GCC 3.0 Released

GCC 3.0 Released

[Mark Mitchell]

Version 3.0 of the GNU Compiler Collection
==========================================

Overview
--------

GCC 3.0 is now available.

This release contains many new features and improvements.  The
highlights include:

  - Support for Java, including the GNU implementation of the Java
    run-time library.

  - A new x86 back-end, which generates faster code.

  - A more efficient, more standards-compliant C++ compiler, 
    using an industry standard C++ ABI.

  - A new, standards-conformant, implementation of the C++ standard
    library.

  - Improved optimizations.

  - Improved documentation.

There are many, many more new features and other improvements.  For a
more complete list, visit:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.0/features.html

Caveats
-------

For specific caveats about GCC 3.0, including information about
some user-visible changes to GCC 3.0, please visit:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.0/caveats.html

Because this release contains so many new features and new
optimizations, it also contains some new bugs.  Although a tremendous
amount of effort has been invested in eliminating bugs, there are
undoubtedly problems remaining.  The web page mentioned above will
be updated as we obtain additional information about frequently
encountered problems.

While we feel that GCC 3.0 is suitable for production use, you should
of course test recompiled applications carefully before deploying them
in mission-critical environments.  We do not recommend replacing the
system compiler on your system with GCC 3.0, because that makes it
difficult for you to downgrade, should the need arise.

We know that GCC 3.0 does not work as well on some embedded systems as
previous releases of GCC.  We hope to correct these problems in an
upcoming GCC 3.0.1 release soon.  If you are am embedded systems user
and would like to help, please visit:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/contribute.html

We also know that current versions of GLIBC do not work when
recompiled with GCC 3.0.  The GLIBC developers are working on solving
this problem.

If you find problems in GCC 3.0, please follow the instructions at:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/bugs.html

to let us know where you ran into trouble.  While we cannot promise to
fix any given bug, your feedback will be valuable to us in
prioritizing our effort on future releases.

Acknowledgements
----------------

Many, many people contributed to this release.  You can find many of
them listed at:

   http://gcc.gnu.org/thanks.html

There are undoubtedly some omissions from that list; we apologize in
advance to those who have been accidentally left out.

As the Release Manager for GCC 3.0, I would particularly like to thank
the Los Alamos National Laboratory ( http://www.lanl.gov ) for providing
financial support for a portion of the time that I have put into the
release.

I would also like to thank the GCC Steering Committee for its guidance
and support throughout the release process.  The Steering Committee's
sage advice, and occasional criticism, have made it possible to
prioritize, analyze, and deal with the issues that arose throughout
the release cycle.

Should you find imperfections in this release, please bear in mind
that a tradeoff has to be made between fixing every bug and making a
release available.  When you find places where GCC 3.0 is better than
its predecessors, please thank the implementors of those improvements.
If you find places where it is worse, blame me: the decision to ship,
rather than to wait for futher fixing, lay with me.

Looking Forward
---------------

There will be a 3.0.1 release to fix critical bugs discovered in GCC
3.0 in the relatively near future, although exact plans have not been
finalized.

If you would like to participate in that process, please visit:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/lists.html

to find out how to join the appropriate mailing lists.

Download
--------

The source release is available for download via FTP on the usual GNU
FTP sites.  For a list of GNU mirror sites, please visit:

  http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html

You will find the following files in `/pub/gnu/gcc/gcc-3.0':

  gcc-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-core-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-g++-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-g77-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-java-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-objc-3.0.tar.gz
  gcc-testsuite-3.0.tar.gz

If you download the first file, you do not need to download any of the
others, as it contains the entire compiler.

If you choose not to download the entire distribution, you must
download the `core' package, which contains the C compiler, along with
any of the other language-specific packages that you want.  If you
download the `java' package, you must also download the `g++' package,
because the Java run-time library is partially written in C++.

For detailed installation instructions, please visit:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/install/

Because GCC is a large and complex piece of software, its installation
is somewhat more complicated than many other programs.  Binary
distributions of the compiler, packaged for your system, may be
available from your system vendor or elsewhere on the internet, and
these distributions may provide you an easier way to install GCC 3.0.