Editing Glibc (section)

{{short description|GNU implementation of the standard C library}}
{{distinguish|GLib|Gnulib}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name                 = GNU C Library
| logo                 = 
| logo size            = 100px
| author               = Roland McGrath
| developer            = [[GNU Project]], most contributions by Ulrich Drepper
| released             = {{start date and age|1987}}<ref>{{cite web
 | url     = https://lwn.net/Articles/488847/
 | title     = A turning point for GNU libc
 | last     = Corbet
 | first     = Jonathan
 | date     = 28 March 2012
 | publisher     = LWN.net
 | access-date     = 5 April 2012
 | archive-date     = 23 April 2016
 | archive-url     = https://web.archive.org/web/20160423100007/https://lwn.net/Articles/488847/
 | url-status     = live
 }}</ref>
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q856089|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date    = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q856089|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q856089|P348|P548=Q51930650}}
| latest preview date    = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q856089|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system     = [[Unix-like]]
| genre                = [[Runtime library]]
| license              = 2001: [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.1-or-later]]{{efn|LGPL-2.1-or-later since 2001-07-06, version 2.2.4.<ref name="licensing">{{cite web
 | url      = https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=Makefile;hb=HEAD
 | title      = sourceware.org Git – glibc.git/blob – Makefile
 | quote      = LGPL-2.1-or-later in the headers
 | website      = sourceware.org
 | access-date      = 10 June 2021
 | archive-date      = 10 June 2021
 | archive-url      = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610041413/https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=Makefile;hb=HEAD
 | url-status      = live
 }}</ref><ref name="lgpl 2.0 to 2.1">{{cite web
 |url          = https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=commit;h=41bdb6e20c5d2df34a740cbd70e11c05025dfd12
 |title        = sourceware.org Git – glibc.git/commit – Update to LGPL v.2.1
 |date         = 6 July 2001
 |quote        = LGPL-2.1-or-later in the headers
 |website      = sourceware.org
 |access-date  = 10 June 2021
 |archive-date = 10 June 2021
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610041423/https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=commit;h=41bdb6e20c5d2df34a740cbd70e11c05025dfd12
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>}}<br />1992: [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.0-or-later]]{{efn|LGPL-2.0-or-later from 1992 to 2001-07-05. Version 1.04? to 2.2.3.<ref name="glibc-1.04.tar.Z">{{cite web
 | url        = https://www.nic.funet.fi/index/gnu/funet/historical-funet-gnu-area-from-early-1990s/glib/glibc-1.04.tar.Z
 | title        = glibc-1.04.tar.Z
 | date        = 4 Sep 1992
 | access-date        = 22 December 2021
 | archive-date        = 22 December 2021
 | archive-url        = https://web.archive.org/web/20211222225512/https://www.nic.funet.fi/index/gnu/funet/historical-funet-gnu-area-from-early-1990s/glib/glibc-1.04.tar.Z
 | url-status        = live
 }}</ref><ref name="lgpl 2.0">{{cite web
 |url          = https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=Makefile;hb=28f540f45bbacd939bfd07f213bcad2bf730b1bf
 |title        = sourceware.org Git – glibc.git/commit – Initial import: Makefile
 |date         = 18 February 1995
 |quote        = LGPL-2.0-or-later in the headers
 |website      = sourceware.org
 |access-date  = 10 June 2021
 |archive-date = 10 June 2021
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610041402/https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=Makefile;hb=28f540f45bbacd939bfd07f213bcad2bf730b1bf
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>}}
| website              = {{URL|https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/}}
}}

The '''GNU C Library''', commonly known as '''glibc''', is the [[GNU Project]] implementation of the [[C standard library]]. It provides a wrapper around the system calls of the [[Linux kernel]] and other kernels for application use. Despite its name, it now also directly supports [[C++]] (and, indirectly, other [[programming language]]s). It was started in the 1980s by the [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF) for the [[GNU]] operating system.

glibc is [[free software]] released under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License]].<ref name="licensing"/> The GNU C Library project provides the core libraries for the GNU system, as well as many systems that use [[Linux kernel|Linux]] as the [[kernel (operating system)|kernel]]. These libraries provide critical [[API]]s including [[ISO]] [[C11 (C standard revision)|C11]], [[POSIX.1-2008]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], OS-specific APIs and more. These APIs include such foundational facilities as [[open (system call)|open]], [[read (system call)|read]], [[write (system call)|write]], [[malloc]], [[printf format string|printf]], [[getaddrinfo]], [[dynamic loading|dlopen]], [[pthreads|pthread_create]], [[crypt (C)|crypt]], [[login]], [[exit (system call)|exit]] and more.