Hello, everybody!

We are now ready to release an improved version of what you know as gpc-1.2-2.7.2 as a new official version, GNU Pascal 2.0. The announcement below will go to the NewsGroups tomorrow or so. I am now setting up the directory tree on

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

Please imagine it were ftp://kampi.hut.fi/jtv/gnu-pascal/ and check whether everything is set up correctly. The directory tree will be copied to kampi.hut.fi together with the announcement going to the NewsGroups.

There is also a new home page which will replace the current one. You can check it now at

http://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/~gnu-pascal/new/

:-) ,

Peter

8< ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: ANNOUNCE: GNU Pascal 2.0 (2.7.2.1) Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal.misc, comp.lang.pascal.borland, comp.lang.pascal.ansi-iso, comp.os.msdos.djgpp, gnu.announce, gnu.gcc.announce Followup-To: comp.lang.pascal.misc Summary: GNU Pascal version 2.0 (GCC 2.7.2.1) now available Keywords: GNU,Pascal,Free Software,FreeWare

This is the announcement of version 2.0 of

GNU Pascal

corresponding to GCC version 2.7.2.1.

What is GNU Pascal? ===================

GNU Pascal is, as the name says, the Pascal compiler from the GNU compiler family. This means:

- 32 bit compiler, no limits, highly optimizing, - runs on all operating systems supported by GCC (including DOS, Win95/NT, OS/2, Linux, FreeBSD, many other Unix dialects), - Free Software according to the GNU General Public License, - compatible to other GNU languages and tools such as GNU C and the GNU debugger.

The compiler integrates the following language standards:

- ISO 7185 Standard Pascal, - ISO 10206 Extended Pascal (90% implemented), - Borland Pascal (80% compatible).

Some highlights:

- From Extended Pascal: complex numbers, initialized variables, structured function return values, modules, - from Borland Pascal: inc, dec, shl, shr, absolute variables, units, objects, - GNU extensions: min, max, (PXSC-style) user-definable operators.

Disadvantages:

- Pascal support in integrated development environments (RHIDE for DOS/DJGPP, (X)WPE for Unix) is still beta, - the GNU debugger (gdb) does not yet understand Pascal syntax and types, - few standard libraries (can use C standard libraries instead), - longer compilation times than with e.g. Borland Pascal.

New features in version 2.0 ===========================

- Borland extensions are integrated into the main distribution line. - Easier to compile. - Texinfo online documentation (available as HTML, too). - Precompiled Module/Unit interfaces. - Automatic `make' facility. - Some bugs fixed. "Export foo = all" extension. Machine attributes. Etc.

Where to obtain GNU Pascal ==========================

The master ftp site for GNU Pascal is kampi.hut.fi. The source of the compiler, binary distributions for certain platforms and other GNU Pascal related files can be found in

ftp://kampi.hut.fi/jtv/gnu-pascal/ .

This site is mirrored on

ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/gnu/pascal/ .

Other sources of information ============================

More about GNU Pascal can be found in our WWW home page,

http://home.pages.de/~GNU-Pascal/ .

If you have problems to access this, try

http://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/~gnu-pascal/ .

That page contains the GNU Pascal FAQ list and an online version of the complete documentation.

If you have questions or want to discuss about GNU Pascal, please join the GNU Pascal mailing list by writing to

gpc-request@hut.fi .

The address of the list itself is

gpc@hut.fi .

--------

Follow-ups will be directed to comp.lang.pascal.misc.

Enjoy,

The GNU Pascal Development Team

Jukka Virtanen Peter Gerwinski Jan-Jaap van der Heijden