Installing HBC

1. The first step is, of course, to get a copy of the hbc compiler. The main ftp site is ftp://ftp.cs.chalmers.se/pub/haskell/chalmers.

   The naming structure of the files are like this:
   hbc-version.bin-arch-os.tar.gz
   where

   • version is the version of the compiler, e.g. 0.9999.1.
   • arch is the machine architecture, e.g. i386.
   • os is the operating system, e.g. netbsd.
   If there is no combination that suits your needs you are out of luck, but you can always try sending mail to hbc@cs.chalmers.se and ask for the status.

   There are code generators for the following architectures available: NS32k, M68K, I386, Alpha, ARM, Cray-1, HPPA, MIPS, PowerPC, RT/PC, SPARC, and Vax.

2. Next, unpack the file you have fetched. Create a directory and do

       gunzip < the-file-you-fetched.tgz | tar xf -
       

3. Then install the compiler.

       cd whereever-you-unpacked-it
       make BIN=platform install
       

   where platform corresponds to the arch-os part of the tar file you unpacked. This will install the executables in /usr/local/bin, the various other files in /usr/local/lib/lmlc and the man pages in /usr/local/man/man1.

   If you decide not to install the compiler in /usr/local/lib/lmlc you must set the environment variable HBCDIR to whatever directory you used instead to be able to compile.

4. Send mail to hbc@cs.chalmers.se and say that you have installed a copy.

5. Compile Haskell and enjoy(?).

Running Haskell

To run the interactive system just type hbi (NOTE: hbi doesn't work on all platforms). E.g.

  dogbert% hbi
  Welcome to interactive Haskell B. 1.4 version 0.9999.4 Pentium 1997 Feb 12!
  Loading prelude... 1559 values, 194 types found.
  Type "help;" to get help.
  > 1+2;
  3   

  > let inc x = x+1;;
  inc :: (Prelude.Num a) => a -> a
  > inc 6;
  7

  > asin (2 :+ 0);
  1.5707963267948966 :+ (-1.3169578969248166)

  > let fac 0 = 1
  #     fac n = n * fac(n-1)                        
  # ;
  fac :: (Prelude.Num a) => a -> a
  > fac 100;
  93326215443944152681699238856266700490715968264381621468592963895217599993229915608941463976156518286253697920827223758251185210916864000000000000000000000000

  > whatis (+);
  method (+) :: (Prelude.Num b) => b -> b -> b
  > import Sort;
  Loading "/usr/local/lib/lmlc/hbc_library1.3/Sort.o"
  > whatis Sort;
  module Sort
    sortLe :: (b -> b -> Bool) -> [b] -> [b]
  > nub (sortLe (<=) "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog");
  " abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

  > quit;
  Bye
  dogbert%

The compiler is called hbc. It has the about the same flags as ordinary UNIX compiler. If the file Main.hs contains

  main = putStr "ahoy, przygodo\n"

  dogbert% hbc Main.hs
  dogbert% a.out | pol2eng
  hello, world
  dogbert%

  dogbert% hbcmake Main
  hbc -c Main.hs
  hbc -o Main Main.o
  dogbert% Main
  ahoy, przygodo
  dogbert%

Recompiling the compiler

The first time you do this you have to do the following steps:

1. Install the binaries as above, get and unpack the sources.
2. cd src
   
3. ./configure
   Answer the questions.
   You must answer what kind of system you have and what you want to build.
4. make universe
   This will take quite a while. Any warnings from the C compiler may be ignored.
5. If you want to make really sure that the new compiler is capable of recompiling itself, then run the script fixtst. This will recompile twice with successive new versions and compare them. THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME!
6. make install
   This will build and install the compiler and the libraries. THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME!