@node Maintenance, Platform, Installation, Top @c %MENU% How to enhance and port the GNU C Library @appendix Library Maintenance @menu * Source Layout:: How to add new functions or header files to the GNU C Library. * Symbol handling:: How to handle symbols in the GNU C Library. * Porting:: How to port the GNU C Library to a new machine or operating system. @end menu @node Source Layout @appendixsec Adding New Functions The process of building the library is driven by the makefiles, which make heavy use of special features of GNU @code{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 @file{string} subdirectory has all the string-manipulation functions, @file{math} has all the mathematical functions, etc. Each subdirectory contains a simple makefile, called @file{Makefile}, which defines a few @code{make} variables and then includes the global makefile @file{Rules} with a line like: @smallexample include ../Rules @end smallexample @noindent The basic variables that a subdirectory makefile defines are: @table @code @item subdir The name of the subdirectory, for example @file{stdio}. This variable @strong{must} be defined. @item headers The names of the header files in this section of the library, such as @file{stdio.h}. @item routines @itemx aux The names of the modules (source files) in this section of the library. These should be simple names, such as @samp{strlen} (rather than complete file names, such as @file{strlen.c}). Use @code{routines} for modules that define functions in the library, and @code{aux} for auxiliary modules containing things like data definitions. But the values of @code{routines} and @code{aux} are just concatenated, so there really is no practical difference. @item tests The names of test programs for this section of the library. These should be simple names, such as @samp{tester} (rather than complete file names, such as @file{tester.c}). @w{@samp{make tests}} will build and run all the test programs. If a test program needs input, put the test data in a file called @file{@var{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 @file{@var{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. @item 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 @w{@samp{make others}}. @item install-lib @itemx install-data @itemx install Files to be installed by @w{@samp{make install}}. Files listed in @samp{install-lib} are installed in the directory specified by @samp{libdir} in @file{configparms} or @file{Makeconfig} (@pxref{Installation}). Files listed in @code{install-data} are installed in the directory specified by @samp{datadir} in @file{configparms} or @file{Makeconfig}. Files listed in @code{install} are installed in the directory specified by @samp{bindir} in @file{configparms} or @file{Makeconfig}. @item 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 @code{distribute} if there are files used in an unusual way that should go into the distribution. @item generated Files which are generated by @file{Makefile} in this subdirectory. These files will be removed by @w{@samp{make clean}}, and they will never go into a distribution. @item extra-objs Extra object files which are built by @file{Makefile} in this subdirectory. This should be a list of file names like @file{foo.o}; the files will actually be found in whatever directory object files are being built in. These files will be removed by @w{@samp{make clean}}. This variable is used for secondary object files needed to build @code{others} or @code{tests}. @end table @menu * Platform: Adding Platform-specific. Adding platform-specific features. @end menu @node Adding Platform-specific @appendixsubsec Platform-specific types, macros and functions It's sometimes necessary to provide nonstandard, platform-specific features to developers. The C library is traditionally the lowest library layer, so it makes sense for it to provide these low-level features. However, including these features in the C library may be a disadvantage if another package provides them as well as there will be two conflicting versions of them. Also, the features won't be available to projects that do not use @theglibc{} but use other GNU tools, like GCC. The current guidelines are: @itemize @bullet @item If the header file provides features that only make sense on a particular machine architecture and have nothing to do with an operating system, then the features should ultimately be provided as GCC built-in functions. Until then, @theglibc{} may provide them in the header file. When the GCC built-in functions become available, those provided in the header file should be made conditionally available prior to the GCC version in which the built-in function was made available. @item If the header file provides features that are specific to an operating system, both GCC and @theglibc{} could provide it, but @theglibc{} is preferred as it already has a lot of information about the operating system. @item If the header file provides features that are specific to an operating system but used by @theglibc{}, then @theglibc{} should provide them. @end itemize The general solution for providing low-level features is to export them as follows: @itemize @bullet @item A nonstandard, low-level header file that defines macros and inline functions should be called @file{sys/platform/@var{name}.h}. @item Each header file's name should include the platform name, to avoid users thinking there is anything in common between the different header files for different platforms. For example, a @file{sys/platform/@var{arch}.h} name such as @file{sys/platform/ppc.h} is better than @file{sys/platform.h}. @item A platform-specific header file provided by @theglibc{} should coordinate with GCC such that compiler