Editing Libiberty

{{Short description|Software library}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2016}}
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'''GNU libiberty''' is a [[library (computer science)|software library]] with a collection of [[subroutine]]s used by various [[GNU]] [[computer program|programs]].<ref name=DOC>{{Cite web|url=https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libiberty/Using.html |title=Using (GNU libiberty) |publisher=[[GNU]] |website=gcc.gnu.org |access-date=September 3, 2022}}</ref> The library is now a decommissioned GNU package.<ref>{{cite web |title=Decommissioned GNU packages |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/software.html |publisher=[[GNU]] |website=gcc.gnu.org |access-date=September 3, 2022}}</ref>

It was originally intended to be a sort of standard [[cross-platform]] library, thus enabling it to be linked (using the usual [[Unix]] library form) by just passing "-liberty" to the compiler. The contents consisted of a variety of useful functions. However, the development of standards for [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[POSIX]] took away some of the impetus for this, and libiberty came to be used primarily as a support library for the [[GNU toolchain]]. It still contains a minimal set of functions that are either GNU extensions or occasionally unimplemented parts of the standard.<ref>{{cite web |title=GNU libiberty: Functions |url=https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libiberty/Functions.html |website=gcc.gnu.org |publisher=[[GNU]] |access-date=September 3, 2022}}</ref>

Copies of libiberty are distributed with [[GNU Compiler Collection|gcc]], [[GNU Debugger|gdb]], and the [[binutils]]. libiberty is not otherwise versioned or released separately.

One important piece of libiberty functionality is a [[Name mangling|demangler]] for [[C++]] and [[D (programming language)|D]], included so that it is available to both [[GNU Binary Utilities|binutils]] and GDB.

The name is a [[pun]] or [[word play]] on the word "[[liberty]]". On [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s, library files are always named "lib" + the name of the library. But when they are linked to with a C compiler command (<code>cc</code>, <code>gcc</code>, etc.), the [[command line]] flag specifying the library is <code>-l</code> followed by the part of the library name after "lib". In libiberty's case it therefore becomes <code>-liberty</code>.

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

*[[Gnulib]] - the current GNU portability library

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libiberty/ GNU libiberty]

{{GNU}}

[[Category:GNU Project software]]


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