The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 0.22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new public release of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler is now
available (GHC, version 0.22). Binaries and sources are freely
available by FTP; details below.
Highlights of what's new in 0.22 since 0.19 (December 1993):
* Faster compilation times (now about 40% slower than HBC if not
using -O [on a Sun4]).
* Revamped state-tranformer stuff, which affects arrays, calling out
to C, and I/O (preparing for Haskell 1.3).
* "Threads" stuff -- can do quasi-parallel execution on a
uniprocessor.
* No more space leaks from lazy pattern-matching.
* Alastair Reid's "stable pointers" and "malloc pointers"; friendly
interaction with "C Land".
* Time profiling no longer attributes great chunks
of time to "CAF". (However, because of the many recent changes,
profiling is probably *less* reliable than before.)
* New "GHC system library" (analogous to the "HBC system library");
not much there, but stay tuned.
* Fully supported on DEC Alphas. Some other porting progress.
* Much improved configuration.
* Less user namespace pollution by the system.
* New mailing lists about Glasgow Haskell.
- The "glasgow-haskell-users" list is for GHC users to chat among
themselves. Subscribe by sending mail to
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]". Messages for the
list go to "glasgow-haskell-users".
- The "glasgow-haskell-bugs" list is for submission of bug reports
and discussion thereof. Subscribe via
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]"; send bug
reports and rumination thereupon go to "glasgow-haskell-bugs".
Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New.
To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory, GNU C
(`gcc') [version 2.1 or greater], and `perl'. We have seen GHC work
in *some* form or fashion on: Sun4s, DEC Alphas, Sun3s, NeXTs,
DECstations, HP-PA and SGI boxes. Sun4s and Alphas, our development
platforms, are fully supported. We distribute binaries for them.
*** LATE NEWS: Don't use GCC 2.6.0 on the Alpha ***
Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in
ghc/README to find all of the documentation in and about this release.
Please report bugs to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
direct general queries to glasgow-haskell-request@<same>.
Simon Peyton Jones
Dated: 94/07/27
....................................................................
How to get it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This release is available, in whole or in part, from the usual Haskell
anonymous FTP sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow:
ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
ftp.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.225.66)
nebula.cs.yale.edu (128.36.13.1)
The Glasgow site is mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow.
These are the available files (.gz files are gzipped) -- some are `on
demand', ask if you don't see them:
ghc-0.22-bin-sun4.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you have GNU C (gcc)
version 2.x around...
ghc-0.22-bin-alpha.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
Built on OSF1 V2.0; assumes you have GNU C (gcc).
ghc-0.22-bin-<other>.tar.gz Other binary distributions -- we will
make them available as we go along; they
will be announced on the Haskell mailing list
(not elsewhere).
ghc-0.22-src.tar.gz The basic source distribution; about 3MB.
ghc-0.22-hc-files.tar.gz The intermediate C (.hc) files for the
compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello,
world'. About 4MB.
ghc-0.22.ANNOUNCE This file
ghc-0.22.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who
want to peek before FTPing...
ghc-0.22-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in
case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our
DVI files...
ghc-0.22-hi-files-hbc.tar.gz
Interface files for the compiler proper
(ghc/compiler/*/*.hi), to be used if booting
with HBC. Not recommended, but some might
want to. (The distributed .hi files assume
GHC version 0.22.)
There are no diffs from version 0.19, as they would be monstrous.
