uClibc -- a C library for embedded systems

µ C l i b c

uClibc -- a C library for embedded systems
uClibc (aka µClibc/pronounced yew-see-lib-see) is a C library for developing embedded Linux systems. It is much smaller than the GNU C Library, but nearly all applications supported by glibc also work perfectly with uClibc. Porting applications from glibc to uClibc typically involves just recompiling the source code. uClibc even supports shared libraries and threading. It currently runs on standard Linux and MMU-less (also known as µClinux) systems with support for alpha, ARM, i386, i960, h8300, m68k, mips/mipsel, PowerPC, SH, SPARC, and v850 processors. If you are building an embedded Linux system and you find that glibc is eating up too much space, you should consider using uClibc. If you are building a huge fileserver with 12 Terabytes of storage, than using glibc may be a better choice... uClibc is maintained by Erik Andersen and is licensed under the GNU LIBRARY GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE . This license allows you to make closed source commercial applications using uClibc (Please consider sharing some of the money you make ;-). You do not need to give away all your source code just because you use uClibc and/or run on Linux. ### Mailing List Information uClibc has a mailing list. To subscribe, go and visit this page. ### Frequently Asked Questions You might want to take a look at the list of Frequently Asked Questions before asking questions on the mailing list... ### Working Applications List These days, pretty much everything compiles with uClibc. This is a list of applications that are known to work just fine with uClibc. Since most applications work just fine with uClibc, we are especially interested in knowing about any applications that either do not compile or do not work properly with uClibc. Submissions are welcome!
Latest News
27 August 2002, uClibc 0.9.15 Released CodePoet Consulting is pleased to announce the immediate availability of uClibc 0.9.15. This is release fixes a number of problems that have turned up since the last release. The good news is that uClibc now passes all tests in the perl 5.8 and Python 2.2.1 test suites, both with and without pthreads. So without any further ado.... The Changelog and source code for this release are available here. Have fun! 12 August 2002, uClibc 0.9.14 Released CodePoet Consulting is slightly less pleased then usual to announce the immediate availability of uClibc 0.9.14. This is, unfortunately, a bugfix release intended to fix the couple of dumb things that slipped into the previous release. Version 0.9.13 of uClibc would fail to compile when enabling both RPC and Pthreads. There was also a problem with RPC thread local storage (but noone noticed since it didn't compile ;-). Also, the thread locking in exit(), onexit() and atexit() was broken, and wasn't actually locking anything. This release also fixes uClibc's gcc wrapper to use crtbeginS.o and crtendS.o when compiling PIC code, fixing a subtle bug (that was much less subtle on powerpc). Finally, this release includes a few minor compile warning cleanups. The Changelog and source code for this release are available here. Have fun! 12 August 2002, Native uClibc/gcc-3.1.1 toolchain released CodePoet Consulting (i.e. Erik) has released an updated native uClibc/gcc-3.1.1 toolchain. This toolchain builds a real gcc cross compiler (i.e. not just a wrapper) and creates executables linked vs uClibc. This toolchain has been (briefly) tested as working on x86, arm, mips, and arm7tdmi (uClinux). This toolchain provides a number of improvements over previous releases. In particular, Steven J. Hill found and fixes a number of "glibc-isms" in the libstdc++ math support which caused a number of math functions to be mapped to the non-standard named under GNU libc. This release also includes greatly improved uClinux "elf2flt" support, and it now produces working flat binaries for my uClinux/arm7tdmi system. The native uClibc/gcc-2.95 toolchain will be updated in a few days, and will include STLport which will allow that toolchain to also provide full C++ support. This toolchain should make it easy for anyone to build uClibc based applications. Source code can be downloaded here. Be aware that much of the needed source code will actually be downloaded on demand when you compile things. To build the toolchain, simply grab the source, edit the Makefile to select where you would like the toolchain installed, run 'make', and then go watch TV, eat dinner, or visit with your friends while it compiles. It takes about 15 minutes for Erik to compile the gcc-3.1.1 toolchain (w/C++ support) on his Athlon XP 1600 (not counting the time it takes to download source code). Your results may vary... 9 August 2002, uClibc now mirrored on kernel.org! uClibc is now available from the kernel.org mirrors! This should make uClibc downloads much faster. The kernel.org mirrors will have all uClibc release versions (everything but the daily snapshots). Here is a list of all the kernel.org mirror sites. Just pick the closest mirror site, and then go to "/pub/linux/libs/uclibc/" to download uClibc. For example, is you live the USA, you can go to http://www.us.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/uclibc/ to download the latest uClibc release from a nice fast system. Old News Click here to read older news.
Sponsors
Please visit our sponsors and thank them for their support! They have provided money, equipment, bandwidth, etc. Next time you need help with a project, consider these fine companies! Several individuals have also contributed (If you have contributed and would like your name added here, just email Erik and let him know). opensource.se Embedded open source consulting in Europe. http://i-netinnovations.com/ Web hosting (currently hosting busybox.net and uclibc.org) Lineo Embedded Linux development and services. Codepoet Consulting Custom Linux, embedded Linux, BusyBox, and uClibc development.
Do you like uClibc? Do you need support? Do you need some feature added? Then why not help out? We are happy to accept donations (such as bandwidth, mirrors sites, and hardware for the various architectures). We can also provide support contracts, and implement funded feature requests. To contribute, you can either click on the Donate image to donate using PayPal, or you can contact Erik at CodePoet Consulting (we have a credit card machine so you can avoid PayPal if you wish). |
Download
Source for the latest release can always be downloaded from http://www.uclibc.org/downloads A new snapshot of the source is made daily and is available here uClibc has its own publically browsable CVS tree with anonymous CVS access, and for those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access.
Other Open Source C libraries:
GNU C Library (aka glibc) Al's FREE C Runtime Library diet libc the minix C library newlib and there is a C library, for eCos as well.
Links to other useful stuff
The uClibc home page BusyBox udhcp The uClinux home page The uClinux CVS repository CodePoet Consulting

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