The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 4.04
==============================================
We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell
Compiler (GHC), version 4.04. The source distribution and various binary
distributions are 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 Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998.
Haskell related information is available from the Haskell home page at
http://haskell.org/
GHC's Web page lives at
http://research.microsoft.com/users/t-simonm/ghc/
+ What's new
=============
- GHC is now officially Open Source, see the LICENSE file in the
distribution for details.
- Rewrite rules can be specified in the source using the RULES
pragma. This is used for automatic fusion of common list
functions.
- Performance tuning: compiled programs now allocate 30% less
and run 20% faster on average compared to GHC 4.02.
- GHC now uses a Happy parser instead of the old yacc/lex one.
For full details see the release notes:
http://research.microsoft.com/users/t-simonm/ghc/Docs/latest/users_guide/use
rs_guide-1.html#ss1.4
+ 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://research.microsoft.com/users/t-simonm/ghc/
Haskell home page http://haskell.org/
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://research.microsoft.com/users/t-simonm/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)!
+ Binary Distributions
======================
We currently have binary distributions for i386-unknown-linux and
sparc-sun-solaris2 available from the web page. The following distributions
will follow shortly:
* Win32
* i386-unknown-freebsd3
* hppa1.1-hp-hpux
+ System requirements
======================
To compile up this release, you need a machine with 64+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:
* i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}
* sparc-sun-{sunos4,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:
* 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
http://research.microsoft.com/users/t-simonm/ghc/Docs/latest/installation_gu
ide/installing.html
