X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ghc%2FANNOUNCE;h=c5cbae687fa4ffcbe120d329cbb30e553d6c16d8;hb=a888792cd6eaad3f8850d72dc7b958db5bccf521;hp=87417db34817527fe70ba846f92bf0aa290302ab;hpb=ee13c263bf4eabe2871e1d3b248e3dcd86bc53ac;p=ghc-hetmet.git diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index 87417db..c5cbae6 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,116 +1,116 @@ - 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; details below. + ============================================================= + The (Interactive) Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 6.4 + ============================================================= -Haskell is "the" 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 +The GHC Team is pleased to announce a new major release of GHC. It +has been a long time since the last major release (Dec 2003!), and a +lot has happened: - http://www.haskell.org/ + - GADTs (Generalised Abstract Datatypes) are supported -GHC's Web page lives at + - STM (Software Transactional Memory) is implemented - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + - Full support for Cabal and a much improved package framework -+ What's new -============= + - Better support for mutually-recursive modules -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)). + - A complete rewrite of the back end -There are the following changes + - Accurate source locations in error messages - - New profiling subsystem, based on cost-centre stacks. + - Lots of new libraries - - 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). +The full release notes are here: - - Implicit parameters (i.e. dynamic scoping without the pain). + http://haskell.org/ghc/docs/6.4/html/users_guide/release-6-4.html - - DEPRECATED pragma for marking obsolescent interfaces. +How to get it +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be self-explanatory: - - In the wake of hslibs, a new package system for - libraries. -package should now be used instead of -syslib. + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ - - Result type signatures work. +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. - - Many tiresome long-standing bugs and problems (e.g. the trace - problem) have been fixed. +Packages will appear as they are built - if the package for your +system isn't available yet, please try again later. - - Many error messages have been made more helpful and/or - accurate. -For full details see the release notes: - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/users_guide/release-4-08.html +Background +~~~~~~~~~~ +Haskell is a standard lazy functional programming language; the +current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998 and +revised December 2002. +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. -+ Mailing lists -================ +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). -We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send -mail to majordomo@haskell.org; the msg body should be: - subscribe glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs} Your Name - -or - - subscribe cvs-ghc Your Name - -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: -GHC home page http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ -Haskell home page http://www.haskell.org/ +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 -+ How to get it -================ -The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be -self-explanatory: +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: + + * i386-unknown-{linux,*bsd,mingw32} + * sparc-sun-solaris2 + * powerpc-apple-darwin (MacOS X) + * powerpc-apple-linux + +Ports to other platforms are possible with varying degrees of +difficulty. The builder's guide on the web site gives a complete +run-down of what ports work and how to go about porting to a new +platform; it can be found at - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/building/ -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)! +Mailing lists +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, use +the web interfaces at -+ System requirements -====================== + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-bugs -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: +There are several other haskell and ghc-related mailing lists on +www.haskell.org; for the full list, see - * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32,mingw32} - * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2} - * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10} + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/ -Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy (for a -wunderhacker), but haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware: +Please report bugs using our SourceForge page at + + http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghc/ - * i386-unknown-solaris2 - * alpha-dec-osf{2,3} - * mips-sgi-irix{5,6} - * {rs6000,powerpc}-ibm-aix +or send them to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org. -The builder's guide included in distribution gives a complete -run-down of what ports work; an on-line version can be found at +GHC users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org. Bleeding +edge CVS users party on cvs-ghc@haskell.org. - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/building/building-guide.html