glibc 2.1.93

[Ulrich Drepper <drepper at redhat dot com>]

I've uploaded the files for the third test release of glibc 2.2 to

  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/glibc/releases/

You can find the files

  glibc-2.1.93.tar.bz2                 (also .gz)
  glibc-2.1.92-2.1.93.diff.bz2         (also .gz)
  glibc-linuxthreads-2.1.93.tar.gz
  nss_db-2.1.92.tar.gz

there.  The diff file is large but most changes are to data files.  We
have fixed quite a few bugs, plugged several more memory leaks (or at
least added missing free() calls), added the last pieces to support
IA-64 and S390, added support for the most recent Linux kernel
changes, and started optimizing for a final release.  There are no
known binary compatibility issues with glibc 2.1 programs anymore.
This release is suitable to be used on non-essential machines (I'm
careful, I would use it everywhere since it contains far fewer bugs
than 2.1.3 but don't want to get blamed).

One of the things fixed in this release is the nss_db module.  It
didn't work at all with statically linked applications in previous
test releases.  The solution is to separate the sources in its own
package and let the user compile it separately after glibc and the db
library of choice.  This is what the nss_db file mentioned above is
for.  And yes, 2.1.92 is the current version.

The biggest changes are in the locale area.  We have a better data
format and faster localedef (thanks to Bruno Haible) which will
require applications linked statically against glibc 2.1.91 or 2.1.92
to be relinked.  They wouldn't crash but instead stop using locale
information.

We have also a large number of new locales, mainly due to help from
IBM Japan.  The total number of supported locales is now 131.  Many of
the locales are not complete, though, since IBM's data did not contain
the information for the new categories.  Any help to fill the gaps is
appreciated.

Also, the collation handling needs tweaking for languages which need
ordering different from the standard one.  One example of how this is
done is the Swedish locale which I have fixed recently (look at the
sv_SE file).  If your language requires attention please write down
the rules (or refer to a document readable for the developers) and
we'll adjust the ordering.


We are close to a final release and therefore I encourage everybody
with the necessary knowledge to try this version.  There is no way we
can ensure a working libc (including backward compatibility) without a
larger amount of testers.

Send success stories and bug reports to libc-alpha@sourceware.cygnus.com.

-- 
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