- The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 3.02
+ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.04
==============================================
We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell
-Compiler (GHC), version 3.02. The source distribution is freely
+Compiler (GHC), version 4.04. The source distribution is freely
available via the World-Wide Web and through anon. FTP; details below.
Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the
-current language version is 1.4, agreed in April, 1997. Haskell
-related information is available from the Haskell home page at
+current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998.
+Haskell related information is available from the Haskell home page at
- http://haskell.org/
+ http://www.haskell.org/
+
+GHC's Web page lives at
+
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
+ What's new
=============
-GHC 3.02 is a source-only release. Major news items:
+ - GHC is now officially Open Source, see the LICENSE file in the
+ distribution for details.
+
+ - Rewrite rules can be specified in the source using the RULES
+ pragma. This is used for automatic fusion of common list functions.
- * A new specialiser,
- * A new unsafeCoerce# primitive.
- * A NOINLINE pragma.
- * Many bugs fixed, including several performance-related ones,
+ - Performance tuning: compiled programs now allocate 30% less
+ and run 20% faster on average compared to GHC 4.02.
-GHC 3.02 produces the fastest code since 0.29, but there's still
-plenty of tuning to do.
+ - GHC now uses a Happy parser instead of the old yacc/lex one.
+
+For full details see the release notes:
+
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/users_guide/users_guide-1.html#ss1.4
+ Mailing lists
================
We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
-mail to majordomo@dcs.gla.ac.uk; the msg body should be:
+mail to majordomo@haskell.org; the msg body should be:
subscribe glasgow-haskell-<which> Your Name <your-email@where.you.are>
-Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.gla.ac.uk ; GHC
-users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@dcs.gla.ac.uk
+Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org ; GHC
+users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org
+ On-line GHC-related resources
Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web:
-GHC home page http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/
-Haskell home page http://haskell.org/
-Glasgow FP group page http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/
+GHC home page http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
+Haskell home page http://www.haskell.org/
comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/Department/Staff/mpj/faq.html
The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be
self-explanatory:
- http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/
+ 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:
+ System requirements
======================
-To compile up this source-only release, you need a machine with 16+MB
-memory, GNU C (`gcc'), `perl' plus a version of GHC installed (version
-2.10 at least). We have seen GHC work on these platforms:
+To compile up this source-only release, 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:
- * alpha-dec-osf{2,3}
- * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
+ * i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}
* sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2}
+ * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
+
+Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy, but
+haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware:
+
+ * alpha-dec-osf{2,3}
* mips-sgi-irix{5,6}
- * i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}.
* {rs6000,powerpc}-ibm-aix
-Similar platforms should work with minimal hacking effort. The installer's
-guide included in distribution gives a complete run-down of what-ports-work;
-an on-line version can be found at
-
- http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/3.02/installation_guide/installing_toc.html
+The installer's guide included in distribution gives a complete
+run-down of what-ports-work; an on-line version can be found at
-EOF
+ http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/installation_guide/installing.html