Glibc 2.42 Released: New Features, Intel CPU Detection & SFrame Support for Linux

Following the release of GNU Binutils 2.45, a new version of the standard C library for Linux and other systems—GNU C Library 2.42—has been unveiled today.

glibc 2.42 continues its integration of ISO C23 standard support and experimental features from the forthcoming C2Y specification, including functions for handling unsigned absolute value modules. The Linux implementation now includes the pthread_gettid_np function, enabling retrieval of thread identifiers in the style of the gettid system call.

One notable technical enhancement is the expansion of memory caching in malloc, where the thread-local cache can now handle larger memory blocks. Additionally, a new build option introduces support for SFrame stack tracking, a feature that may prove valuable for debugging and profiling efforts.

The release also introduces Fused Multiply-Add (FMA) optimizations for hyperbolic functions and integrates high-performance mathematical implementations from the CORE-MATH project. Improvements have been made to functions such as acospif, asinpif, atanpif, atan2pif, cospif, sinpif, and tanpif.

glibc 2.42 now possesses the ability to automatically detect new Intel processors, including Arrow Lake, Panther Lake, Clearwater Forest, and Diamond Rapids. Support for the IBM z17 architecture has also been added. In addition, numerous bugs and vulnerabilities identified in previous releases have been addressed.

A comprehensive changelog is available on the project’s official website, sourceware.org.