X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ghc%2FANNOUNCE;h=d3181f12d6247308030ea3cb6f3bbeb892966b23;hb=dac1b5925db1b636dc96ef2bb6446cf987e1dbcb;hp=77b7c5c77608160c488156550222248b65b7294c;hpb=13c8aad6a15f903e652b325e5b71b217e4d50d5b;p=ghc-hetmet.git diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index 77b7c5c..d3181f1 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,107 +1,123 @@ - The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 2.04 - ============================================== + The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.08 + ============================================== We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell -Compiler (GHC), version 2.04. Source distribution is freely available -via the World-Wide Web and anon. FTP; details below. +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. 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. - http://haskell.org/ +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/ + What's new ============= -Release 2.04 represent work done through May '97; 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)). - * Data constructors can now have polymophic fields, and ordinary - functions can have polymoprhic arguments. Details on +There are the following changes - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/quantification.html + - New profiling subsystem, based on cost-centre stacks. - Existential types coming, but not done yet. + - 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). - * Pattern guards implemented, see - - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/guards.html + - Implicit parameters (i.e. dynamic scoping without the pain). - * Compiler can now compile itself (i.e., no real dependence on - the Haskell 1.2 compiler anymore (version 0.29)). + - DEPRECATED pragma for marking obsolescent interfaces. - * Faster compilation - Compilation speeds has improved since 2.02, although it still slower - than GHC-0.29, the Good Old Compiler. (the gap is narrowing, though!) - - * Code quality is better, the simplifier and inlining machinery has been - refurbished. Not sure how much better. + - In the wake of hslibs, a new package system for + libraries. -package should now be used instead of -syslib. - * powerpc-ibm-aix is now a supported GHC platform, due to the - Heroic Efforts of Andr\'e Santos . + - Result type signatures work. - * It has been tested against a large suite of (mostly) Haskell 1.2 - programs (the NoFib suite). Bunch of bugs related to new - Haskell 1.4 has been weeded out. + - Many tiresome long-standing bugs and problems (e.g. the trace + problem) have been fixed. - * A couple of Haskell 1.4 features are still incompletely supported, - notably polymorphic strictness annotations, and Unicode. + - Many error messages have been made more helpful and/or + accurate. -Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New. +For full details see the release notes: + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/users_guide/release-4-08.html + 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-{users,bugs} Your Name - subscribe glasgow-haskell- Your Name +or -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 + 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 ================================ 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/ -comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/Department/Staff/mpj/faq.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/~gmh/faq.html + How to get it ================ -The easy way is to go to the WWW GHC distribution page, which should -be self-explanatory: +The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be +self-explanatory: - ftp://ftp.dcs.gla.ac.uk/pub/haskell/glasgow/README.html + 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 ====================== -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 (either -version 0.29 or 2.02/2.03). We have seen GHC work on these platforms: +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: - * alpha-dec-osf2 + * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32,mingw32} + * sparc-sun-solaris2 * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10} - * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2} + +Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy (for a +wunderhacker), but haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware: + + * i386-unknown-solaris2 + * alpha-dec-osf{2,3} * mips-sgi-irix{5,6} - * i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}. - * powerpc-ibm-aix + * {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. +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/4.08/building/building-guide.html