1 This is the release notes for GHC-2.03, describing what's new since the
4 GHC 2.03 is a minor upgrade of GHC 2.02. It differs in the following
7 * A slew of small bugs are fixed. You can find the complete list at
9 http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/ghc-bugs.html
11 One bug remains un-fixed, namely the crash when there's an empty
12 comment at the end of file.It's wierd!
14 * Last-minute language changes have been implemented (minor changes
15 to the libraries, and to module export/hiding scope rules)
17 * It is only available as a source distribution. If you want to
18 use it you'll have to build it from source. Nowadays this is
19 a well-documented process (see the build and installation guide, but
20 note that this release is still not self-booting, you still need
21 to have The Good Old Compiler (0.29) at your disposal).
23 None of the bugs in GHC 2.02 are show-stoppers, so you'll only want
24 to upgrade if you are a build-from-source junkie and the bugs are
27 Apart from bug-fixes, which are itemized elsewhere,
28 the exact language and standard-library changes are as follows:
30 * A hiding clause hides the unqualified name, but not the qualified name.
32 * There's a new @Numeric@ library, containing mostly mildly marginal
33 code for showing and reading numbers. Parts of its exports used to be
34 exported by @Prelude@, but now you'll have to import them explicitly.
35 It also defines some functions that weren't provided before; have a
36 look in the Haskell library report for details of complete interface.
38 * The following extra functions are exported from IO:
40 try, bracket, bracket_, hGetLine, hWaitForInput
42 In addition, we've made following changes to GHC libraries/GHC's
43 implementation of the Haskell standard prelude:
46 * The function fromRational__, exported from PrelNum, is now called fromRat
47 (And it's exported by @Numeric@).
49 * Documentation for the Glasgow specific interfaces plus the system
50 libraries have been re-instated. Posix library documentation
53 * `maybe' is now exported from Prelude, as it should have been in 2.02.
55 * Equality on IO.Handle is now defined as specified by the library report.
57 * Ix.rangeSize returns `0' on an empty range;previously it failed.
59 * The new interface GlaExts which is meant to be the gateway to the
60 various Glasgow extensions has now been documented.
62 * GlaExts now exports the representation of Char
64 * The mutable variable interface, MutVar, has also been documented,
65 together with ByteArray, MutableArray and Foreign.
67 * Added documentation on how to compile mutually recursive modules with