- The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.08
- ==============================================
-We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell
-Compiler (GHC), version 4.08. The source distribution is freely
-available via the World-Wide Web and through anon. FTP, under a
-BSD-style license. See below for download details. Pre-built
-packages for Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Win32 are also available.
+ ============================================================
+ The (Interactive) Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 5.04
+ ============================================================
-Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the
-current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998.
-
-GHC is a state-of-the-art optimising compiler for Haskell, generating
-good code for a variety of platforms. The distribution includes space
-and time profiling facilities, a large collection of libraries, and
-support for various language extensions, including concurrency, exceptions,
-and foreign language interfaces (C, C++, whatever).
-
-A wide variety of Haskell related resources (tutorials, libraries,
-specifications, documentation, compilers, interpreters, references,
-contact information, links to research groups) are available from the
-Haskell home page at
-
- http://www.haskell.org/
-
-GHC's Web page lives at
-
- http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
+We are pleased to announce a new major release of the Glasgow Haskell
+Compiler (GHC), version 5.04.
-+ What's new
-=============
+Highlights include:
-This should be a stable release. There have been many enhancements
-since 4.06, and shed-loads of bug-fixes (one shed (imperial) ~ one ton
-(US)).
+ * Hierarchical libraries, with documentation produced by Haddock.
-There are the following changes
+ * New type system extensions: full rank-N types and kind
+ annotations.
+
+ * New heap profiling facilities (retainer profiling, biographical
+ profiling).
- - New profiling subsystem, based on cost-centre stacks.
+ * MacOS X support
- - Working x86 native code generator: now it works properly, runs
- about twice as fast as compiling via C, and is on a par for
- run-time speed (except in FP-intensive programs).
+See the release notes for a full list of the changes:
- - Implicit parameters (i.e. dynamic scoping without the pain).
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/users_guide/release-5-04.html
- - DEPRECATED pragma for marking obsolescent interfaces.
- - In the wake of hslibs, a new package system for
- libraries. -package should now be used instead of -syslib.
+How to get it
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be self-explanatory:
- - Result type signatures work.
-
- - Many tiresome long-standing bugs and problems (e.g. the trace
- problem) have been fixed.
-
- - Many error messages have been made more helpful and/or
- accurate.
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
-For full details see the release notes:
+We supply binary builds in the native package format for various
+flavours of Linux and BSD, and in Windows Installer (MSI) form
+for Windows folks. Binary builds for other platforms are available
+as a .tar.gz which can be installed wherever you want. The source
+distribution is also available from the same place.
- http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/users_guide/release-4-08.html
+Packages will appear as they are built - if the package for your
+system isn't available yet, please try again later.
-+ Mailing lists
-================
+Background
+~~~~~~~~~~
+Haskell is a standard lazy functional programming language; the
+current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998.
-We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
-mail to majordomo@haskell.org; the msg body should be:
+GHC is a state-of-the-art programming suite for Haskell. Included is
+an optimising compiler generating good code for a variety of
+platforms, together with an interactive system for convenient, quick
+development. The distribution includes space and time profiling
+facilities, a large collection of libraries, and support for various
+language extensions, including concurrency, exceptions, and foreign
+language interfaces (C, whatever). GHC is distributed under a
+BSD-style open source license.
- subscribe glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs} Your Name <you@where.soever>
+A wide variety of Haskell related resources (tutorials, libraries,
+specifications, documentation, compilers, interpreters, references,
+contact information, links to research groups) are available from the
+Haskell home page (see below).
-or
- subscribe cvs-ghc Your Name <you@where.soever>
-
-Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org;
-GHC users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org. Bleeding
-edge CVS users party on cvs-ghc@haskell.org.
-
-+ On-line GHC-related resources
-================================
+On-line GHC-related resources
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web:
Haskell home page http://www.haskell.org/
comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~gmh/faq.html
-+ How to get it
-================
-
-The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be
-self-explanatory:
-
- http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
-Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in the
-README file to find all of the documentation about this release. NB:
-preserve modification times when un-tarring the files (no `m' option
-for tar, please)!
-+ System requirements
-======================
+System requirements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+To compile programs with GHC, you need a machine with 64+MB memory, GCC
+and perl. This release is known to work on the following platforms:
-To compile the sources, you need a machine with 32+MB memory, GNU C
-(`gcc'), `perl' plus a version of GHC installed (3.02 at least). This
-release is known to work on the following platforms:
-
- * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32,mingw32}
+ * i386-unknown-{linux,*bsd,mingw32}
* sparc-sun-solaris2
- * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
+ * alpha-dec-osf3
+ * powerpc-apple-darwin (MacOS/X)
Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy (for a
wunderhacker), but haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware:
+ * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
* i386-unknown-solaris2
- * alpha-dec-osf{2,3}
* mips-sgi-irix{5,6}
* {rs6000,powerpc}-ibm-aix
-The builder's guide included in distribution gives a complete
-run-down of what ports work; an on-line version can be found at
+The builder's guide on the web site gives a complete run-down of what
+ports work; it can be found at
+
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/building/building-guide.html
- http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/building/building-guide.html
+
+Mailing lists
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, use
+the web interfaces at
+
+ http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users
+ http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-bugs
+
+There are several other haskell and ghc-related mailing lists on
+www.haskell.org; for the full list, see
+
+ http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/
+
+Please report bugs using our SourceForge page at
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghc/
+
+or send them to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org.
+
+GHC users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org. Bleeding
+edge CVS users party on cvs-ghc@haskell.org.