X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ghc%2FANNOUNCE;h=ed1f9e961158a17afc087232530584e47a69245e;hb=9a592c0b9c6f8f5f91b7da7c11c7a560bf5f4e77;hp=aabfb653b1954954817426576cb6501fc3ab3884;hpb=65fc2fbc7144369fb5eca4e471a60d143b9c9046;p=ghc-hetmet.git diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index aabfb65..ed1f9e9 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,54 +1,65 @@ - The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.06 - ============================================== + The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.08 + ============================================== We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell -Compiler (GHC), version 4.06. The source distribution is freely -available via the World-Wide Web and through 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 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 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/ + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + What's new ============= -This should be a stable release. We have not made major changes -since 4.04 to the core compiler, but we have fixed lots of bugs. -We believe that 4.06 is in a nice stable well-tested state. (Ha!) +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)). + +There are the following changes -Apart from that, there are the following changes + - New profiling subsystem, based on cost-centre stacks. - - Major library reorganisation. All libraries, except the ones that - are part of the Haskell 98 *language* specification, have moved to - fptools/hslibs/. The hslibs tree is independent of GHC, shared between - GHC, Hugs, and (we hope) other Haskell implementations. - The idea is to make it easier for people to contribute and maintain - 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 hslibs/ tree is organised in a Java-like fashion. Details in - the new Library guide. + - Implicit parameters (i.e. dynamic scoping without the pain). - Existing programs that use the -syslib flag may need to change which - syslibs they include. + - DEPRECATED pragma for marking obsolescent interfaces. - - Support for "foreign export dynamic". + - In the wake of hslibs, a new package system for + libraries. -package should now be used instead of -syslib. - - Clean up of concurrent I/O system; in particular, I/O is now non-blocking, - except (alas) on stdout/stderr for tiresome reasons. + - Result type signatures work. - - Some refinements to the exceptions mechanism + - Many tiresome long-standing bugs and problems (e.g. the trace + problem) have been fixed. - - More performance tuning: compiled programs now allocate 10% less than 4.04 + - Many error messages have been made more helpful and/or + accurate. For full details see the release notes: - http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/users_guide/users_guide-1.html#ss1.4 + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/set/release-4-08.html + Mailing lists ================ @@ -56,21 +67,24 @@ For full details see the release notes: 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- Your Name + subscribe glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs} Your Name -Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org ; GHC -users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org +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 ================================ 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/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 ================ @@ -78,33 +92,32 @@ 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.haskell.org/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: 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 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: +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,solaris2,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32} - * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2} + * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,netbsd,cygwin32,mingw32} + * sparc-sun-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: +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} * {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/latest/installation_guide/installing.html + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/4.08/building/building-guide.html