Is it possible to update glibc on a redhat 8 workstation install? I found a lot of info on how to update server installs, or different distros. Will I have to change distros?

Workstation upgrade cant be very different. Just keep in mind that you cant just throw in the latest glibc, stuff will segfault all over the place. What is the reason you need to upgrade your glibc? Is any specific version needed?

I am trying to get pthreads working on my system. Currently I have glibc 2.2.93. I am trying to get version 2.3.5 on my system.

Red Hat eight? Ahem. Well, there are a few issues here.

The current versions of glibc must be compiled when you are running a 2.6 kernel. If you're using RH8, you're running a 2.4 kernel. You will not be able to get glibc to successfully compile. (You can update the compiler, gcc, but not the library.)

With what you now have, you can indeed download, configure, compile, install and boot into a 2.6 kernel. You can do all of that with what you have now. Then you can update glibc. However you may find it more practical and easier to obtain a Fedora distribution that employs a 2.6 kernel, install it and proceed from there. It depends entirely upon your experience and comfort-level with Linux.

they don't have to be, there is an option you can pass to configure to denote a 2.6 kernel. I will agree with sundialsvcs that it would be easier just to back up your data and swith to a newer version of pretty much any distro, most modern distro's have support for pthreads or nptl ( some have support for both), also you can get security updates and the like.

It cannot be done on a redhat 8 workstation. I tried a 2.6.9 kernel. Is Fedora easy to learn?