From: CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::PREP.AI.MIT.EDU::HELP-GCC-REQUEST" 23-FEB-1992 06:50:39.86 To: ARISIA::EVERHART CC: Subj: GCC 2.0 released From: help-gcc-request@prep.ai.mit.edu@SMTP@CRDGW2 To: Everhart@Arisia@MRGATE Received: by crdgw1.ge.com (5.57/GE 1.123) id AA19585; Sun, 23 Feb 92 06:41:46 EST Received: by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA29512; Sun, 23 Feb 92 04:19:33 EST Return-Path: Received: from news.cis.ohio-state.edu by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA29507; Sun, 23 Feb 92 04:19:13 EST Received: by news.cis.ohio-state.edu (5.61-kk/5.911008) id AA21996; Sun, 23 Feb 92 04:18:29 -0500 Received: from USENET by news.cis.ohio-state.edu with netnews for help-gcc@prep.ai.mit.edu (help-gcc@prep.ai.mit.edu); contact usenet@news.cis.ohio-state.edu if you have questions. To: help-gcc@prep.ai.mit.edu Date: 22 Feb 92 08:54:57 GMT Message-Id: <1-9202220854.AA25765@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu> From: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman) Sender: help-gcc-request@prep.ai.mit.edu Subject: GCC 2.0 released People have been waiting for GCC 2.0 for a year. Now it's available for anonymous ftp from /pub/gnu/gcc-2.0.tar.Z on prep.ai.mit.edu. There are no diffs from version 1--such diffs would be too large to be useful. Version 2 of GCC can generate code for the IBM PC/RT, the IBM RS/6000, the Motorola 88000, the Acorn RISC machine (not fully tested), the AMD 29000 and the HP-PA (700 or 800), in addition to several machines supported by version 1 (Motorola 68000, Vax, Sparc, National Semiconductor 32000, Intel 386 and 860, and Mips). Ports for the IBM 370, the Intel 960, the Clipper, the Tron (a Japanese standard computer architecture) and the NCUBE are on their way, but there is no estimate of when they will be available. Note that using GCC to compile for the HP-PA requires as yet unreleased versions of other GNU software such as the assembler and linker. Version 2 can generate output files in a.out, COFF, ECOFF, ELF, XCOFF, VAX-VMS and OSF-Rose formats when used with a suitable assembler. It can produce debugging information in several formats: BSD stabs, COFF, ECOFF, ECOFF with stabs symbols, VAX-VMS and DWARF. (We may support XCOFF for the RS/6000 in the future.) Version 2 can be easily configured as a cross-compiler, running on one platform while generating code for another. Version 2 supports compatible calling conventions for function calling and return values on the Sparc (unlike version 1) as well as the other machine types. Early testing of GCC Version 2.0 indicates that it produces faster code for SPARC computers than Sun's latest released compilers (both bundled and unbundled). It is also the fastest known compiler for the Motorola 88k. In addition to ANSI C, GCC Version 2.0 includes support for the C++ and Objective C languages. Objective C is an object-oriented language which adds to C features similar to Smalltalk. The front end for the Objective C language was donated by NeXT Computers, Inc., which uses GCC as the basis for their NeXTstep operating system. (Run-time support for the Objective C language is still under development.) GCC extends the C language to support nested functions, non-local gotos, taking the address of program labels, and unnamed structures as function arguments (among other things). There are also many new warnings for frequent programming mistakes. GCC Version 2 can produce position-independent code for several types of CPU: 68000, 88000, 80386, Sparc, and RS/6000. Supporting PIC on additional suitable CPU types is not too difficult a task.