INTRO(3)                  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                 INTRO(3)

NAME
     intro - introduction to the C libraries



DESCRIPTION
     This section provides an overview of the C library functions, their error
     returns and other common definitions and concepts.  Most of these func-
     tions are available from the C library, libc. Other libraries, such as
     the math library, libm, must be indicated at compile time with the -l op-
     tion of the compiler.

     The various libraries (followed by the loader flag):

     libc(-lc)   Standard C library functions.  When using the C compiler
                 cc(1),  it is not necessary to supply the loader flag -lc for
                 these functions.  There are several ``libraries'' or groups
                 of functions included inside of libc: the standard  I/O rou-
                 tines, database routines, bit operators, string operators,
                 character tests and character operators, des encryption rou-
                 tines, storage allocation, time functions, signal handling
                 and more.

     libc_r(-lc_r)
                 Reentrant C library. Contains POSIX 1003.1c pthreads(3) API
                 and thread scheduler, as well as all of the functions found
                 in libc.

     libcurses(-lcurses)
                 Terminal independent screen management routines for two di-
                 mensional non-bitmap display terminals.  (See curses(3).)

     libcompat(-lcompat)
                 Functions which are obsolete but are available for compati-
                 bility with 4.3BSD. In particular, a number of system call
                 interfaces provided in previous releases of BSD have been in-
                 cluded for source code compatibility.  Use of these routines
                 should, for the most part, be avoided.  The manual page entry
                 for each compatibility routine indicates the proper interface
                 to use.

     libkvm(-lkvm)
                 Kernel virtual interface library.  For more information, see
                 kvm(3).

     libl(-ll)   The library for lex(1).

     libm(-lm)   The math library, libm. See math(3).

     libtermcap(-ltermcap)
                 The terminal independent operation library package. (See
                 termcap(3).)

FILES
     /usr/lib/libacl.a
     /usr/lib/libbfd.a
     /usr/lib/libc.a          C library
     /usr/lib/libc_r.a        reentrant C library (see pthreads(3))
     /usr/lib/libcom_err.a
     /usr/lib/libcompat.a     4.3 compatibility library
     /usr/lib/libcrypto.a     ssl(8) support library.
     /usr/lib/libcurses++.a   C++ curses(3) library.
     /usr/lib/libcurses.a     curses(3) library.


     /usr/lib/libdes.a
     /usr/lib/libedit.a
     /usr/lib/libfl.a
     /usr/lib/libform.a
     /usr/lib/libg2c.a
     /usr/lib/libgmp.a
     /usr/lib/libiberty.a
     /usr/lib/libkadm.a       kerberos(1) support library.
     /usr/lib/libkafs.a       afsd(8) support library.
     /usr/lib/libkdb.a
     /usr/lib/libkeycap.a
     /usr/lib/libkeynote.a
     /usr/lib/libkrb.a
     /usr/lib/libkvm.a        kvm(3) kernel virtual memory access library.
     /usr/lib/libl.a
     /usr/lib/libm.a          math(3) library.
     /usr/lib/libmenu.a
     /usr/lib/libmmalloc.a
     /usr/lib/libobjc.a
     /usr/lib/libocurses.a    The ocurses(3) library is compatible with the
                              curses library provided in 4.3.
     /usr/lib/libopcodes.a
     /usr/lib/libossaudio.a
     /usr/lib/libotermcap.a   4.3-compatible termcap library.  For use with
                              libocurses (ie. -locurses -lotermcap)
     /usr/lib/libpanel.a      panel(3) library for use with libcurses (ie.
                              -lpanel -lcurses)
     /usr/lib/libpcap.a       pcap(3) library.
     /usr/lib/libreadline.a
     /usr/lib/libresolv.a     The resolver(3) routines are included in libc.
                              For legacy applications, this library contains
                              only those functions.
     /usr/lib/librpcsvc.a     A library generated by rpcgen(1) containing stub
                              functions for many common rpc(3) protocols.
     /usr/lib/libskey.a       A support library for the skey(1) authentication
                              toolkit.
     /usr/lib/libssl.a        ssl(8) support library.
     /usr/lib/libstdc++.a
     /usr/lib/libtelnet.a
     /usr/lib/libtermcap.a
     /usr/lib/libtermlib.a
     /usr/lib/libutil.a
     /usr/lib/libwrap.a
     /usr/lib/liby.a
     /usr/lib/libz.a

     /usr/lib/libm_i387.a
     /usr/lib/libi386.a

     Must talk about shared libraries, _p profiled libraries and how to tell
     the C compiler to use them, and any other issues.

SEE ALSO
     cc(1),  ld(1),  ld.so(1),  nm(1),  intro(2),  math(3),  pthreads(3),
     stdio(3)

HISTORY
     An intro manual appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD 2.6                      June 5, 1993                                2