The first generation GNU C++ library was called libg++. It was a separate GNU project, although reliably paired with GCC. Rumors imply that it had a working relationship with at least two kinds of dinosaur.
Some background: libg++ was designed and created when there was no
ISO standard to provide guidance.  Classes like linked lists are now
provided for by list<T> and do not need to be
created by genclass.  (For that matter, templates exist
now and are well-supported, whereas genclass (mostly) predates them.)
There are other classes in libg++ that are not specified in the ISO Standard (e.g., statistical analysis). While there are a lot of really useful things that are used by a lot of people, the Standards Committee couldn't include everything, and so a lot of those “obvious” classes didn't get included.
Known Issues include many of the limitations of its immediate ancestor.
Portability notes and known implementation limitations are as follows.
 At least some older implementations don't have std::ios_base, so you should use std::ios::badbit, std::ios::failbit and std::ios::eofbit and std::ios::goodbit.
	In earlier versions of the standard,
	<fstream.h>,
	<ostream.h>
	and <istream.h>
	used to define
	cout, cin and so on. ISO C++ specifies that one needs to include
	<iostream>
	explicitly to get the required definitions.
 
Some include adjustment may be required.
This project is no longer maintained or supported, and the sources archived. For the desperate, the GCC extensions page describes where to find the last libg++ source. The code is considered replaced and rewritten.
The second generation GNU C++ library was called libstdc++, or libstdc++-v2. It spans the time between libg++ and pre-ISO C++ standardization and is usually associated with the following GCC releases: egcs 1.x, gcc 2.95, and gcc 2.96.
The STL portions of this library are based on SGI/HP STL release 3.11.
This project is no longer maintained or supported, and the sources archived. The code is considered replaced and rewritten.
Portability notes and known implementation limitations are as follows.
    Some care is required to support C++ compiler and or library
    implementation that do not have the standard library in
    namespace std.
  
    The following sections list some possible solutions to support compilers
    that cannot ignore std::-qualified names.
  
    First, see if the compiler has a flag for this. Namespace
    back-portability-issues are generally not a problem for g++
    compilers that do not have libstdc++ in std::, as the
    compilers use -fno-honor-std (ignore
    std::, :: = std::) by default. That is,
    the responsibility for enabling or disabling std:: is
    on the user; the maintainer does not have to care about it. This
    probably applies to some other compilers as well.
  
Second, experiment with a variety of pre-processor tricks.
    By defining std as a macro, fully-qualified namespace
    calls become global. Volia.
  
#ifdef WICKEDLY_OLD_COMPILER # define std #endif
Thanks to Juergen Heinzl who posted this solution on gnu.gcc.help.
    Another pre-processor based approach is to define a macro
    NAMESPACE_STD, which is defined to either
    “ ” or “std” based on a compile-type
    test. On GNU systems, this can be done with autotools by means of
    an autoconf test (see below) for HAVE_NAMESPACE_STD,
    then using that to set a value for the NAMESPACE_STD
    macro.  At that point, one is able to use
    NAMESPACE_STD::string, which will evaluate to
    std::string or ::string (i.e., in the
    global namespace on systems that do not put string in
    std::).
  
dnl @synopsis AC_CXX_NAMESPACE_STD
dnl
dnl If the compiler supports namespace std, define
dnl HAVE_NAMESPACE_STD.
dnl
dnl @category Cxx
dnl @author Todd Veldhuizen
dnl @author Luc Maisonobe <luc@spaceroots.org>
dnl @version 2004-02-04
dnl @license AllPermissive
AC_DEFUN([AC_CXX_NAMESPACE_STD], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(if g++ supports namespace std,
  ac_cv_cxx_have_std_namespace,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <iostream>
		  std::istream& is = std::cin;],,
  ac_cv_cxx_have_std_namespace=yes, ac_cv_cxx_have_std_namespace=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_have_std_namespace" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_NAMESPACE_STD,,[Define if g++ supports namespace std. ])
  fi
])
The following illustrate implementation-allowed illegal iterator use, and then correct use.
      you cannot do ostream::operator<<(iterator)
      to print the address of the iterator => use
      operator<< &*iterator instead
    
      you cannot clear an iterator's reference (iterator =
      0) => use iterator = iterator_type();
    
      if (iterator) won't work any more => use
      if (iterator != iterator_type())
    
    Glibc 2.0.x and 2.1.x define <ctype.h> functionality as macros
    (isspace, isalpha etc.).
  
