[219] in linux-announce channel archive
GNU Fortran released to beta
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Mon Feb 20 09:48:39 1995
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 13:43:08 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi, linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
X-Mn-Key: announce
From: ig25@fg70.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Thomas Koenig)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: GNU Fortran released to beta
Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Reply-To: Thomas.Koenig@ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de
Keywords: GNU Fortran, gcc, f2c, f77, compiler, programming, rumour
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.development.apps
GNU has finally released a beta version of g77, the GNU Fortran 77
compiler. You'll need the sources to gcc 2.6.2 or 2.6.3 to
compile it.
Here's part of what you get when you do a
finger -l fortran@gate.gnu.ai.mit.edu'
[...]
GNU FORTRAN AVAILABILITY (last updated 95/02/18)
------------------------
GNU Fortran (g77) is in public beta test (as of February 17, 1995).
The Free Software Foundation and the g77 author would like to
continue improving g77 until it is perfect. If g77 doesn't meet
your needs at the moment, please let us know why, and in the meantime
use f2c (a FORTRAN-to-C translator) and gcc (the GNU C compiler).
As g77 is largely based on these two tools (the f2c libraries and the
gcc back end), your use of them will help speed the improvement of g77.
Both f2c and gcc are available from the FSF. Ask gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu or
Free Software Foundation
675 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
+1-617-876-3296
for details on ordering them. g77 will be available shortly via
this ordering mechanism, though it is available now via anonymous ftp
to prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu.
[...]
THE UNCENSORED BETA TEST ANNOUNCEMENT (95/02/17)
-------------------------------------
What follows is the announcement exactly as sent to info-gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu.
Since that might get censored, here it is:
GNU Fortran (g77) Version 0.5.8 is now available to the public for
beta testing in the usual GNU locations. The distribution is
named:
g77-0.5.8.tar.gz
g77 requires that you also have a recent distribution of gcc, such as
gcc-2.6.3.tar.gz.
After you retrieve and unpack g77, carefully read all of the
instructions -- they should be easy to find. Included are files
describing the directory layout, how to configure, build, and install
g77 (which incorporates itself as part of gcc, as they share the same
compiler back end, as does g++, for example), known bugs, some important
notes about using g77, and information on who wrote and helped alpha-
test g77.
Critical items in the bug list apply more to performance issues,
especially the amount of memory and time g77 needs to compile,
than to actual bugs involving the generation of bad code. Some
of these performance issues are to be at least somewhat addressed
in gcc 0.6.
For now, send bug reports to fortran@gnu.ai.mit.edu.
Now, some of you might wonder why, after all this time, I'm finally
willing to release g77 to the public with a non-empty bug list.
In order to address these questions in one fell swoop, to avoid
having to individually respond to lots of questions from, well,
individuals, what follows is a short explanation.
WHY I'M RELEASING GNU FORTRAN BEFORE IT'S PERFECT
by James Craig Burley, 1995-02-17
Five years and six months ago, or so, I started writing GNU Fortran
(g77) on a full-time basis. For various reasons I couldn't keep at
the effort full-time for the whole period (I've probably put in
about three man-years), but in any case, a little over three
years after I started, in September 1992, a small but hardy group
of hand-picked elite alpha testers began testing private releases
of g77. (Okay, I found them lurking in alt.sex.fortran....)
During this project, I have been asked two questions quite often:
"When will you release g77?" and "Why haven't you released g77 yet?"
Occasionally I say "I'm waiting to develop it using the GNU Hurd OS".
Usually I gave the less complicated technical answer: "I don't know".
But the real reason is far more sinister....
I've been stalling, hoping to make g77 even better before
releasing it to the public. Recently, though, I decided
to go ahead and release it now and hope to improve it later,
or find others improving it before they know better.
With this in mind, I thought it would be best to fully and finally
answer all questions regarding the timing of this release with the:
TOP 10 REASONS WHY I'M RELEASING GNU FORTRAN NOW
------------------------------------------------
10) The world needs a free compiler for tomorrow's state-of-the-art
language today!
9) Prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson case plan to show simulations of
the Ford Bronco chase scene, and need a real ssslloooowww compiler
for that project.
8) Keep getting mysterious email on my workstation saying "If you ship it,
he will code".
7) It's part of Gnewt Gingrich's Republican Contract With America
(ANSI X3.78-1981; no equivalent ISO available).
6) Angling for a recurring guest role as the resident Fortran programmer
on "Star Trek: Voyager", where I help the crew deal with REAL and
COMPLEX problems it encounters.
5) g77 desperately needed to program HAL 9000 in time.
4) Nuclear physicists need something to make up for the loss
of the supercollider.
3) This newfangled "Information Superhighway" thing is gonna need some
"Informational Hell's Angels", if you know what I mean.
2) Read somewhere that if I turn in my GNU, I get a $100 certificate
from Toys 'R' Us.
And the NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I'M RELEASING GNU FORTRAN NOW...
1) Keep hearing voices whispering "GNU COBOL...GNU COBOL...".
Enjoy!
--
James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu
[...]
--
Thomas Koenig, Thomas.Koenig@ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de, ig25@dkauni2.bitnet.
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double
logarithmic diagram.
--
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