path: root/Changes

==================== Changes in man-pages-3.01 ====================

Released: 2008-06-23, Munich


Contributors
------------

The following people contributed notes, ideas, or patches that have
been incorporated in changes in this release:

Alain Portal <aportal@univ-montp2.fr>
Andreas Herrmann <andreas.herrmann3@amd.comm>
Andrew P <ap@zip.com.au>
Andrew Clayton <andrew@digital-domain.net>
Bart Van Assche <bart.vanassche@gmail.com>
Christian Borntraeger <borntraeger@de.ib.com>
Christoph Hellwig <hch@infradead.org>
Daniele Giacomini <appunti2@gmail.com>
Dorin Lazar <dorin.lazar@gmail.com>
George Spelvin <linux@horizon.com>
Jason Englander <jason@englanders.cc>
Jeff Moyer <jmoyer@redhat.com>
Laurent Vivier <laurent.vivier@bull.net>
Masatake YAMOTO <yamoto@redhat.com>
Matt Mackall <mpm@selenic.com>
Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
Pavel Machek <pavel@suse.cz>
Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Petr Baudis <pasky@suse.cz>
Petr Gajdos <pgajdos@suse.cz>
Roman Zippel <zippel@linux-m68k.org>
Sam Varshavchik <mrsam@courier-mta.com>
Samuel Thibault <samuel.thibault@ens-lyon.org>
Stephane Chazelas <stephane_chazelas@yahoo.fr>
Stuart Cunningham <stuartc@rd.bbc.co.uk>
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Tolga Dalman <tdalman@project-psi.org>
Yao Zhao <dragonlinux@gmail.com>
WANG Cong <wcong@critical-links.com>

Apologies if I missed anyone!


New and rewritten pages
-----------------------

acct.5
    mtk
        A complete rewrite of this page, now with much more detail.

hostname.7
    mtk
        A description of hostname resolution.  Taken from FreeBSD 6.2,
        and lightly edited for man-pages style.

symlink.7
    mtk
        A description of symbolic links.  Taken from FreeBSD 6.2, but
        heavily edited for Linux details, improved readability, and
        man-pages style.


Newly documented interfaces in existing pages
---------------------------------------------

getrlimit.2
    mtk / Peter Zijlstra
        Add description of RLIMIT_RTTIME limit, new in 2.6.25.

mkstemp.3
    mtk
        Add description of mkostemp(), new in glibc 2.7.

core.5
    mtk, after a note by Petr Gajdos; review by Neil Horman
        Document core_pattern pipe syntax, which appeared in
        kernel 2.6.19.
        Add an example program demonstrating use of core_pattern
        pipe syntax.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/coredump_filter, new in kernel 2.6.23.
        Documentation was based on the text in
        Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt, plus testing, and
        checking the kernel source.

proc.5
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/oom_score, which was new in kernel 2.6.11.
        This file displays the "badness" score of the process, which
        provides the basis for OOM-killer decisions.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/oom_adj, which was new in kernel 2.6.11.
        This file influences the oom_score of a process.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/limits, which was new in 2.6.24.
        This file displays a process's resource limits.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/fdinfo/*, which was new in 2.6.22.
        These files display info about each descriptor opened by the
        process: the current file offset, and the file access mode +
        file status flags as set in open() or fcntl(F_SETFL).
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/mountinfo, which was new in 2.6.26.
        This file displays information about mount points.
        Closely based on text from Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/mountstats, which was new in 2.6.17.
        This file displays statistics about mount points.
    mtk
        Document /proc/PID/status.
    Samuel Thibault / mtk, review by Laurent Vivier,
                Christian Borntraeger, and Andrew P
        Document guest (virtual CPU) time field in /proc/stat.
        Document guest (virtual CPU) time fields in /proc/PID/stat.


New links
---------

mkostemp.3
    mtk
        Link to mkstemp.3.

getcwd.2
    mtk
        Link to getcwd.3, which describes several interfaces, among
        them getcwd(), which is in fact a system call.

sched_setaffinity.2
sched_setscheduler.2
set_mempolicy.2
mbind.2
    mtk
        SEE ALSO: Add cpuset(7).


Global changes
--------------

chown.2
faccessat.2
fchmodat.2
fchownat.2
fstatat.2
getxattr.2
link.2
linkat.2
listxattr.2
open.2
readlink.2
removexattr.2
rename.2
setxattr.2
stat.2
symlink.2
symlinkat.2
unlink.2
futimes.3
remove.3
path_resolution.7
    mtk
        SEE ALSO: Add symlink(7).

intro.1
time.1
fcntl.2
gethostbyname.3
ioctl_list.2
    mtk
        Wrap source lines so that new sentence starts on new line.

addseverity.3
backtrace.3
dlopen.3
fmtmsg.3
getnameinfo.3
getpt.3
grantpt.3
makecontext.3
ptsname.3
tcgetsid.3
unlockpt.3
wordexp.3
    mtk
        Added VERSIONS section.

msgctl.2
msgget.2
semget.2
semop.2
pciconfig_read.2
basename.3
cmsg.3
ftok.3
console_ioctl.4
tzfile.5
mq_overview.7
pty.7
    mtk
        For consistency, "fix" cases where argument of .B or .I was
        on the following source line.

adjtimex.2
getrusage.2
io_getevents.2
poll.2
select.2
semop.2
sigwaitinfo.2
aio_suspend.3
clock_getres.3
mq_receive.3
mq_send.3
sem_wait.3
proc.5
    mtk
        SEE ALSO: add time(7)

Typographical or grammatical errors have been corrected in several places.
(Special thanks to Nicolas François and Alain Portal.)


Changes to individual pages
---------------------------

acct.2
    mtk
        Add a few more words to DESCRIPTION.
        NOTES: Add pointer to acct(5).

alarm.2
    Alain Portal
        s/process/calling process/ so as to say that the alarm signal is
        delivered to the calling process.

brk.2
    Yao Zhao / mtk
        Clarify discussion of return value of sbrk().
    mtk
        DESCRIPTION: Add some sentences giving an overview of these
        interfaces.
        Add note recommending use of malloc(3).
        Change name of brk() argument to the simpler 'addr'.
        Add "(void *)" cast to "-1" for error return of sbrk().
        Removed some incorrect text about "brk(0)".
        Note that SUSv2 specified the return value of sbrk().
        Added a detail on the glibc brk() wrapper.
        Remove discussions of standards old (C89 and POSIX.1-1990);
        CONFORMING TO already discusses the situation with respect
        to more recent standards.

chmod.2
    mtk
        Clarify description of chmod() and fchmod().
        Add further detail on S_ISUID, S_ISGID, and S_ISVTX permissions.
        Reformat list of permissions bits.

chown.2
    mtk
        Describe rules governing ownership of new files (bsdgroups
        versus sysvgroups, and the effect of the parent directory's
        set-group-ID permission bit).

chroot.2
    Alain Portal
        Clarify description a little.
        s/changes the root directory/
          changes the root directory of the calling process/

execve.2
    mtk
        Fix text that warns against use of NULL argv and envp.
        Using a NULL envp does in fact seem to be portable (works
        on Solaris and FreeBSD), but the Linux semantics for a NULL
        argv certainly aren't consistent with other implementations.
        See http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8408.

getdents.2
    mtk, after a note from george Spelvin
        Document d_type field, present since kernel 2.6.4.
        Other minor edits.

getitimer.2
    mtk
        Noted that POSIX.1 leaves interactions with alarm(), sleep(),
        and usleep() unspecified.
        Linux 2.6.16 removed the MAX_SEC_IN_JIFFIES ceiling on timer
        values.
        Other minor changes.

io_cancel.2
io_destroy.2
io_getevents.2
io_setup.2
io_submit.2
    mtk, after a note by Masatake YAMOTO and input from Jeff Moyer
        Describe the unconventional error return provided by the
        wrapper function in libaio (and contrast with behavior if
        the system call is invoked via syscall(2)).
        See http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ltp/4445/
    Alain Portal / mtk
        Re-order ERRORS and SEE ALSO entries to be alphabetical.

io_getevents.2
    Alain Portal
        Small wording fix.

