uClibc -- a C library for embedded systems
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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
Before asking questions on the uClibc mailing list,
you might want to take a look at the
list of Frequently Asked Questions
or
you might want to search the mailing list archives...
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!
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Latest News
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- 8 November 2002, uClibc 0.9.16 Released
CodePoet Consulting is pleased to announce the immediate availability of
uClibc 0.9.16. This release adds full support (including a native shared
library loader) for the CRIS architecture, contributed by Tobias Anderberg.
Stefan Allius contributed a number of patches to fix the initialization
order for shared library global constructors and destructors as well as a
large number of SuperH fixes and cleanups. uClibc now compiles with
newer versions of gcc (i.e. RedHat 8.0). Thanks to Christian Michon,
uClibc no longer requires perl to compile. Steven J. Hill fixed dlopen for
mips. Several problems with pty and tty handling were fixed. Manuel Novoa
added new support for an /etc/TZ file to globally set the system timezone,
and fixed up a number of remaining wide char issues. Manuel is still hard
at work on bringing full locale support (optional of course) to uClibc.
And of course, this release includes the usual pile of bug fixes. Many thanks
for the large number of patches and fixes that were contributed!
Erik and Manuel have been working on a
document describing some of the differences between uClibc and glibc.
It's not yet 100% complete, and it hasn't been nicely formatted yet. But
it contains a lot of helpful information and is worth a look.
And finally, the the old uClibc configuration system has been completely
removed (and there was much rejoicing). It was replaced with an entirely
new system based on LinuxKernelConf,
which has since been included into Linux 2.5.45, so it looks like Erik made
the right choice. Of course, those who have existing build systems using uClibc
will need to make a few changes... We think the change is worth it.
As usual, the
Changelog
and source code
for this release are available here.
You might want to download uClibc from the closest
kernel.org mirror site.
Just pick the closest mirror site, and then go to
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/uclibc/
to download uClibc, where XX is your two letter country code.
Updated gcc-3.2 and gcc-2.95 toolchains will be released shortly.
- 16 September 2002, gcc-3.2 and gcc-2.95 toolchains released
CodePoet Consulting (i.e. Erik) has released updated gcc-3.2 and gcc-2.95
uClibc toolchains. These toolchains build real gcc cross compilers (i.e.
not just a wrapper) and create executables linked vs uClibc. The new
gcc-3.2 provides uClibc support with the latest and greatest compiler
available from the gcc team. The gcc-2.95 toolchain has been updated to
the latest version of uClibc and now provides full C++ support, using the
STLport standard C++ library.
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
when you compile the toolchains. To build a 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-3.2 toolchain (w/C++ support)
on his Athlon XP 1600 (not counting the time it takes to download
source code).
- Old News
Click here to read older news.
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Sponsors
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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).
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).
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