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-rw-r--r--FAQ68
1 files changed, 33 insertions, 35 deletions
diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ
index 91e531dbf1..9ebd95d7a5 100644
--- a/FAQ
+++ b/FAQ
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
Frequently Asked Question on GNU C Library
-As every FAQ this one also tries to answer the questions the user
-might when using the pacakge. Please make sure you read this before
-sending questions/bug reports to the maintainers.
+As every FAQ this one also tries to answer questions the user might have
+when using the pacakge. Please make sure you read this before sending
+questions or bug reports to the maintainers.
The GNU C Library is very complex. The building process exploits the
features available in tools generally available. But many things can
@@ -11,17 +11,17 @@ understand because it has to be portable but on the other hand must be
fast. But you need not understand the details to use GNU C Library.
This will only be necessary if you intend to contribute or change it.
-If you have any question which you think might be worth answered in
-this document let me know.
+If you have any questions you think should be answered in this document,
+please let me know.
--drepper@cygnus.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-[Q1] ``What systems the GNU C Library runs on?''
+[Q1] ``What systems does the GNU C Library run on?''
-[Q2] ``What compiler do I need to translate GNU libc?''
+[Q2] ``What compiler do I need to build GNU libc?''
-[Q3] ``When starting make I get only errors messages.
+[Q3] ``When starting make I get only error messages.
What's wrong?''
[Q4] ``After I changed configure.in I get `Autoconf version X.Y.
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ this document let me know.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-[Q1] ``What systems the GNU C Library runs on?''
+[Q1] ``What systems does the GNU C Library run on?''
[A1] {UD} This is difficult to answer. The file `README' lists the
architectures GNU libc is known to run *at some time*. This does not
@@ -57,12 +57,11 @@ some success reports first.
If you have a system not listed above (or in the `README' file) and
you are really interested in porting it, contact
- Roland McGrath <roland@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
-or Ulrich Drepper <drepper@cygnus.com>
+ <bug-glibc@prep.ai.mit.edu>
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-[Q2] ``What compiler do I need to translate GNU libc?''
+[Q2] ``What compiler do I need to build GNU libc?''
[A2] {UD} It is (almost) impossible to compile GNU C Library using a
different compiler than GNU CC. A lot of extensions of GNU CC are
@@ -111,6 +110,9 @@ will not get a really ISO C compliant C library. Generally speaking
you should use the GNU binutils if they provide at least the same
functionality as your system's tools.
+Always get the newest release of GNU binutils available.
+Older releases are known to have bugs that affect building the GNU C library.
+
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Q6] ``Do I need some more things to compile GNU C Library?''
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ functionality as your system's tools.
* plenty of time (approx 1h for i386-linux on i586@133 or 2.5h or
i486@66).
- If you have some more interested measurements let me know.
+ If you are interested in some more measurements let me know.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
@@ -146,7 +148,7 @@ symbols:
is linked against libm, too.)
Generally, you should make sure you find a real program which produces
-errors while linking.
+errors while linking before deciding there is a problem.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
@@ -154,21 +156,19 @@ errors while linking.
the old Linux based GNU libc. Why isn't it like this?''
[A8] {DMT} Not every extension in Linux libc's history was well
-thought. In fact it had a lot of problems with standard compliance
-and cleanliness. With the introduction of a new version number these
-errors now can be corrected. The following list shows a list of the
-know source code incompatibilities.
-
-* _GNU_SOURCE: glibc does not automatically define _GNU_SOURCE. Thus,
- if a program depends on GNU extensions, it is necessary
- to compile it with C compiler option -D_GNU_SOURCE. This difference
- normally mainfests itself in the form of missing prototypes and/or
- data type definitions. Thus, if you get such errors, the first thing you
- should do is grep the header files in /usr/include and /usr/include/sys
- to check whether the functions are really missing or whether it is
- just necessary to add a define of _GNU_SOURCE. Similar comments apply
- to _BSD_SOURCE, _POSIX_SOURCE, _SVID_SOURCE etc (see
- /usr/include/features.h).
+thought-out. In fact it had a lot of problems with standards compliance
+and with cleanliness. With the introduction of a new version number these
+errors now can be corrected. Here is a list of the known source code
+incompatibilities:
+
+* _GNU_SOURCE: glibc does not automatically define _GNU_SOURCE. Thus, if a
+ program depends on GNU extensions, it is necessary to compile it with C
+ compiler option -D_GNU_SOURCE, or better, to put `#define _GNU_SOURCE' at
+ the beginning of your source files, before any C library header files are
+ included. This difference normally mainfests itself in the form of
+ missing prototypes and/or data type definitions. Thus, if you get such
+ errors, the first thing you should do is try defining _GNU_SOURCE and see
+ if that makes the problem go away.
* reboot(): GNU libc sanitizes the interface of reboot() to be more
compatible with the interface used on other OSes. In particular,
@@ -194,16 +194,12 @@ know source code incompatibilities.
syscall name: wrapper name: declaring header file:
------------- ------------- ----------------------
- bdflush bdflush <unistd.h>
+ bdflush bdflush ???
create_module create_module <sys/module.h>
delete_module delete_module <sys/module.h>
get_kernel_syms get_kernel_syms <sys/module.h>
init_module init_module <sys/module.h>
- syslog ksyslog_ctl <unistd.h>
-
- To get the Linux-specific declarations in <unistd.h>, you'll need
- to define C pre-processor macro _LINUX_SOURCE during compilation.
-
+ syslog ksyslog_ctl ???
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
@@ -212,6 +208,8 @@ Answers were given by:
{UD} Ulrich Drepper, <drepper@cygnus.com>
{DMT} David Mosberger-Tang, <davidm@AZStarNet.com>
+Amended by:
+{RM} Roland McGrath <roland@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
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