io_submit.2
    Jeff Moyer
        s/AIO request blocks/AIO control blocks/

mknod.2
    mtk
        Note that EEXIST applies, even if the pathname is a
        (possibly dangling) symbolic link.

nanosleep.2
    mtk, after a report from Stephane Chazelas
        Remove crufty discussion of HZ, and replace with a pointer
        to time(7).
        See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=485636
    mtk, after some discussions with Bart Van Assche and Roman Zippel
        NOTES: describe CLOCK_REALTIME versus CLOCK_NANOSLEEP
        See also http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/696854/
        "nanosleep() uses CLOCK_MONOTONIC, should be CLOCK_REALTIME?"
    mtk
        Replace mentions of "process' by "thread".
        NOTES: describe case where clock_nanosleep() can be preferable.
        Some minor rewrites.

open.2
    mtk, after a note from Christoph Hellwig
        NOTES: Note that access mode flags are not single bits,
        and document the Linuxism "access mode 3".
        See also http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/653123.

readdir.2
   mtk
        Minor wording fixes.

recv.2
    Alain Portal
        Add comment to 'ee_pad' field in structure definition.

sched_setscheduler.2
    mtk
        Add pointer to discussion of RLIMIT_RTTIME in getrlimit.2.
    mtk, after a note by Andrew Clayton
        Rewrote and restructured various parts of the page for greater
        clarity.
    mtk
        Add more detail to the rules that are applied when an
        unprivileged process with a non-zero RLIMIT_RTPRIO limit
        changes policy and priority.
        SEE ALSO: Add Documentation/scheduler/sched-rt-group.txt

sync_file_range.2
    Pavel Machek
        SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE can block on writes greater than request
        queue size.  For some background, see
        http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/687713/focus=688340

syscalls.2
    mtk
        Added system call history back to version 1.2.
        Fix typo on kernel version for pivot_root().

syslog.2
    WANG Cong
        Document ENOSYS error, which can occur if kernel was built without
        CONFIG_PRINTK.

utime.2
    Nicolas François
        Clarify description of 'times' array for utimes().

adjtime.3
    mtk
        The longstanding bug that if delta was NULL, olddelta
        didn't return the outstanding clock adjustment, is now fixed
        (since glibc 2.8 + kernel 2.6.26).
        http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug?id=2449
        http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6761

dprintf.3
    mtk
        Note that these functions are included in the next POSIX revision.
        Remove editorial discussion about what the functions should have
        been named.

ftime.3
    mtk
        Rewrote various pieces, and added some details.

getaddrinfo.3
    mtk
        Improve description or 'hints' and 'res' arguments.
        Add details on numeric strings that can be specified for 'node'.
        Other fairly major restructurings and rewrites to improve
        logical structure and clarity of the page.
        SEE ALSO: Add hostname(7).

gethostbyname.3
    mtk
        DESCRIPTION: Add reference to inet_addr(3) for dotted notation.
        SEE ALSO: add inet(3).
    mtk
        Added BUGS section noting that gethostbyname() does not
        recognize hexadecimal components in dotted address strings;
        See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=482973

getmntent.3
    mtk, after Stuart Cunningham pointed out the typo
        Remove statement that LSB deprecates the functions
        "endmntent(), setmntent() [sic] and setmntent()".
        This doesn't seem to be true (I can't find mention of it
        being deprecated in any of the LSB specs).  Rather, LSB simply
        doesn't specify these functions.  (LSB 1.3 had a spec of
        setmntent(), but not getmntent() or endmntent(), and noted
        that having a spec of setmntent() was of little use without
        also having a spec of getmntent().)
        See also https://lists.linux-foundation.org/pipermail/\
        lsb-discuss/2006-October/003078.html

getnameinfo.3
    Tolga Dalman
        Remove mention of sa_len field from example code.
        That field is a BSDism not present on Linux.
    mtk
        Various minor changes.

