A binary-only from-working-sources no-guarantees snapshot of the
Glasgow Haskell compiler (GHC) for i386-unknown-linuxaout and
i386-unknown-solaris2 platforms is now available from
ftp://ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk/pub/haskell/glasgow/ghc-0.27-<platform>.tar.gz.
(The files ghc-0.26-docs-and-examples.tar.gz and
ghc-0.26-ps-docs.tar.gz [PostScript] may also be of interest.)

This pseudo-release adds profiling and concurrent-Haskell support for
i386-*-linuxaout.  It is the first GHC that works on i386-*-solaris2
machines (sequential, profiling, and concurrent support provided).

As 0.27 is a snapshot and not a "proper" release, it may have serious,
show-stopping bugs in it.  If you *need* what 0.27 provides, use it;
otherwise, you should stick with 0.26.

It should be relatively straightforward to tweak
ghc/driver/ghc-asm.(l)prl to support Linux ELF format; ditto for other
Unices on x86 platforms.  Please let us know if you make such changes.

GCC 2.7.x is required; GCC 2.6.x will *not* work.

Binaries (.o files and executables) produced by GHC 0.27 cannot be
intermixed with those from GHC 0.26 or 0.25; you'll need to recompile
everything.

The -concurrent stuff *definitely* has at least one bug we haven't
been able to catch.  Concurrent programs that show
readily-reproducible buggy behavior would be most welcome.

The profiling libraries for *solaris2 are huge, for reasons we don't
understand.  If you need to scrap them for space reasons, see the end
of the installation notes below.  Insights into the problem would also
be most appreciated.

Please report any bugs to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk.

Will Partain
AQUA project (slave)

Dated: 95/12/20

=== INSTALLATION NOTES ==============================================

Ignore the installation instructions in any documentation.  This is
the stuff that applies for this distribution.

Unpack the distribution.

Move "ghc-0.27-<platform>" to wherever you like.

Make a link to ghc-0.27-<platform>/ghc/driver/ghc, so that "ghc" will
be in your PATH.

Change the hardwired paths in ghc/driver/ghc and in
ghc/utils/hscpp/hscpp to point to where things are on your system.
(Also: ghc/utils/mkdependHS/mkdependHS, if you want to use it.)
Notably: where "perl" is (first line of each script), where $TopPwd is
(ghc script), where your gcc cpp ($OrigCpp) is (hscpp and mkdependHS
scripts).  *Don't* set any environment variables to do this.

GHC should then work.  Try "ghc -v" on something simple, to make sure
it compiles and links a program correctly.

If you don't want the profiling libraries (e.g., to save disk space), do:

    cd ghc
    rm runtime/*_p.a lib/*_p.a

If you don't want to concurrent-Haskell libraries (e.g., same reason), do:

    cd ghc
    rm runtime/*_mc.a lib/*_mc.a