1 The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 0.19
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 The third public release of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler is now
6 available (GHC, version 0.19). Binaries and sources are freely
7 available by FTP; details below.
9 Highlights of what's new in 0.19 since 0.16 (July 1993):
10 * Somewhat faster compilation times.
11 * Still better error messages.
12 * Better Haskell 1.2 compliance, including more derived instances,
13 `default' declarations, renaming, etc.
14 * Native-code generator for SPARC.
15 * Unfoldings across module boundaries.
16 * Automatic specialisation of overloaded functions.
17 * Better strictness analysis, including "looking inside tuples" and
18 "absence analysis" (arguments that aren't used).
19 * New "simplifier" (program-transformation engine).
21 Please see the release notes for a more complete list (including
22 Backward Incompatibilities to watch out for).
24 To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory, GNU C
25 (`gcc') [version 2.1 or greater], and `perl'. We have seen GHC work
26 in *some* form or fashion on: Sun4s, Sun3s, DECstations, DEC Alphas,
27 HP-PA boxes. Sun4s, our development platform, are by far the best
28 supported. We will distribute binaries as we build them.
30 Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in
31 ghc/README to find all of the documentation in and about this release.
33 Please report bugs to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk and
34 direct general queries to glasgow-haskell-request@<same>.
36 We are very grateful to everyone who has sent a bug report, sent a
37 "look at this weird result" report, lent us a machine on which to try
38 a port, or (best of all) contributed code. Keep up the good work.
43 ....................................................................
45 "Should I start using GHC 0.19?"
46 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
48 * If you're using a previous release of GHC: YES. (Recompile everything.)
50 * If you want to hack on a Haskell compiler: YES.
52 * If you're new to Haskell: Try Gofer (an interpreter for a
53 Haskell-like language) first; then come back and say YES.
55 * If you want time profiling as well as space profiling: YES.
57 * If you need the Glasgow Haskell extensions, i.e., calling C, unboxed
58 datatypes, monadic I/O etc.: YES. (ghc/README says a little more
59 about these features.)
61 * If you're using HBC at the moment: not a clear YES or NO. *We*
62 really like having both compilers to play against each other. For
63 example, HBC has better compilation times, but you'll like GHC's
64 error messages. And you can try them both before submitting a bug
65 report for either one.
67 * If you want simulated parallel execution on a uniprocessor: NO.
68 (Use the "hbcpp" variant of HBC from York.)
70 ....................................................................
72 How to make sure every release of GHC will run your program (well)
73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
75 *Please* send us a copy! Part of our work is to collect and study
76 large and *realistic* Haskell programs. Only you can provide them.
77 They need not be final, polished versions -- they just have to run.
79 Among other things, we run every release against our entire
80 collection, so if your program's in there...
82 ....................................................................
86 This release is available, in whole or in part, from the usual Haskell
87 anonymous FTP sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow:
89 ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
90 ftp.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.225.66)
91 nebula.cs.yale.edu (128.36.13.1)
93 We are mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
94 computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow, and you can get files
95 from there by every means known to humanity.
97 These are the available files (.Z for compressed, .gz for gzipped) --
98 some are `on demand', ask if you don't see them:
100 ghc-0.19-bin-sun4.tar.{Z,gz} A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
101 For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you have GNU C (gcc)
102 version 2.x around...
104 ghc-0.19-bin-<other>.tar.gz Other binary distributions -- we will
105 make them available as we go along; they
106 will be announced on the Haskell mailing list
109 ghc-0.19-src.tar.gz The basic source distribution; about 3MB.
111 ghc-0.19-hc-files.tar.gz The intermediate C (.hc) files for the
112 compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello,
115 ghc-0.19.ANNOUNCE This file
117 ghc-0.19.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who
118 want to peek before FTPing...
120 ghc-0.19-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in
121 case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our
124 ghc-0.19-hi-files-hbc.tar.gz
125 Interface files for the compiler proper
126 (ghc/compiler/*/*.hi), to be used if booting
127 with either HBC. (The distributed .hi files
128 assume GHC version 0.19.)
130 There are no diffs from version 0.16, as they would be laughably huge.