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@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!