1 The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.08
2 ==============================================
4 We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell
5 Compiler (GHC), version 4.08. The source distribution is freely
6 available via the World-Wide Web and through anon. FTP; details below.
8 Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the
9 current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998.
10 Haskell related information is available from the Haskell home page at
12 http://www.haskell.org/
14 GHC's Web page lives at
16 http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
21 This should be a stable release. There have been many enhancements
22 since 4.06, and shed-loads of bug-fixes (one shed (imperial) ~ one ton
25 There are the following changes
27 - New profiling subsystem, based on cost-centre stacks.
29 - Working x86 native code generator: now it works properly, runs
30 about twice as fast as compiling via C, and is on a par for
31 run-time speed (except in FP-intensive programs).
33 - Implicit parameters (i.e. dynamic scoping without the pain).
35 - DEPRECATED pragma for marking obsolescent interfaces.
37 - In the wake of hslibs, a new package system for
38 libraries. -package should now be used instead of -syslib.
40 - Result type signatures work.
42 - Many tiresome long-standing bugs and problems (e.g. the trace
43 problem) have been fixed.
45 - Many error messages have been made more helpful and/or
48 For full details see the release notes:
50 http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/users_guide/release-4-08.html
56 We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
57 mail to majordomo@haskell.org; the msg body should be:
59 subscribe glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs} Your Name <you@where.soever>
63 subscribe cvs-ghc Your Name <you@where.soever>
65 Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org;
66 GHC users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org. Bleeding
67 edge CVS users party on cvs-ghc@haskell.org.
70 + On-line GHC-related resources
71 ================================
73 Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web:
75 GHC home page http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
76 Haskell home page http://www.haskell.org/
77 comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~gmh/faq.html
83 The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be
86 http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
88 Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in the
89 README file to find all of the documentation about this release. NB:
90 preserve modification times when un-tarring the files (no `m' option
95 ======================
97 To compile the sources, you need a machine with 32+MB memory, GNU C
98 (`gcc'), `perl' plus a version of GHC installed (3.02 at least). This
99 release is known to work on the following platforms:
101 * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32,mingw32}
102 * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2}
103 * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
105 Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy (for a
106 wunderhacker), but haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware:
108 * i386-unknown-solaris2
111 * {rs6000,powerpc}-ibm-aix
113 The builder's guide included in distribution gives a complete
114 run-down of what ports work; an on-line version can be found at
116 http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/building/building-guide.html