsort' was written
     by Douglas C. Schmidt.

   * The memory allocation functions `malloc', `realloc' and `free' and
     related code were written by Michael J. Haertel.

   * Fast implementations of many of the string functions (`memcpy',
     `strlen', etc.) were written by Torbj"orn Granlund.

   * The `tar.h' header file was written by David J. MacKenzie.

   * The port to the MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4
     (`mips-dec-ultrix4') was contributed by Brendan Kehoe and Ian
     Lance Taylor.

   * The DES encryption function `crypt' and related functions were
     contributed by Michael Glad.

   * The `ftw' and `nftw' function was contributed by Ulrich Drepper.

   * The startup code to support SunOS shared libraries was contributed
     by Tom Quinn.

   * The `mktime' function was contributed by Paul Eggert.

   * The port to the Sequent Symmetry running Dynix version 3
     (`i386-sequent-bsd') was contributed by Jason Merrill.

   * The timezone support code is derived from the public-domain
     timezone package by Arthur David Olson and his many contributors.

   * The port to the DEC Alpha running OSF/1 (`alpha-dec-osf1') was
     contributed by Brendan Kehoe, using some code written by Roland
     McGrath.

   * The port to SGI machines running Irix 4 (`mips-sgi-irix4') was
     contributed by Tom Quinn.

   * The port of the Mach and Hurd code to the MIPS architecture
     (`mips-ANYTHING-gnu') was contributed by Kazumoto Kojima.

   * The floating-point printing function used by `printf' and friends
     and the floating-point reading function used by `scanf', `strtod'
     and friends were written by Ulrich Drepper.  The multi-precision
     integer functions used in those functions are taken from GNU MP,
     which was contributed by Torbj"orn Granlund.

   * The internationalization support in the library, and the support
     programs `locale' and `localedef', were written by Ulrich Drepper.
     Ulrich Drepper adapted the support code for message catalogs
     (`libintl.h', etc.) from the GNU `gettext' package, which he also
     wrote.  He also contributed the `catgets' support and the entire
     suite of multi-byte and wide-character support functions
     (`wctype.h', `wchar.h', etc.).

   * The implementations of the `nsswitch.conf' mechanism and the files
     and DNS backends for it were designed and written by Ulrich
     Drepper and Roland McGrath, based on a backend interface defined
     by Peter Eriksson.

   * The port to Linux i386/ELF (`i386-ANYTHING-linux') was contributed
     by Ulrich Drepper, based in large part on work done in Hongjiu
     Lu's Linux version of the GNU C Library.

   * The port to Linux/m68k (`m68k-ANYTHING-linux') was contributed by
     Andreas Schwab.

   * The ports to Linux/ARM (`arm-ANYTHING-linuxaout') and ARM
     standalone (`arm-ANYTHING-none'), as well as parts of the IPv6
     support code, were contributed by Philip Blundell.

   * Richard Henderson contributed the ELF dynamic linking code and
     other support for the Alpha processor.

   * David Mosberger-Tang contributed the port to Linux/Alpha
     (`alpha-ANYTHING-linux').

   * The port to Linux on PowerPC (`powerpc-ANYTHING-linux') was
     contributed by Geoffrey Keating.

   * Miles Bader wrote the argp argument-parsing package, and the
     argz/envz interfaces.

   * Stephen R. van den Berg contributed a highly-optimized `strstr'
     function.

   * Ulrich Drepper contributed the `hsearch' and `drand48' families of
     functions; reentrant `...`_r'' versions of the `random' family;
     System V shared memory and IPC support code; and several
     highly-optimized string functions for iX86 processors.

   * The math functions are taken from `fdlibm-5.1' by Sun
     Microsystems, as modified by J.T. Conklin, Ian Lance Taylor,
     Ulrich Drepper, Andreas Schwab, and Roland McGrath.

   * The `libio' library used to implement `stdio' functions on some
     platforms was written by Per Bothner and modified by Ulrich
     Drepper.

   * The Internet-related code (most of the `inet' subdirectory) and
     several other miscellaneous functions and header files have been
     included from 4.4 BSD with little or no modification.

     All code incorporated from 4.4 BSD is under the following
     copyright:

               Copyright (C) 1991 Regents of the University of California.
               All rights reserved.

          Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
          without modification, are permitted provided that the
          following conditions are met:

            1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer.

            2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
               materials provided with the distribution.

            3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of
               this software must display the following acknowledgement:
                    This product includes software developed by the
                    University of California, Berkeley and its
                    contributors.

            4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its
               contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
               derived from this software without specific prior
               written permission.

          THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
          IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
          LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
          FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT
          SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
          INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
          DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
          SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS;
          OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
          LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
          (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF
          THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
          OF SUCH DAMAGE.

