Work commenced March 1999. To date we have written about 58,000 lines of code and 12,000 lines of documentation for the project. The compiler is not yet at the stage where it is a useful tool. However all the difficult technical problems are solved and adding extra function is now relatively easy.
At the moment the objective is to get a subset of COBOL implemented which will allow much of the rest of the compiler and runtime routines to be written in this subset of COBOL - rather than in C. So COBOL programmers will be able to help with the project.
COBOL for GCC manual.
The manual includes the chapter Writing
a Compiler Front End, written originally by Joachim Nadler and
translated from German and extended by me. This chapter explains how
to write a compiler front end to GCC in 513 not-so-easy steps.
COBOL for
GCC Manual - includes chapter on writing a GCC Front End
The Source forge project page has the task lists, bugs etc.
An easy way to look at the source code is to browse the CVS repository. A link to this is available from the main project links page above or directly at Source Code (cvs) Browsing
You can also check out (download) the source code anonymously using
cvs, which is available for Unix and for Windows. Use the following
commands:
cd directory_to_put_source (preferably with nothing else in it)
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.CobolForGCC.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/CobolForGCC login
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.CobolForGCC.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/CobolForGCC co .
The password is nothing ie just hit return when it asks for the
password. Don't forget the "." as the checkout directory ID at the
end.
Subsequently you can refresh the source with
cd directory_to_put_source
cvs update
A daily tar file of the project is also available at Source Code tarball (use tar -xzf to unpack; most recent zip programs should be able to unpack them also)
Old gcc sample front end compilers toy and exa. Use with care due due to copyright issues (not all assigned to FSF).
The Tiny COBOL project is currently quite active. It started mid
1999 using a pre-existing DOS COBOL compiler as a base. They are
generating X86 assembler for GNU/Linux. They have considerable
functionality and several developers. They are not taking a very
strict approach to adherence to the COBOL standard.
Tiny COBOL project
Cobcy is currently inactive. The function is fairly limited.
Alberto Santini's COBOL Compiler COBCY
The COBOL2C
Project is currently inactive. They did two versions of COBOL
compilers, both with limited function.
GCC Central has the GCC code, documentation including the full
manual excluding my amendments above, mailing lists etc.
GCC Central
COBOL Links
COBOL 2002 Standards Activities
Free Compiler Links - the Free Country.com
Take the link below to get to the mailing lists, files, cvs access etc for the COBOL For GCC project
Cobol For GCC project
work page at SourceForge
Take the link below to register with SourceForge or to search for projects.
Source Forge
VA Linux - sponsors of SourceForge.
Project coordinator's personal home page:
Tim Josling's Home Page