This implementations of libstdc++, however, keep these functions as macros, and so it is not back-portable to use fully qualified names. For example:
#include <cctype>
int main() { std::isspace('X'); }
Results in something like this:
std:: (__ctype_b[(int) ( ( 'X' ) )] & (unsigned short int) _ISspace ) ;
  A solution is to modify a header-file so that the compiler tells
  <ctype.h> to define functions
  instead of macros:
// This keeps isalnum, et al from being propagated as macros. #if __linux__ # define __NO_CTYPE 1 #endif
  Then, include <ctype.h>
  Another problem arises if you put a using namespace
  std; declaration at the top, and include
  <ctype.h>. This will
  result in ambiguities between the definitions in the global namespace
  (<ctype.h>) and the
  definitions in namespace std::
  (<cctype>).
One solution is to add an autoconf-test for this:
AC_MSG_CHECKING(for container::at)
AC_TRY_COMPILE(
[
#include <vector>
#include <deque>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
],
[
deque<int> test_deque(3);
test_deque.at(2);
vector<int> test_vector(2);
test_vector.at(1);
string test_string(“test_string”);
test_string.at(3);
],
[AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
AC_DEFINE(HAVE_CONTAINER_AT)],
[AC_MSG_RESULT(no)])
  If you are using other (non-GNU) compilers it might be a good idea
  to check for string::at separately.
Use some kind of autoconf test, plus this:
#ifdef HAVE_CHAR_TRAITS #define CPP_EOF std::char_traits<char>::eof() #else #define CPP_EOF EOF #endif
  There are two functions for deleting the contents of a string:
  clear and erase (the latter returns the
  string).
void
clear() { _M_mutate(0, this->size(), 0); }
basic_string&
erase(size_type __pos = 0, size_type __n = npos)
{
  return this->replace(_M_check(__pos), _M_fold(__pos, __n),
			  _M_data(), _M_data());
}
  Unfortunately, clear is not implemented in this
  version, so you should use erase (which is probably
  faster than operator=(charT*)).
These are no longer supported. Please use stringstreams instead.
  Although the ISO standard i/ostringstream-classes are
  provided, (<sstream>), for
  compatibility with older implementations the pre-ISO
  i/ostrstream (<strstream>) interface is also provided,
  with these caveats:
      strstream is considered to be deprecated
    
      strstream is limited to char
    
      with ostringstream you don't have to take care of
      terminating the string or freeing its memory
    
      istringstream can be re-filled (clear();
      str(input);)
    