   * The random number generation functions `random', `srandom',
     `setstate' and `initstate', which are also the basis for the
     `rand' and `srand' functions, were written by Earl T. Cohen for
     the University of California at Berkeley and are copyrighted by the
     Regents of the University of California.  They have undergone minor
     changes to fit into the GNU C library and to fit the ISO C
     standard, but the functional code is Berkeley's.

   * The Internet resolver code is taken directly from BIND 4.9.5,
     which is under both the Berkeley copyright above and also:

          Portions Copyright (C) 1993 by Digital Equipment Corporation.

          Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
          for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted,
          provided that the above copyright notice and this permission
          notice appear in all copies, and that the name of Digital
          Equipment Corporation not be used in advertising or publicity
          pertaining to distribution of the document or software
          without specific, written prior permission.

          THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP.
          DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,
          INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
          FITNESS.  IN NO EVENT SHALL DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION BE
          LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
          DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
          DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE
          OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
          WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

   * The code to support Sun RPC is taken verbatim from Sun's
     RPCSRC-4.0 distribution, and is covered by this copyright:

               Copyright (C) 1984, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

          Sun RPC is a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is
          provided for unrestricted use provided that this legend is
          included on all tape media and as a part of the software
          program in whole or part.  Users may copy or modify Sun RPC
          without charge, but are not authorized to license or
          distribute it to anyone else except as part of a product or
          program developed by the user.

          SUN RPC IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND
          INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTIBILITY AND
          FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ARISING FROM A COURSE OF
          DEALING, USAGE OR TRADE PRACTICE.

          Sun RPC is provided with no support and without any
          obligation on the part of Sun Microsystems, Inc. to assist in
          its use, correction, modification or enhancement.

          SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT
          TO THE INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS, TRADE SECRETS OR ANY
          PATENTS BY SUN RPC OR ANY PART THEREOF.

          In no event will Sun Microsystems, Inc. be liable for any
          lost revenue or profits or other special, indirect and
          consequential damages, even if Sun has been advised of the
          possibility of such damages.

               Sun Microsystems, Inc.
               2550 Garcia Avenue
               Mountain View, California  94043

   * Some of the support code for Mach is taken from Mach 3.0 by CMU,
     and is under the following copyright terms:

               Mach Operating System
               Copyright (C) 1991,1990,1989 Carnegie Mellon University
               All Rights Reserved.

          Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software
          and its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both
          the copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all
          copies of the software, derivative works or modified
          versions, and any portions thereof, and that both notices
          appear in supporting documentation.

          CARNEGIE MELLON ALLOWS FREE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IN ITS "AS
          IS" CONDITION.  CARNEGIE MELLON DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY OF
          ANY KIND FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM THE USE OF
          THIS SOFTWARE.

          Carnegie Mellon requests users of this software to return to

                Software Distribution Coordinator
                School of Computer Science
                Carnegie Mellon University
                Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890

          or <Software.Distribution@CS.CMU.EDU> any improvements or
          extensions that they make and grant Carnegie Mellon the
          rights to redistribute these changes.

   * The code for the database library `libdb' comes from the 2.3
     release of Berkeley DB. That code is under the same copyright as
     4.4 BSD and also:

               Copyright (C) 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
               Sleepycat Software.  All rights reserved.

          Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
          without modification, are permitted provided that the
          following conditions are met:

            1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer.

            2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
               materials provided with the distribution.

            3. Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by
               information on how to obtain complete source code for
               the DB software and any accompanying software that uses
               the DB software.  The source code must either be
               included in the distribution or be available for no more
               than the cost of distribution plus a nominal fee, and
               must be freely redistributable under reasonable
               conditions.  For an executable file, complete source
               code means the source code for all modules it contains.
               It does not mean source code for modules or files that
               typically accompany the operating system on which the
               executable file runs, e.g., standard library modules or
               system header files.

          THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY SLEEPYCAT SOFTWARE "AS IS" AND
          ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
          TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
          A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
          SLEEPYCAT SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
          INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
          (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
          GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
          INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
          WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
          NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
          THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
          DAMAGE.

               Portions copyright (C) 1995, 1996
               The President and Fellows of Harvard University.
               All rights reserved.

          Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
          without modification, are permitted provided that the
          following conditions are met:
            1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer.

            2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
               copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
               following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
               materials provided with the distribution.

            3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of
               this software must display the following acknowledgement:
                     This product includes software developed by
                    Harvard University  and its contributors.

            4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its
               contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
               derived from this software without specific prior
               written permission.

          THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY HARVARD AND ITS CONTRIBUTORS "AS
          IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
          LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
          FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT
          SHALL HARVARD OR ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
          INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
          DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
          SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS;
          OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
          LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
          (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF
          THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
          OF SUCH DAMAGE.

          For a license to use, redistribute or sell DB software under
          conditions other than those described above, or to purchase
          support for this software, please contact Sleepycat Software
          at

                Sleepycat Software
                394 E. Riding Dr.
                Carlisle, MA 01741
                USA
                +1-508-287-4781

          or <db@sleepycat.com>.