GPC alpha release and GPC CVS server

[Peter Gerwinski]

Hello, folks!

This is the announcement of a new alpha version of GPC:

    gpc-20000705

We also have set up a CVS server where you can always check out the
current development snapshot. Alpha snapshots are now going to be
released much more frequently.

At the same time we have updated the GPC WWW pages. They now contain
the GPC documentation in HTML, DVI and PS format which are updated
automatically with the GPC source.

The instructions below are an extract from the new `INSTALL' file.

For a list of new features in this release, see the section `news'
on the GPC WWW pages and/or in the GPC documentation. For fixed
bugs, see the GPC TODO list at the same places.

Have fun,

    the GNU Pascal development team


Where and what to download
==========================

   The master server for GNU Pascal is
`agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de'. Official and beta releases of the
compiler with sources and binaries for many platforms as well as other
GNU Pascal related files can be found in

     `ftp://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/gnu-pascal/'

   You can find binary distributions for many platforms in the
subdirectory `binary'. The archive files are named
`gpc-VERSION.PLATFORM.EXTENSION' - for example
`gpc-2.1.alpha-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz' for GPC version 2.1 on an
Alpha workstation running the Linux kernel with GNU C Library, or
`gpc-20000616.i586-pc-djgppv201.zip' for GPC version 20000616 on an
i586 PC running DOS with DJGPP version 2.01.

   After you have downloaded the correct archive file for your
platform, please read the installation notes on how to install such a
binary distribution.

   If you are running Dos or MS Windows, you will need additional tools
- see "What else to download and where" below.

Current snapshots
-----------------

   GNU Pascal is subject to steady development. You can download the
current snapshot (source only, use at your own risk) via anonymous FTP
from:

     `ftp://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/gnu-pascal/alpha/'

or via anonymous CVS from:

     CVS root: :pserver:anonymous at agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de:/usr/local/cvsroot
     Password: anonymous
     Command:  checkout gpc

   Please read the installation notes on how to compile the source from
a distribution or a CVS checkout.

Compiling GPC
=============

   The preferred way to distribute GNU software is distribution of the
source code. However, it can be a non-trivial exercise to build GNU
Pascal on some non-Unix systems, so we also provide ready-to-run
binaries for a number of platforms. (See above for how to install a
binary distribution.)

   GPC is based on the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU CC or GCC. You will
need the GCC sources to build it. It must be the same version as the one
GPC is implemented with - `version 2.95.x' as of this writing. Although
you need GCC to build the GNU Pascal compiler, you don't need GCC to
compile Pascal programs once GNU Pascal is installed. (However, using
certain libraries will require compiling C wrappers, so it is a good
idea to install the C compiler as well.)

   Because GNU Pascal shares its back-end with GCC, it should run on any
system supported by GCC. A full list of platforms supported by GCC can
be found in the GCC installation instructions.

   The GCC source can be obtained from any mirror of the GNU FTP site,
`ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/'. The "core" distribution is sufficient for
GPC.

   Here is the generic procedure for installing GNU Pascal on a Unix
system. See below for extra information needed to install GPC on
DOS-like platforms.

  1. Checking the prerequisites

     Make sure that GNU make is installed. (In the following, we will
     simply speak of `make' when invoking GNU make; you might need to
     call `gmake' instead.)

     For extracting the example programs from the documentation to the
     `doc/docdemos' directory a non-crippled `sed' is needed.  GNU sed
     is known to work.

     If you have checked out the GPC source from CVS, you will have to
     rebuild most derived files, so you will need additional tools:
     `bison', `flex', `makeinfo', `gperf', and `autoconf'. Make sure
     that these are installed.

     If you want to build the GPC WWW pages you will also need:
     `texi2html' version 1.61 (older versions are missing some needed
     features; newer versions suffer from a bug), `texi2dvi', TeX,
     `gzip', `dvips', `dviselect', and `dviconcat'.

     If you run into trouble during the installation process, please
     check whether you are using outdated versions of the required
     utilities and upgrade if necessary.

     The GNU versions of the packages above are available from
     the GNU FTP server (ftp://ftp.gnu.org) or any of its mirrors.
     Package PACKAGE is usually located in the directory `gnu/PACKAGE'.

