* Say "GNU/Linux distributions" instead of "Linux distributions". * Clarify claim about popularity of glibc. * Tighten wording. Signed-off-by: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@xxxxxxxxx> --- man7/libc.7 | 103 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------ 1 file changed, 55 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-) diff --git a/man7/libc.7 b/man7/libc.7 index 43ec0269f..c6180075c 100644 --- a/man7/libc.7 +++ b/man7/libc.7 @@ -16,80 +16,88 @@ Because of some history use of the term \(lqlibc\(rq to refer to the standard C library is somewhat ambiguous on Linux. .SS glibc -By far the most widely used C library on Linux is the +The standard libc most popularly used with the Linux kernel is .UR http://www.gnu.org\:/software\:/libc/ GNU C Library .UE , -often referred to as +widely called .IR glibc . -This is the C library that is nowadays used in all -major Linux distributions. -It is also the C library whose details are documented +This implementation is nowadays used +in all major GNU/Linux distributions. +Its details are documented in the relevant pages of the +Linux .I man-pages -project -(primarily in Section 3 of the manual). -Documentation of glibc is also available in the glibc manual, -available via the command -.IR "info libc" . -Release 1.0 of glibc was made in September 1992. +project, +primarily in section 3 of the manual. +glibc also offers a manual of its own in Texinfo format, +browsable at the command line with +.RI \(lq "info libc" \(rq. +Version 1.0 of glibc was released in September 1992. (There were earlier 0.x releases.) -The next major release of glibc was 2.0, +The next major release of glibc was 2.0 at the beginning of 1997. .PP -The pathname +The file .I /lib/libc.so.6 -(or something similar) -is normally a symbolic link that -points to the location of the glibc library, -and executing this pathname will cause glibc to display -various information about the version installed on your system. +or similar +is normally a symbolic link to the glibc library. +Execute it to display information about the version installed on your +system. .SS Linux libc -In the early to mid 1990s, -there was for a while +In the early to mid-1990s, .IR "Linux libc" , -a fork of glibc 1.x created by Linux developers who felt that glibc -development at the time was not sufficing for the needs of Linux. +a fork of glibc\~1, +was maintained by Linux developers +who felt that glibc development at the time +did not meet the Linux user community's needs. Often, -this library was referred to (ambiguously) as just \(lqlibc\(rq. +this library was referred to, +simply and ambiguously, +as \(lqlibc\(rq. Linux libc released major versions 2, 3, 4, and 5, -as well as many minor versions of those releases. -Linux libc4 was the last version to use the a.out binary format, -and the first version to provide (primitive) shared library support. -Linux libc 5 was the first version to support the ELF binary format; -this version used the shared library soname +along with many minor updates. +Linux libc\~4 was the last to use the +object file format called \(lqa.out\(rq, +and the first on Linux to provide (primitive) shared library support. +Linux libc\~5 was the first on Linux to support ELF object code; +it employed the +.I soname +(shared object name) .IR libc.so.5 . For a while, -Linux libc was the standard C library in many Linux distributions. +Linux libc was the standard C library in many GNU/Linux distributions. .PP -However, -notwithstanding the original motivations of the Linux libc effort, -by the time glibc 2.0 was released -(in 1997), +Notwithstanding the original motivations of the Linux libc effort, +by the time glibc 2.0 was released, it was clearly superior to Linux libc, -and all major Linux distributions that had been using Linux libc -soon switched back to glibc. -To avoid any confusion with Linux libc versions, -glibc 2.0 and later used the shared library soname -.IR libc.so.6 . +and all major GNU/Linux distributions that had been using Linux libc +soon switched (back) to glibc. +To avoid confusion with Linux libc versioning, +glibc 2.0 and later use the soname +.I libc.so.6 +on Linux systems to indicate their status as successors +to Linux libc\~5. .PP Since the switch from Linux libc to glibc 2.0 occurred long ago, .I man-pages no longer takes care to document Linux libc details. Nevertheless, -the history is visible in vestiges of information -about Linux libc that remain in a few manual pages, +vestiges of this history linger in comments +about Linux libc in a few manual pages\(em\ in particular, references to .I libc4 and .IR libc5 . .SS Other C libraries -There are various other less widely used C libraries for Linux. -These libraries are generally smaller than glibc, -both in terms of features and memory footprint, -and often intended for building small binaries, -perhaps targeted at development for embedded Linux systems. +Other, +less widely used, +C libraries for Linux exist. +They are generally smaller than glibc +in terms of features and memory footprint, +and are often intended for building small binaries, +such as those targetting embedded systems. Among such libraries are .UR http://www\:.uclibc\:.org/ .I uClibc @@ -101,10 +109,9 @@ and .UR http://www\:.musl\-libc\:.org/ .I "musl libc" .UE . -Details of these libraries are covered by the +Details of these are offered by Linux .I man-pages -project, -where they are known. +where known. .SH SEE ALSO .BR syscalls (2), .BR getauxval (3), -- 2.30.2
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