built-in versions of the functions and macros are preferred if available. This means that user programs will only ever need to include @file{sys/platform/@var{arch}.h}, keeping the same names of types, macros, and functions for convenience and portability. @item Each included symbol must have the prefix @code{__@var{arch}_}, such as @code{__ppc_get_timebase}. @end itemize The easiest way to provide a header file is to add it to the @code{sysdep_headers} variable. For example, the combination of Linux-specific header files on PowerPC could be provided like this: @smallexample sysdep_headers += sys/platform/ppc.h @end smallexample Then ensure that you have added a @file{sys/platform/ppc.h} header file in the machine-specific directory, e.g., @file{sysdeps/powerpc/sys/platform/ppc.h}. @node Symbol handling @appendixsec Symbol handling in the GNU C Library @menu * 64-bit time symbol handling :: How to handle 64-bit time related symbols in the GNU C Library. @end menu @node 64-bit time symbol handling @appendixsubsec 64-bit time symbol handling in the GNU C Library With respect to time handling, @glibcadj{} configurations fall in two classes depending on the value of @code{__TIMESIZE}: @table @code @item @code{__TIMESIZE == 32} These @dfn{dual-time} configurations have both 32-bit and 64-bit time support. 32-bit time support provides type @code{time_t} and cannot handle dates beyond @dfn{Y2038}. 64-bit time support provides type @code{__time64_t} and can handle dates beyond @dfn{Y2038}. In these configurations, time-related types have two declarations, a 64-bit one, and a 32-bit one; and time-related functions generally have two definitions: a 64-bit one, and a 32-bit one which is a wrapper around the former. Therefore, for every @code{time_t}-related symbol, there is a corresponding @code{__time64_t}-related symbol, the name of which is usually the 32-bit symbol's name with @code{__} (a double underscore) prepended and @code{64} appended. For instance, the 64-bit-time counterpart of @code{clock_gettime} is @code{__clock_gettime64}. @item @code{__TIMESIZE == 64} These @dfn{single-time} configurations only have a 64-bit @code{time_t} and related functions, which can handle dates beyond 2038-01-19 03:14:07 (aka @dfn{Y2038}). In these configurations, time-related types only have a 64-bit declaration; and time-related functions only have one 64-bit definition. However, for every @code{time_t}-related symbol, there is a corresponding @code{__time64_t}-related macro, the name of which is derived as in the dual-time configuration case, and which expands to the symbol's name. For instance, the macro @code{__clock_gettime64} expands to @code{clock_gettime}. These macros are purely internal to @theglibc{} and exist only so that a single definition of the 64-bit time functions can be used on both single-time and dual-time configurations, and so that glibc code can freely call the 64-bit functions internally in all configurations. @end table @c The following paragraph should be removed once external interfaces @c get support for both time sizes. Note: at this point, 64-bit time support in dual-time configurations is work-in-progress, so for these configurations, the public API only makes the 32-bit time support available. In a later change, the public API will allow user code to choose the time size for a given compilation unit. 64-bit variants of time-related types or functions are defined for all configurations and use 64-bit-time symbol names (for dual-time configurations) or macros (for single-time configurations). 32-bit variants of time-related types or functions are defined only for dual-time configurations. Here is an example with @code{localtime}: Function @code{localtime} is declared in @file{time/time.h} as @smallexample extern struct tm *localtime (const time_t *__timer) __THROW; libc_hidden_proto (localtime) @end smallexample For single-time configurations, @code{__localtime64} is a macro which evaluates to @code{localtime}; for dual-time configurations, @code{__localtime64} is a function similar to @code{localtime} except it uses Y2038-proof types: @smallexample #if __TIMESIZE == 64 # define __localtime64 localtime #else extern struct tm *__localtime64 (const __time64_t *__timer) __THROW; libc_hidden_proto (__localtime64) #endif @end smallexample (note: type @code{time_t} is replaced with @code{__time64_t} because @code{time_t} is not Y2038-proof, but @code{struct tm} is not replaced because it is already Y2038-proof.) The 64-bit-time implementation of @code{localtime} is written as follows and is compiled for both dual-time and single-time configuration classes. @smallexample struct tm * __localtime64 (const __time64_t *t) @{ return __tz_convert (*t, 1, &_tmbuf); @} libc_hidden_def (__localtime64) @end smallexample The 32-bit-time implementation is a wrapper and is only compiled for dual-time configurations: @smallexample #if __TIMESIZE != 64 struct tm * localtime (const time_t *t) @{ __time64_t t64 = *t; return __localtime64 (&t64); @} libc_hidden_def (localtime) #endif @end smallexample @node Porting @appendixsec Porting @theglibc{} @Theglibc{} 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 @file{sysdeps} under the top-level library source directory. This directory contains a hierarchy of subdirectories (@pxref{Hierarchy Conventions}). Each subdirectory of @file{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 @file{unix/bsd/vax} is equivalent to specifying the list @file{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 @file{Implies} exists in a subdirectory, it lists other subdirectories of @file{sysdeps} which are appended to the list, appearing after the subdirectory containing the @file{Implies} file. Lines in an @file{Implies} file that begin with a @samp{#} character are ignored as comments. For example, @file{unix/bsd/Implies} contains: @smallexample # BSD has Internet-related things. unix/inet @end smallexample @noindent and @file{unix/Implies} contains: @need 300 @smallexample posix @end smallexample @noindent So the final list is @file{unix/bsd/vax unix/bsd unix/inet unix posix}. @file{sysdeps} has a ``special'' subdirectory called @file{generic}. It is always implicitly appended to the list of subdirectories, so you needn't put it in an @file{Implies} file, and you should not create any subdirectories under it intended to be new specific categories. @file{generic} serves two purposes. First, the makefiles do not bother to look for a system-dependent version of a file that's not in @file{generic}. This means that any system-dependent source file must have an analogue in @file{generic}, even if the routines defined by that file are not implemented on other platforms. Second, the @file{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 @file{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 @dfn{stub} function is a function which cannot be implemented on a particular machine or operating system. Stub functions always return an error, and set @code{errno} to @code{ENOSYS} (Function not implemented). @xref{Error Reporting}. If you define a stub function, you must place the statement @code{stub_warning(@var{function})}, where @var{function} is the name of your function, after its definition. This causes the function to be listed in the installed @code{<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 @file{generic} directory), only in the system-dependent @file{Makefile} in the specific system's subdirectory. If you come across a file that is in one of the main source directories (@file{string}, @file{stdio}, etc.), and you want to write a machine- or operating system-dependent version of it, move the file into @file{sysdeps/generic} and write your new implementation in the appropriate system-specific subdirectory. Note that if a file is to be system-dependent, it @strong{must not} appear in one of the main source directories. There are a few special files that may exist in each subdirectory of @file{sysdeps}: @comment Blank lines after items make the table look better. @table @file @item Makefile A makefile for this machine or operating system, or class of machine or operating system. This file is included by the library makefile @file{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 @code{make} conditional directives based on the variable @samp{subdir} (see above) to select different sets of variables and rules for different sections of the library. It can also set the @code{make} variable @samp{sysdep-routines}, to specify extra modules to be included in the library. You should use @samp{sysdep-routines} rather than adding modules to @samp{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 @samp{sysdep-routines} rather than simply setting it: @smallexample sysdep-routines := $(sysdep-routines) foo bar @end smallexample @need 1000 @item 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 @file{stdio} and @file{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 @file{sysdeps} implements. For example, @file{sysdeps/unix/inet/Subdirs} contains @file{inet}; the @file{inet} directory contains various network-oriented operations which only make sense to put in the library on systems that support the Internet. @item configure This file is a shell script fragment to be run at configuration time. The top-level @file{configure} script uses the shell @code{.} command to read the @file{configure} file in each system-dependent directory chosen, in order. The @file{configure} files are often generated from @file{configure.ac} files using Autoconf. A system-dependent @file{configure} script will usually add things to the shell variables @samp{DEFS} and @samp{config_vars}; see the top-level @file{configure} script for details. The script can check for @w{@samp{--with-@var{package}}} options that were passed to the top-level @file{configure}. For an option @w{@samp{--with-@var{package}=@var{value}}} @file{configure} sets the shell variable @w{@samp{with_@var{package}}} (with any dashes in @var{package} converted to underscores) to @var{value}; if the option is just @w{@samp{--with-@var{package}}} (no argument), then it sets @w{@samp{with_@var{package}}} to @samp{yes}. @item configure.ac This file is an Autoconf input fragment to be processed into the file @file{configure} in this subdirectory. @xref{Introduction,,, autoconf.info, Autoconf: Generating Automatic Configuration Scripts}, for a description of Autoconf. You should write either @file{configure} or @file{configure.ac}, but not both. The first line of @file{configure.ac} should invoke the @code{m4} macro @samp{GLIBC_PROVIDES}. This macro does several @code{AC_PROVIDE} calls for Autoconf macros which are used by the top-level @file{configure} script; without this, those macros might be invoked again unnecessarily by Autoconf. @end table That is the general system for how system-dependencies are isolated. @iftex The next section explains how to decide what directories in @file{sysdeps} to use. @ref{Porting to Unix}, has some tips on porting the library to Unix variants. @end iftex @menu * Hierarchy Conventions:: The layout of the @file{sysdeps} hierarchy. * Porting to Unix:: Porting the library to an average Unix-like system. @end menu @node Hierarchy Conventions @appendixsubsec Layout of the @file{sysdeps} Directory Hierarchy A GNU configuration name has three parts: the CPU type, the manufacturer's name, and the operating system. @file{configure} uses these to pick the list of system-dependent