You can then use output-stringstreams like this:
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM # include <sstream> #else # include <strstream> #endif #ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM std::ostringstream oss; #else std::ostrstream oss; #endif oss << “Name=” << m_name << “, number=” << m_number << std::endl; ... #ifndef HAVE_SSTREAM oss << std::ends; // terminate the char*-string #endif // str() returns char* for ostrstream and a string for ostringstream // this also causes ostrstream to think that the buffer's memory // is yours m_label.set_text(oss.str()); #ifndef HAVE_SSTREAM // let the ostrstream take care of freeing the memory oss.freeze(false); #endif
Input-stringstreams can be used similarly:
std::string input; ... #ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM std::istringstream iss(input); #else std::istrstream iss(input.c_str()); #endif int i; iss >> i;
One (the only?) restriction is that an istrstream cannot be re-filled:
std::istringstream iss(numerator); iss >> m_num; // this is not possible with istrstream iss.clear(); iss.str(denominator); iss >> m_den;
If you don't care about speed, you can put these conversions in a template-function:
template <class X>
void fromString(const string& input, X& any)
{
#ifdef HAVE_SSTREAM
std::istringstream iss(input);
#else
std::istrstream iss(input.c_str());
#endif
X temp;
iss >> temp;
if (iss.fail())
throw runtime_error(..)
any = temp;
}
Another example of using stringstreams is in this howto.
There is additional information in the libstdc++-v2 info files, in particular “info iostream”.
Earlier GCC releases had a somewhat different approach to threading configuration and proper compilation. Before GCC 3.0, configuration of the threading model was dictated by compiler command-line options and macros (both of which were somewhat thread-implementation and port-specific). There were no guarantees related to being able to link code compiled with one set of options and macro setting with another set.
For GCC 3.0, configuration of the threading model used with libraries and user-code is performed when GCC is configured and built using the --enable-threads and --disable-threads options. The ABI is stable for symbol name-mangling and limited functional compatibility exists between code compiled under different threading models.
The libstdc++ library has been designed so that it can be used in multithreaded applications (with libstdc++-v2 this was only true of the STL parts.) The first problem is finding a fast method of implementation portable to all platforms. Due to historical reasons, some of the library is written against per-CPU-architecture spinlocks and other parts against the gthr.h abstraction layer which is provided by gcc. A minor problem that pops up every so often is different interpretations of what "thread-safe" means for a library (not a general program). We currently use the same definition that SGI uses for their STL subset. However, the exception for read-only containers only applies to the STL components. This definition is widely-used and something similar will be used in the next version of the C++ standard library.
Here is a small link farm to threads (no pun) in the mail archives that discuss the threading problem. Each link is to the first relevant message in the thread; from there you can use "Thread Next" to move down the thread. This farm is in latest-to-oldest order.
Our threading expert Loren gives a breakdown of the six situations involving threads for the 3.0 release series.
This message inspired a recent updating of issues with threading and the SGI STL library. It also contains some example POSIX-multithreaded STL code.
(A large selection of links to older messages has been removed; many of the messages from 1999 were lost in a disk crash, and the few people with access to the backup tapes have been too swamped with work to restore them. Many of the points have been superseded anyhow.)
The third generation GNU C++ library is called libstdc++, or libstdc++-v3.
The subset commonly known as the Standard Template Library (chapters 23 through 25, mostly) is adapted from the final release of the SGI STL (version 3.3), with extensive changes.
A more formal description of the V3 goals can be found in the official design document.
Portability notes and known implementation limitations are as follows.
 The pre-ISO C++ headers
      (<iostream.h>,
      <defalloc.h> etc.) are
      available, unlike previous libstdc++ versions, but inclusion
      generates a warning that you are using deprecated headers.
This compatibility layer is constructed by including the
    standard C++ headers, and injecting any items in
    std:: into the global namespace.
   
For those of you new to ISO C++ (welcome, time travelers!), no, that isn't a typo. Yes, the headers really have new names. Marshall Cline's C++ FAQ Lite has a good explanation in item [27.4].
 Some include adjustment may be required. What follows is an
autoconf test that defines PRE_STDCXX_HEADERS when they
exist.
# AC_HEADER_PRE_STDCXX
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_PRE_STDCXX], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for pre-ISO C++ include files,
  ac_cv_cxx_pre_stdcxx,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Wno-deprecated"
  # Omit defalloc.h, as compilation with newer compilers is problematic.
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
  #include <new.h>
  #include <iterator.h>
  #include <alloc.h>
  #include <set.h>
  #include <hashtable.h>
  #include <hash_set.h>
  #include <fstream.h>
  #include <tempbuf.h>
  #include <istream.h>
  #include <bvector.h>
  #include <stack.h>
  #include <rope.h>
  #include <complex.h>
  #include <ostream.h>
  #include <heap.h>
  #include <iostream.h>
  #include <function.h>
  #include <multimap.h>
  #include <pair.h>
  #include <stream.h>
  #include <iomanip.h>
  #include <slist.h>
  #include <tree.h>
  #include <vector.h>
  #include <deque.h>
  #include <multiset.h>
  #include <list.h>
  #include <map.h>
  #include <algobase.h>
  #include <hash_map.h>
  #include <algo.h>
  #include <queue.h>
  #include <streambuf.h>
  ],,
  ac_cv_cxx_pre_stdcxx=yes, ac_cv_cxx_pre_stdcxx=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_pre_stdcxx" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(PRE_STDCXX_HEADERS,,[Define if pre-ISO C++ header files are present. ])
  fi
])
Porting between pre-ISO headers and ISO headers is simple: headers
like <vector.h> can be replaced with <vector> and a using
directive using namespace std; can be put at the global
scope. This should be enough to get this code compiling, assuming the
other usage is correct.
At this time most of the features of the SGI STL extension have been
	 replaced by standardized libraries.
	 In particular, the unordered_map and
	 unordered_set containers of TR1 and C++ 2011
	 are suitable replacements for the non-standard
	 hash_map and hash_set
	 containers in the SGI STL.
      
