[gentoo-user] How do I turn off glibc's runtime error checks?

[Nikos Chantziaras]

This is driving me nuts.  Since a few days ago, glibc will abort 
programs with a:

*** glibc detected *** program: free(): invalid pointer: ... ***
or similar error message.  I have no idea which package was updated that 
triggered this.  I did *not* emerge glibc (qlop confirms that I emerged 
glibc 3 months ago.)

The crashing programs *are* buggy.  The problem is that I can't shut up 
glibc and prevent it from interfering.  It's extremely annoying and I 
feel the urge to kill baby bunnies.  Please help!