The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.01
==============================================
We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell
Compiler (GHC), version 4.01. The source distribution is freely
available via the World-Wide Web and through anon. FTP; details below.
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
http://haskell.org/
+ What's new
=============
GHC 4.01 is a small increment over 4.00. Many bugs have been fixed.
The following features are new:
* Weak pointers,
* The foreign function interface is now complete.
In addition, bootstrapping the compiler should now work out of the box.
The following things have not been fixed yet:
* The native code generator is still flaky, and is turned off by
default for the time being.
* The profiler is still flaky.
Binaries: we have i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd} binaries on the web site so
far, sparc-sun-solaris2 and i386-unknown-cygwin binaries are on the way.
+ Mailing lists
================
We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]; the msg body should be:
subscribe glasgow-haskell-<which> Your Name <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Please send bug reports about GHC to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ;
GHC
users hang out on [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+ 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
+ How to get it
================
The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be
self-explanatory:
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/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 (version
2.10 at least). This release is known to work on the following platforms:
* i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}
* sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2}
Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy, but
haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware:
* alpha-dec-osf{2,3}
* hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10}
* 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
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/4.01/installation_guide/installing_
toc.html
