X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ghc%2FANNOUNCE;h=aed31f84a46a10db8457d0ca1bb9c47d7a3f20bb;hb=7516738a036aac81e165d5e0a4973f1b1585a855;hp=566fa5df955666cac7b078caff33fb3e647e38a3;hpb=e131c57c968a64efe8be0b573f9fc77b0729032d;p=ghc-hetmet.git diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index 566fa5d..aed31f8 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,93 +1,149 @@ - The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.04 - ============================================== -We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell -Compiler (GHC), version 4.04. The source distribution is freely -available via the World-Wide Web and through anon. FTP; details below. + The (Interactive) Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 5.00 + ============================================================ -Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the +We are pleased to announce a new major release of the Glasgow Haskell +Compiler (GHC), version 5.00. 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. + +Haskell is a standard lazy functional programming language; the current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998. -Haskell related information is available from the Haskell home page at - http://www.haskell.org/ +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, 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/ + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ -+ What's new -============= - - 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. + What's new +============ - - Performance tuning: compiled programs now allocate 30% less - and run 20% faster on average compared to GHC 4.02. +5.00 has been majorly revamped since the previous stable version, 4.08.2. +This should be a stable release. Major changes since 4.08.2 are: - - GHC now uses a Happy parser instead of the old yacc/lex one. + - An interactive system, similar in style to Hugs. You can interactively + load and unload modules, run expressions, ask the types of things. + Module dependencies are tracked and chased automatically. + Combinations of compiled and interpreted modules may be used. + All the GHC libraries are available in interactive mode, as are + most of the Glasgow extensions to Haskell 98. Compilation in + interactive mode (to bytecode) is about three times faster than + compiling to object code. -For full details see the release notes: + - Batch compilation of multiple modules at once, with automatic + dependency chasing. For large programs this can halve compilation + times, and removes the need for Makefiles. - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/users_guide/users_guide-1.html#ss1.4 + - Enhanced package (library) management system. Packages may be + installed and removed from an installation using the ghc-pkg tool. -+ Mailing lists -================ + - Initial Unicode support - the Char type is now 31 bits. -We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send -mail to majordomo@haskell.org; the msg body should be: + - Sparc native code generator, giving much faster compilation on sparcs. + (Native code generation for x86s has been available for a while). - subscribe glasgow-haskell- Your Name + - Improved heap profiling - you can restrict heap profiles + by type, closure description, cost centre, and module. -Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org ; GHC -users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org + - Support for the latest Foreign Function Interface (FFI) + proposals. Marcin Kowalczyk's hsc2hs tool is included. + - Language extensions: parallel list comprehensions and functional + dependencies. -+ On-line GHC-related resources -================================ + - The usual huge collection of bug fixes. Most reported bugs have + been fixed. -Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: +For full details see the release notes: + + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/5.00/set/release-5-00.html -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 -+ How to get it -================ + How to get it +=============== The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be self-explanatory: - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + +We supply binary builds in .rpm/.deb form for all you Linux junkies +out there, and in InstallShield form for Windows folks. Everybody +else gets a .tar.gz which can be installed where you want. 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)! +README file to find all of the documentation about this release. -+ System requirements -====================== -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: + On-line GHC-related resources +=============================== + +Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: + +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/~gmh/faq.html + - * 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: + System requirements +===================== +To compile programs with GHC, you need a machine with 32+MB memory, GNU C +and perl. This release is known to work on the following platforms: + + * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,mingw32} + * sparc-sun-solaris2 + +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 installer'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 included in distribution gives a complete +run-down of what ports work; an on-line version can be found at + + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/5.00/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/ - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/installation_guide/installing.html +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.