inet.3
    mtk / Stephane Chazelas
        inet_aton() is *not* in POSIX.1.
        Rewrote discussion of why inet_addr() is disfavored.
        SEE ALSO: Add getaddrinfo(3).
        as per http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=482979.
    mtk, after a note by Stephane Chazelas
        Describe the various address forms supported by inet_aton().
    mtk
        Rewrite description of inet_network().
        Clarify discussion of inet_lnaof(), inet_netof(), and inet_makeaddr().
        Add discussion of Classful Addressing, noting that it is obsolete.
        Added an EXAMPLE program.
    mtk
        Relocate discussion of i386 byte order to NOTES.
        Note that inet_aton() returns an address in network byte order.
        SEE ALSO: Add byteorder(3) and getnameinfo(3).

inet_ntop.3
    mtk
        Remove unneeded header files from SYNOPSIS.
        SEE ALSO: Add inet(3) and getnameinfo(3).
        Make NAME line more precise.
        Move errors to an ERRORS section.
        Add EXAMPLE section pointing to inet_pton(3).

inet_pton.3
    mtk / Stephane Chazelas
        Remove statement that inet_pton() extends inet_ntoa();
        that's not really true, since inet_pton() doesn't support
        all of the string forms that are supported by inet_ntoa().
        SEE ALSO: Add getaddrinfo(3).
        as per http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=482987.
    mtk
        Describe IPv6 address formats.
        Describe dotted decimal format in more detail.
        Add an example program.
    mtk
        Remove unneeded header files from SYNOPSIS.
        Make NAME line more precise.
        Make description of return value more precise.
        SEE ALSO: Add inet(3).

mkfifo.3
    mtk
        Note that EEXIST applies, even if the pathname is a
        (possibly dangling) symbolic link.

mkstemp.3
    mtk
        Fix discussion of O_EXCL flag.
        These functions may also fail for any of the errors described
        in open(2).
        Various other rewordings.

readdir.3
    mtk
        Document DT_LNK (symbolic link) for d_type field.
        Reorder DT_ entries alphabetically.

remainder.3
    mtk
        Recommend against drem(), in favor of remainder().

scanf.3
    mtk, after a note from Stephane Chazelas
        Add an ERRORS section documenting at least some of the errors
        that may occur for scanf().
        See also http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=487254.
    mtk, after a note from Stephane Chazelas; review by Stephane Chazelas
        Document the GNU 'a' modifier for dynamically allocating strings.
        See also http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=487254.
        Document the GNU 'm' modifier for dynamically allocating strings.

strcat.3
    Andreas Herrmann
        s/strcat/strncat/ (a typo that changed the semantics in
        DESCRIPTION).

strerror.3
    mtk, after a note from Daniele Giacomini
        Modify SYNOPSIS to show protoypes of both versions of strerror_r(),
        and make other small clarifications of the description regarding
        the two versions.

random.4
    George Spelvin (taking time out from his busy Broadway schedule),
    with some tweaks by Matt Mackall and mtk
        Add a Usage subsection that recommends most users to use
        /dev/urandom, and emphasizes parsimonious usage of
        /dev/random.

locale.5
    Petr Baudis <pasky@suse.cz>
        LC_TIME: Describe first_weekday and first_workday.

proc.5
    mtk
        The vaious CPU time fields in /proc/stat and /proc/PID/stat
        return time in clock ticks (USER_HZ, cputime_to_clock_t(),
        sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK)).
        Updated, clarified and expanded the description several
        fields in /proc/[number]/stat.
    mtk
        Clarified and expanded the description of /proc/[number]/fd.
    mtk
        Updated and clarified the description of /proc/[number]/statm.
    mtk
        Updated and clarified the description of /proc/sys/fs/dentry-state.
    mtk
        Many formatting, wording, and grammar fixes.

man-pages.7
    mtk
        Enhanced description of VERSIONS section.

mq_overview.7
   mtk
        Note that Linux does not currently support ACLs for POSIX
        message queues.

sem_overview.7
    mtk
        Note that Linux supports ACLs on POSIX named semaphores
        since 2.6.19.

time.7
    mtk, with some suggestions from Bart Van Assche and Thomas Gleixner
        Added some details about where jiffies come into play.
        Added section on high-resolution timers.
        Mentioned a few other time-related interfaces at various
        points in the page.
        See http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/697378.

unix.7
    mtk, after a note by Samuel Thibault
        Provide a clear description of the three types of address that
        can appear in the sockaddr_un structure: pathname, unnamed,
        and abstract.