  2. Unpacking the source

     From a directory of your choice (e.g. `/home/fred'), unpack the
     GCC and GNU Pascal source distributions. This will create separate
     subdirectories for GCC and GPC. Let us assume `gcc-2.95.1' and
     `gpc-20000535' in this example.
          % cd /home/fred
          % gzip -c -d gcc-core-2.95.1.tar.gz | tar xf -
          % gzip -c -d gpc-20000535.tar.gz | tar xf -

     `cd' to the GPC directory and move the contents (a subdirectory
     `p') to the subdirectory `gcc' of the GCC directory:

          % cd /home/fred/gpc-20000535
          % mv p /home/fred/gcc-2.95.1/gcc/

     It is recommended, though not required, to use a separate
     directory for building the compiler, rather than compiling in the
     source directory. In this example, let us create
     `/home/fred/gpc-build' for this purpose:

          % mkdir /home/fred/gpc-build

     If you use a separate directory, you do not need to write into the
     GCC source directory once you have patched the GCC source (see
     below), and can build GPC for more than one platform from the same
     source tree.

     In case you are re-using a directory where you have already built
     GCC and/or GPC for a different target machine, do `make distclean'
     to delete all files that might be invalid. One of the files this
     deletes is `Makefile'; if `make distclean' complains that
     `Makefile' does not exist, it probably means that the directory is
     already suitably clean.

  3. Configuring and building GCC

     GNU Pascal is automatically configured with GCC. Configuration of
     GCC is treated in depth in the GCC installation instructions. The
     normal procedure is as follows:

     `cd' to the GPC build directory. From there, run the `configure'
     script in the GCC source directory:

          % cd /home/fred/gpc-build
          % /home/fred/gcc-2.95.1/configure --enable-languages=pascal

     This creates all the necessary config files, links and Makefile in
     the GCC object directory.

     Note 1: The configuration will prompt you for patching the GCC
     source for GPC support, so you need write access to that
     directory. All changes to GCC are surrounded by `#ifdef GPC ...
     #endif', so they should not interfere when you build a C compiler
     from this source tree.

     Note 2: The `--enable-languages=pascal' option means that we only
     want to build the Pascal compiler and not, for instance, the C++
     compiler.

     Note 3: The standard directory for installing GCC and GPC is
     `/usr/local/lib'. If you want to install files to an alternate
     directory DIR, specify `--prefix=DIR' when you run `configure'.

  4. Putting other GNU tools in place

     Some environments require other GNU tools (such as the GNU
     assembler or linker) instead of the standard system tools for GCC
     to work. (See the GCC installation instructions for details.) If
     this is the case for your system, install the required tools in
     the GPC build directory under the names `as', `ld', or whatever is
     appropriate. This will enable the compiler to find the proper
     tools for compilation of the program `enquire' (a part of GCC) and
     to install the GNU tools to a place where they are found by GCC
     but do not interfere with the standard system tools.

     Alternatively, you can do subsequent compilation using a value of
     the `PATH' environment variable such that the necessary GNU tools
     come before the standard system tools.

  5. Compiling GPC

     Once you are satisfied with the configuration as determined by
     `configure', you can build the compiler:

          % make

     Notice that this procedure will build the C compiler (and maybe
     some other compilers) too, because that is used to compile the GPC
     runtime library.

     Optionally, you may supply CFLAGS, LDFLAGS or RTSFLAGS. CFLAGS is
     used for compiler and RTS, RTSFLAGS are for RTS only, i.e.: `make
     CFLAGS="-O2" RTSFLAGS=-Wall'

  6. Completing the installation

     When everything has been compiled, you can check the installation
     process with:

          % make -n install

     To complete the installation, run the command `make install'. You
     need write access to the target directories (`/usr/local/bin',
     `/usr/local/lib', `/usr/local/info', `/usr/local/doc', and
     `/usr/local/man' in this example), so this is usually done as
     `root':

          % su -c "make install"

     If you want to install *only* the Pascal compiler (for example if
     you already have the correct version of GCC installed), `cd' to the
     `gcc' subdirectory of the build directory (e.g.
     `/home/fred/gpc-build/gcc') and run `make pascal.install'. This
     installation process does *not* overwrite existing copies of
     `libgcc.a' or `specs', should they exist.

     Also from the `gcc' subdirectory you can do some more "exotic"
     builds. For instance, you can build the GPC WWW pages by typing
     `make pascal.html' or a binary distribution by typing `make
     pascal.bindist'. See the `Makefile' in that directory for more
     examples.

   Have fun with GPC!