From: jqb AT netcom DOT com (Jim Balter) Subject: Re: newlib vs glibc 27 Mar 1997 23:58:14 -0800 Approved: cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Distribution: cygnus Message-ID: <3339EC88.69C4.cygnus.gnu-win32@netcom.com> References: <199703260606 DOT RAA03386 AT mundook DOT cs DOT mu DOT OZ DOT AU> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (WinNT; I) Original-To: Fergus Henderson Original-CC: gnu-win32 Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Fergus Henderson wrote: > > Jim Balter wrote: > > > > [...bug in bsearch()...] A better fix is to replace bsearch.c > > with the simpler, more efficient, and more comprehendable one from > > glibc (in fact, all of newlib should be replaced with glibc, but that's > > another story): > > So why do we have two C libraries? I'm not sure what you mean by "we". Cygnus (Steve Chamberlain?) decided for some reason, when creating gnu-win32, to put together their own "newlib" from Berkeley code and various other sources, rather than use glibc. Perhaps glibc wasn't in good shape at the time or newlib was already used internally at Cygnus or ...; the answers to such questions often involve complex and ad hoc history. There are various couplings between cygwin.dll and newlib such that one cannot casually rip out newlib and replace it with something else. Certainly not when that something else is glibc, which has its own framework for coupling with the lower level system. Nonetheless, converting to glibc might well be worth it in the long run. I have my own plans for a POSIX dll that I am pursuing, and one of my requirements is that it be integrated into glibc. Some of that effort might also work toward making it easier to integrate cygwin.dll with glibc, but that's not my main goal. I just threw out a couple of provocative comments about glibc to see if anyone would take the bait; glibc is of significantly higher quality than newlib, partly because it has a wider user base, partly because it is higher on the evolutionary tree, and partly (largely) for the kind of talent (e.g., Roland McGrath, Ulrich Drepper) involved in it (the sort that GNU projects tend to draw). -- - For help on using this list, send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".