 Header files <hash_map> and <hash_set> moved
to <ext/hash_map> and  <ext/hash_set>,
respectively. At the same time, all types in these files are enclosed
in namespace __gnu_cxx. Later versions deprecate
these files, and suggest using TR1's  <unordered_map>
and  <unordered_set> instead.
The extensions are no longer in the global or std
	 namespaces, instead they are declared in the __gnu_cxx
	 namespace. For maximum portability, consider defining a namespace
	 alias to use to talk about extensions, e.g.:
      
      #ifdef __GNUC__
      #if __GNUC__ < 3
	#include <hash_map.h>
	namespace extension { using ::hash_map; }; // inherit globals
      #else
	#include <backward/hash_map>
	#if __GNUC__ == 3 && __GNUC_MINOR__ == 0
	  namespace extension = std;               // GCC 3.0
	#else
	  namespace extension = ::__gnu_cxx;       // GCC 3.1 and later
	#endif
      #endif
      #else      // ...  there are other compilers, right?
	namespace extension = std;
      #endif
      extension::hash_map<int,int> my_map;
      This is a bit cleaner than defining typedefs for all the instantiations you might need.
The following autoconf tests check for working HP/SGI hash containers.
# AC_HEADER_EXT_HASH_MAP
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_EXT_HASH_MAP], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for ext/hash_map,
  ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_map,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Werror"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <ext/hash_map>], [using __gnu_cxx::hash_map;],
  ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_map=yes, ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_map=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_map" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_EXT_HASH_MAP,,[Define if ext/hash_map is present. ])
  fi
])
# AC_HEADER_EXT_HASH_SET
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_EXT_HASH_SET], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for ext/hash_set,
  ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_set,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Werror"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <ext/hash_set>], [using __gnu_cxx::hash_set;],
  ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_set=yes, ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_set=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_ext_hash_set" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_EXT_HASH_SET,,[Define if ext/hash_set is present. ])
  fi
])
 The existence of ios::nocreate being used for
input-streams has been confirmed, most probably because the author
thought it would be more correct to specify nocreate explicitly.  So
it can be left out for input-streams.
For output streams, “nocreate” is probably the default,
unless you specify std::ios::trunc ? To be safe, you can
open the file for reading, check if it has been opened, and then
decide whether you want to create/replace or not. To my knowledge,
even older implementations support app, ate
and trunc (except for app ?).
Phil Edwards writes: It was considered and rejected for the ISO standard. Not all environments use file descriptors. Of those that do, not all of them use integers to represent them.
      For a portable solution (among systems which use
      file descriptors), you need to implement a subclass of
      std::streambuf (or
      std::basic_streambuf<..>) which opens a file
      given a descriptor, and then pass an instance of this to the
      stream-constructor.
    
      An extension is available that implements this.
      <ext/stdio_filebuf.h> contains a derived class called
      __gnu_cxx::stdio_filebuf.
      This class can be constructed from a C FILE* or a file
      descriptor, and provides the fd() function.
    
