Hello everybody!

A new beta version of GNU Pascal is being uploaded to agnes: gpc-970714. This is merely a bug fixing release, but ...

Faster GPI ==========

Using a hashing algorithm instead of a linear search, the loading and retrieving of GPI files works much faster now, especially for Units (or Modules) with large Interface parts.

The GNU Pascal development team welcomes a new member, Alexey Volokhov, who implemented this. Thanks, Alexey!

Bug fixes and new compatibility features ========================================

Standard Pascal:

* Subranges of enumerated types are now compatible with their host type.

* GPC now performs compile-time range-checking when a constant value is assigned to something of a subrange type.

UCSD (and Borland) Pascal:

* For Units, `.gpm' files are no longer produced, only `.gpi' files are. (For Extended Pascal Modules, `.gpm' *and* `.gpi' files are produced.)

* The `Concat' function is implemented now.

Borland Pascal:

* The `near' and `far' directives are now "implemented" (i.e. accepted and ignored) in GPC. Outside `--borland-pascal' mode, a warning is given.

Extended Pascal:

* When assigning a constant value to a String, GPC now checks whether it fits in the String's capacity.

* Pointers to already discriminated schemata work now.

* Schemata containing forward-referencing pointers work now.

GNU extensions:

* `Integer ( 8 )' types are more stable now, survive transport through a GPI file, and can be `writeln'ed up to a width of that of an `Integer', usually 32.

* A new function `BitSizeOf' now returns the number of bits in some variable, including fields of a packed record.

Miscellaneous:

* Directives are now passed correctly from `specs' to the `gpc-cpp' preprocessor.

* Casts between different Real types are now treated as conversions again. (This was broken in gpc-970624.)

* Strings of unknown size in functions which are exported by a Unit work now. (This was the "prior parameter's size depends on `Foo'" bug.)

* Indirect function calls are more stable now. A strange bug which showed up only occasionally and made GPC sometimes call a function when a function pointer was dereferenced and sometimes not, should have vanished now. (Please check!)

Where to get it ===============

The source is being uploaded to

ftp://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/gnu-pascal/beta/,

files

gpc-970714.tar.gz and gpc-970714.zip,

together with binaries for DOS (DJGPP), DOS and OS/2 (EMX), Linux (ELF), and FreeBSD.

In order to prepare for the release of gpc-2.1, binaries are moved to a subdirectory `binary' of `beta', and some other things are being set up, so don't be confused if some files aren't located any more where they were on the day before.

Acknowledgement ===============

I thank Stephen Lindholm, Frank Heckenbach, Abimbola A. Olowofoyeku, Sven Hilscher, Bernhard Tschirren, and Bill Currie for finding the bugs.

Please go on finding all bugs in gpc-970714! I may have overlooked some you already reported. (If so, please remind me by e-mail.;-) Once GPC is clean, we can release version 2.1 - and face neat new features (e.g. qualified import and identifiers, classes, interfaces, procedure overloading, ...) for 2.2! :)

Greetings,

Peter

Dipl.-Phys. Peter Gerwinski, Essen, Germany, free physicist and programmer peter.gerwinski@uni-essen.de - http://home.pages.de/~peter.gerwinski/ [970201] maintainer GNU Pascal [970714] - http://home.pages.de/~gnu-pascal/ [970125]