directories to look for. If the @samp{--nfp} option is @emph{not} passed to @file{configure}, the directory @file{@var{machine}/fpu} is also used. The operating system often has a @dfn{base operating system}; for example, if the operating system is @samp{Linux}, the base operating system is @samp{unix/sysv}. The algorithm used to pick the list of directories is simple: @file{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 @w{@samp{i686-linux-gnu}} results in @file{unix/sysv/linux/i386/i686}. @file{configure} then tries removing each element of the list in turn, so @file{unix/sysv/linux} and @file{unix/sysv} 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 @file{irix6.2} and @file{irix6.3} directories, @file{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 @w{@samp{i686-linux-gnu}}: @smallexample sysdeps/i386/elf sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/i386 sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux sysdeps/gnu sysdeps/unix/common sysdeps/unix/mman sysdeps/unix/inet sysdeps/unix/sysv/i386/i686 sysdeps/unix/sysv/i386 sysdeps/unix/sysv sysdeps/unix/i386 sysdeps/unix sysdeps/posix sysdeps/i386/i686 sysdeps/i386/i486 sysdeps/libm-i387/i686 sysdeps/i386/fpu sysdeps/libm-i387 sysdeps/i386 sysdeps/wordsize-32 sysdeps/ieee754 sysdeps/libm-ieee754 sysdeps/generic @end smallexample Different machine architectures are conventionally subdirectories at the top level of the @file{sysdeps} directory tree. For example, @w{@file{sysdeps/sparc}} and @w{@file{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 @w{@file{sysdeps/m68k/68020}}. Code which is specific to the floating-point coprocessor used with a particular machine should go in @w{@file{sysdeps/@var{machine}/fpu}}. There are a few directories at the top level of the @file{sysdeps} hierarchy that are not for particular machine architectures. @table @file @item generic As described above (@pxref{Porting}), this is the subdirectory that every configuration implicitly uses after all others. @item ieee754 This directory is for code using the IEEE 754 floating-point format, where the C type @code{float} is IEEE 754 single-precision format, and @code{double} is IEEE 754 double-precision format. Usually this directory is referred to in the @file{Implies} file in a machine architecture-specific directory, such as @file{m68k/Implies}. @item libm-ieee754 This directory contains an implementation of a mathematical library usable on platforms which use @w{IEEE 754} conformant floating-point arithmetic. @item libm-i387 This is a special case. Ideally the code should be in @file{sysdeps/i386/fpu} but for various reasons it is kept aside. @item posix This directory contains implementations of things in the library in terms of @sc{POSIX.1} functions. This includes some of the @sc{POSIX.1} functions themselves. Of course, @sc{POSIX.1} cannot be completely implemented in terms of itself, so a configuration using just @file{posix} cannot be complete. @item unix This is the directory for Unix-like things. @xref{Porting to Unix}. @file{unix} implies @file{posix}. There are some special-purpose subdirectories of @file{unix}: @table @file @item unix/common This directory is for things common to both BSD and System V release 4. Both @file{unix/bsd} and @file{unix/sysv/sysv4} imply @file{unix/common}. @item unix/inet This directory is for @code{socket} and related functions on Unix systems. @file{unix/inet/Subdirs} enables the @file{inet} top-level subdirectory. @file{unix/common} implies @file{unix/inet}. @end table @item mach This is the directory for things based on the Mach microkernel from CMU (including @gnuhurdsystems{}). Other basic operating systems (VMS, for example) would have their own directories at the top level of the @file{sysdeps} hierarchy, parallel to @file{unix} and @file{mach}. @end table @node Porting to Unix @appendixsubsec Porting @theglibc{} 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 @file{unix}, at the top level of the @file{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 files named @file{syscalls.list}. There are several such files, one in @file{sysdeps/unix} and others in its subdirectories. Some special system calls are implemented in files that are named with a suffix of @samp{.S}; for example, @file{_exit.S}. Files ending in @samp{.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 @file{sysdep.h}. The @file{sysdep.h} file in @file{sysdeps/unix} partially defines them; a @file{sysdep.h} file in another directory must finish defining them for the particular machine and operating system variant. See @file{sysdeps/unix/sysdep.h} and the machine-specific @file{sysdep.h} implementations to see what these macros are and what they should do. The system-specific makefile for the @file{unix} directory (@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 @emph{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 @file{ioctls.h}, @file{errnos.h}, @file{sys/param.h}, and @file{errlist.c} (for the @file{stdio} section of the library). @ignore @c This section might be a good idea if it is finished, @c but there's no point including it as it stands. --rms @c @appendixsec Compatibility with Traditional C @c ??? This section is really short now. Want to keep it? --roland @c It's not anymore true. glibc 2.1 cannot be used with K&R compilers. @c --drepper Although @theglibc{} implements the @w{ISO C} library facilities, you @emph{can} use @theglibc{} with traditional, ``pre-ISO'' C compilers. However, you need to be careful because the content and organization of the @glibcadj{} header files differs from that of traditional C implementations. This means you may need to make changes to your program in order to get it to compile. @end ignore