A turning point for GNU libc

True, but gchar is defined as a typedef for char, so it adds no additional guarantees. Why not just use char? At least "guchar" is shorter than "unsigned char"; I see no benefit at all in using gchar.

If you want guaranteed ranges, uint8_t and int8_t are standardized in C99 as integer types with exactly eight bits and (in the signed case) two's-complement representation. Both definitions are required unless the implementation has no compatible integer type.