For another example of this, refer to fdstream example by Nicolai Josuttis.
Check for complete library coverage of the C++1998/2003 standard.
# AC_HEADER_STDCXX_98
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_STDCXX_98], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for ISO C++ 98 include files,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_98,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
    #include <cassert>
    #include <cctype>
    #include <cerrno>
    #include <cfloat>
    #include <ciso646>
    #include <climits>
    #include <clocale>
    #include <cmath>
    #include <csetjmp>
    #include <csignal>
    #include <cstdarg>
    #include <cstddef>
    #include <cstdio>
    #include <cstdlib>
    #include <cstring>
    #include <ctime>
    #include <algorithm>
    #include <bitset>
    #include <complex>
    #include <deque>
    #include <exception>
    #include <fstream>
    #include <functional>
    #include <iomanip>
    #include <ios>
    #include <iosfwd>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <istream>
    #include <iterator>
    #include <limits>
    #include <list>
    #include <locale>
    #include <map>
    #include <memory>
    #include <new>
    #include <numeric>
    #include <ostream>
    #include <queue>
    #include <set>
    #include <sstream>
    #include <stack>
    #include <stdexcept>
    #include <streambuf>
    #include <string>
    #include <typeinfo>
    #include <utility>
    #include <valarray>
    #include <vector>
  ],,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_98=yes, ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_98=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_98" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(STDCXX_98_HEADERS,,[Define if ISO C++ 1998 header files are present. ])
  fi
])
Check for library coverage of the TR1 standard.
# AC_HEADER_STDCXX_TR1
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_STDCXX_TR1], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for ISO C++ TR1 include files,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_tr1,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
  #include <tr1/array>
  #include <tr1/ccomplex>
  #include <tr1/cctype>
  #include <tr1/cfenv>
  #include <tr1/cfloat>
  #include <tr1/cinttypes>
  #include <tr1/climits>
  #include <tr1/cmath>
  #include <tr1/complex>
  #include <tr1/cstdarg>
  #include <tr1/cstdbool>
  #include <tr1/cstdint>
  #include <tr1/cstdio>
  #include <tr1/cstdlib>
  #include <tr1/ctgmath>
  #include <tr1/ctime>
  #include <tr1/cwchar>
  #include <tr1/cwctype>
  #include <tr1/functional>
  #include <tr1/memory>
  #include <tr1/random>
  #include <tr1/regex>
  #include <tr1/tuple>
  #include <tr1/type_traits>
  #include <tr1/unordered_set>
  #include <tr1/unordered_map>
  #include <tr1/utility>
  ],,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_tr1=yes, ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_tr1=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_tr1" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(STDCXX_TR1_HEADERS,,[Define if ISO C++ TR1 header files are present. ])
  fi
])
An alternative is to check just for specific TR1 includes, such as <unordered_map> and <unordered_set>.
# AC_HEADER_TR1_UNORDERED_MAP
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_TR1_UNORDERED_MAP], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for tr1/unordered_map,
  ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_map,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <tr1/unordered_map>], [using std::tr1::unordered_map;],
  ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_map=yes, ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_map=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_map" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_TR1_UNORDERED_MAP,,[Define if tr1/unordered_map is present. ])
  fi
])
# AC_HEADER_TR1_UNORDERED_SET
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_TR1_UNORDERED_SET], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for tr1/unordered_set,
  ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_set,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <tr1/unordered_set>], [using std::tr1::unordered_set;],
  ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_set=yes, ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_set=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_tr1_unordered_set" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_TR1_UNORDERED_SET,,[Define if tr1/unordered_set is present. ])
  fi
])
Check for baseline language coverage in the compiler for the C++11 standard.
# AC_COMPILE_STDCXX_11
AC_DEFUN([AC_COMPILE_STDCXX_11], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(if g++ supports C++11 features without additional flags,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_native,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
  template <typename T>
    struct check final
    {
      static constexpr T value{ __cplusplus };
    };
    typedef check<check<bool>> right_angle_brackets;
    int a;
    decltype(a) b;
    typedef check<int> check_type;
    check_type c{};
    check_type&& cr = static_cast<check_type&&>(c);
    static_assert(check_type::value == 201103L, "C++11 compiler");],,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_native=yes, ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_native=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(if g++ supports C++11 features with -std=c++11,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_cxx,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -std=c++11"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
  template <typename T>
    struct check final
    {
      static constexpr T value{ __cplusplus };
    };
    typedef check<check<bool>> right_angle_brackets;
    int a;
    decltype(a) b;
    typedef check<int> check_type;
