GNU Modula-3

GNU Modula-3 was an independent implementation that was to be fully integrated with gcc. Initial reports were encouraging, but apparently work on the project has been suspended:


From: hudson@cs.umass.edu (Rick Hudson)
Subject: Re: Where to start - GNU M3 status.
Date: 02 Mar 1994 20:53:10 GMT

I put in as much time as anyone on the GM3 project and have it wired up and
sort of running on my desk well enough to do run experiments. Unfortunately,
it is in no shape for prime time. No threads and 20% of the SRC libraries
don't even compile. Work slowed in July due to me switching projects and
pretty much halted when it became obvious that SRC was doing such a good job
on their compiler.

We are porting pieces of our backend and runtime into the SRC stuff but it
is just for internal research use since that is all we really have time for.
Cheers,

From: moss@cs.cmu.edu (Eliot Moss)
Subject: GNU Modula-3 alpha release status
Date: 25 Mar 93 17:53:12 GMT

We said we'd try to get the initial (alpha) release of GNU
Modula-3 out some time this month (March), and we're in the
process of figuring out what to release and how to package it
up. We expect to have something in roughly two weeks (watch
this space for a notice).

What would this be? First, it is a compiler for the VAX (only)
under Ultrix (only), definitely without threads, and probably
still failing a small number of the tests in the SRC test
suite (which implies that not all of libm3 is likely to work
either). The actual release information will detail more about
what's working and what's not at that time. We DO currently
pass all the compiler tests that the SRC compiler did when it
was first released (i.e., the ones we fail are more obscure
things that users uncovered over time).

Second, the release itself will be a compressed tar file
including sources and executables. The executables will
probably work only if you put libraries, etc., in the expected
places (otherwise, you'll need to rebuild from sources).The
compiler is written in C and should be compiled with a recent
version of gcc (so you'll need gcc installed). The system also
uses gld (the GNU linker).

This release should be most useful to people undertaking ports
to other machines and operating systems, since it will give
them a head start on understanding the compiler and getting
the full system ready. It may be of some use for ordinary
programming, but it really depends on whether you tend to use
features that tickle the remaining bugs. We are indeed
interested in alpha test reports, but only if they tell us
something new (i.e., we'll provide a list of known
deficiencies).

When the release is made, we'll also start email discussions
with the various parties who have indicated they might
undertake ports, to help sort out who will do what.

Regards, and thanks for your continued interest and
encouragement -- EM

From: moss@cs.cmu.edu (Eliot Moss)
Subject: GNU Modula-3 pre-release
Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 23:49:33 GMT

At long last, the GNU Modula-3 project has a pre-release ready, for
the VAX/Ultrix platform ONLY. Various folks had notified us of
their interest in doing ports or alpha testing, and they have
already been sent email with particulars on how to obtain the tar
file, etc. There are a number of known bugs; I'll see about making
a list available by ftp or something, for interested parties.

It is our opinion that the prerelease is not mature enough for
general use, but we wished to give a head start to those folks
attempting ports, and we will make periodic patches available. If
you want to use this compiler for serious program development or
need something solid with debugging support for classroom use, you
should wait until we've fixed more of the problems. (But to give a
sense of what we HAVE accomplished, as I recall, all but 3 of the
SRC compiler tests compile (there are 137 of them).) We hope to do
a more general release, and support more platforms, in the summer.

If you're interested in helping and have not previously contacted
us, please send email to me and/or Rick Hudson
(hudson@cs.umass.edu).

Thanks to Digital and SRC for supporting us, and to Rick Hudson, Amer Diwan,
and Norm Walsh, the guys who do all the hard work!

[Modula-3 home page]

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Last modified on Mon Sep 25 18:23:53 PDT 1995 by heydon
     modified on Fri Apr 22 13:31:33 PDT 1994 by kalsow