    check_type c{};
    check_type&& cr = static_cast<check_type&&>(c);
    static_assert(check_type::value == 201103L, "C++11 compiler");],,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_cxx=yes, ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_cxx=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(if g++ supports C++11 features with -std=gnu++11,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_gxx,
  [AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -std=gnu++11"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
  template <typename T>
    struct check final
    {
      static constexpr T value{ __cplusplus };
    };
    typedef check<check<bool>> right_angle_brackets;
    int a;
    decltype(a) b;
    typedef check<int> check_type;
    check_type c{};
    check_type&& cr = static_cast<check_type&&>(c);
    static_assert(check_type::value == 201103L, "C++11 compiler");],,
  ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_gxx=yes, ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_gxx=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_native" = yes ||
     test "$ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_cxx" = yes ||
     test "$ac_cv_cxx_compile_cxx11_gxx" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_STDCXX_11,,[Define if g++ supports C++11 features. ])
  fi
])
Check for library coverage of the C++2011 standard. (Some library headers are commented out in this check, they are not currently provided by libstdc++).
# AC_HEADER_STDCXX_11
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_STDCXX_11], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for ISO C++11 include files,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_11,
  [AC_REQUIRE([AC_COMPILE_STDCXX_11])
  AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -std=gnu++11"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([
    #include <cassert>
    #include <ccomplex>
    #include <cctype>
    #include <cerrno>
    #include <cfenv>
    #include <cfloat>
    #include <cinttypes>
    #include <ciso646>
    #include <climits>
    #include <clocale>
    #include <cmath>
    #include <csetjmp>
    #include <csignal>
    #include <cstdalign>
    #include <cstdarg>
    #include <cstdbool>
    #include <cstddef>
    #include <cstdint>
    #include <cstdio>
    #include <cstdlib>
    #include <cstring>
    #include <ctgmath>
    #include <ctime>
    // #include <cuchar>
    #include <cwchar>
    #include <cwctype>
    #include <algorithm>
    #include <array>
    #include <atomic>
    #include <bitset>
    #include <chrono>
    // #include <codecvt>
    #include <complex>
    #include <condition_variable>
    #include <deque>
    #include <exception>
    #include <forward_list>
    #include <fstream>
    #include <functional>
    #include <future>
    #include <initializer_list>
    #include <iomanip>
    #include <ios>
    #include <iosfwd>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <istream>
    #include <iterator>
    #include <limits>
    #include <list>
    #include <locale>
    #include <map>
    #include <memory>
    #include <mutex>
    #include <new>
    #include <numeric>
    #include <ostream>
    #include <queue>
    #include <random>
    #include <ratio>
    #include <regex>
    #include <scoped_allocator>
    #include <set>
    #include <sstream>
    #include <stack>
    #include <stdexcept>
    #include <streambuf>
    #include <string>
    #include <system_error>
    #include <thread>
    #include <tuple>
    #include <typeindex>
    #include <typeinfo>
    #include <type_traits>
    #include <unordered_map>
    #include <unordered_set>
    #include <utility>
    #include <valarray>
    #include <vector>
  ],,
  ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_11=yes, ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_11=no)
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_stdcxx_11" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(STDCXX_11_HEADERS,,[Define if ISO C++11 header files are present. ])
  fi
])
As is the case for TR1 support, these autoconf macros can be made for a finer-grained, per-header-file check. For
<unordered_map>
# AC_HEADER_UNORDERED_MAP
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_UNORDERED_MAP], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for unordered_map,
  ac_cv_cxx_unordered_map,
  [AC_REQUIRE([AC_COMPILE_STDCXX_11])
  AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -std=gnu++11"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <unordered_map>], [using std::unordered_map;],
  ac_cv_cxx_unordered_map=yes, ac_cv_cxx_unordered_map=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_unordered_map" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_UNORDERED_MAP,,[Define if unordered_map is present. ])
  fi
])
# AC_HEADER_UNORDERED_SET
AC_DEFUN([AC_HEADER_UNORDERED_SET], [
  AC_CACHE_CHECK(for unordered_set,
  ac_cv_cxx_unordered_set,
  [AC_REQUIRE([AC_COMPILE_STDCXX_11])
  AC_LANG_SAVE
  AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS
  ac_save_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
  CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -std=gnu++11"
  AC_TRY_COMPILE([#include <unordered_set>], [using std::unordered_set;],
  ac_cv_cxx_unordered_set=yes, ac_cv_cxx_unordered_set=no)
  CXXFLAGS="$ac_save_CXXFLAGS"
  AC_LANG_RESTORE
  ])
  if test "$ac_cv_cxx_unordered_set" = yes; then
    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_UNORDERED_SET,,[Define if unordered_set is present. ])
  fi
])
  Some C++11 features first appeared in GCC 4.3 and could be enabled by
  -std=c++0x and -std=gnu++0x for GCC
  releases which pre-date the 2011 standard. Those C++11 features and GCC's
  support for them were still changing until the 2011 standard was finished,
  but the autoconf checks above could be extended to test for incomplete
  C++11 support with -std=c++0x and
  -std=gnu++0x.