This is the file README. It documents release 1.37.0 of the GNU C++ compiler system, still in test release status. All bugs reported for previous test releases have been fixed. Some bugs surely remain. To see the list of current issues/bugs in GNU C++, look at the file dist-g++/ideas, or see the BugList section of the GNU C++ Users Guide. See the file HINTS for special clues relating to GNU C++ configuration and troubleshooting. Introduction. GNU C++ is GNU CC, with a C++ front end. GNU CC is the Free Software Foundation's optimizing, retargetable, ANSI C compiler. GNU CC has source level debugging support from the GDB debugger (also available from the Free Software Foundation). For more information about GNU CC, write to the Free Software Foundation at the address given below. GNU C++ is an extension of GNU CC. It keeps the powerful optimizer, and maintains a high degree of source-level debugging support, while providing the object-oriented features of C++. Numerous files have been added, changed, and hacked without mercy from their original GNU CC incarnation to make this compiler accept a reasonable super/subset of C++. *Disclaimer*: GNU C++ is not perfectly compatible with AT&T C++. It is, however, a reasonably faithful implementation of C++ as described in the C++ reference manual. To make GNU C++ more mobile, only the files that are not shared with GNU CC are currently being distributed. If you do not have GNU CC yet, or your version is older than 1.37, you should take care of getting that first. GNU CC is available to sites which have anonymous ftp capability to prep.ai.mit.edu. Contact the Free Software Foundation for more information. GNU C++ is still under development, but has stabilized (hopefully) to the point where bug fixes will not require major implementation or reimplementation. The purpose of this distribution is to give interested parties a chance to start working with a free C++ compiler. It is expected (and hoped) that this compiler will continue to evolve at a fairly rapid pace. I am hoping to receive not just bug reports, but also code contributions, new features, and anything else that makes GNU C++ a better compiler. Documentation for GNU C++ does not really exist. If you would like to write some, more power to you. What does exist is in the file dist-g++/g++.texinfo . GNU C++ is no longer distributed with a special debugger. The current version of GDB needed to debug GNU C++ program is version 3.4, which can be gotten from prep.ai.mit.edu in the usual way. Currently, the debugger supports all of the features of the compiler, except for: new and delete, operator forms of new and delete, user defined type conversion, and multiple inheritance when multiple inheritance must actually be used. The reason for these exceptions is the degree of difficulty of their implementation. I am waiting until I see a clean, general way of doing it. Until then, I would appreciate any input (thoughts, caveats, source code) you would like to provide. A name demangler has been provided by James Clark. Here is the text from his README file: This package contains a demangler for GNU C++ version 1.37 (November 6 version); it will probably require work for other versions. It has *not* been extensively tested, so use with caution. Demangling converts an encoded g++ symbol name approximately into the form of a C++ declaration. cplus-dem.c provides a self-contained implementation of the demangling function cplus_demangle. g++filt.c is a simple filter that illustrates the use of cplus_demangle. It has a similar function to the c++filt program provided for cfront 2.0. It filters its input replacing encoded g++ symbol names by their demangled equivalents. Anything not part of a g++ symbol name is passed through unchanged. It can be used to filter the output of, for example, gprof or nm. ld.c.patch contains a rather ugly patch to ld.c (the version which comes with g++) to make it use cplus_demangle for printing the names of undefined symbols when a -lg++ option is given. James Clark jjc@jclark.uucp GNU C++ was originally developed on a Sun-3 workstation, running Sun's OS 3.5, and was migrated to a Sun-4 workstation, running Sun's OS 4.0 (Berkeley 4.2 compatible with some System V enhancements). The GNU C++ library was developed on a VAX 11/750 running BSD 4.3, and is now being developed on a Sun-4 workstation as well. If you have machines other than these, or any kind of machine running System V, you may experience installation difficulties due to conditions which I cannot anticipate. I will try to help you with problems on these machines, but my primary goal is supporting GNU C++, and not System V (or VMS). Installation of GNU C++. (From distribution tape) Select the directory in your file system where GNU code usually goes. If this is your first GNU code, then you have probably not installed GNU CC. Please install it, and then continue with these instructions. In this directory, you should have the subdirectories gcc-1.37/ gcc/ linked to -> gcc-1.37 gcc-test/ and possibly others. Unload the tape by using the tar command. install% tar xvf TARFILE where TARFILE is either the name of a tar file if you got the distribution via ftp, or is the name of the tape device on which the release tape is held. Your directory tree should now contain the additional file g++-1.37.0/ If you have specifically requested that the GNU C++ library be included on the tape that we make for you, you will also have the directory libg++-1.37.0/ If you got this tar file electronically instead of by tape, these directories will come from separate tar files. The GNU C++ library contains header files such as `stdio.h', `stream.h', etc., which are useful when trying examples from the book. It also contains a number of useful classes which serve both as function program units, as well as example C++ code. The code for GNU C++ is in the directory g++-1.37.0/. Here is how to install GNU C++: (1) Make a directory, e.g. g++/ and `cd' into it install% mkdir g++ install% cd g++ (2) Make symbolic links from all files in the g++-1.37.0 directory to the current g++ directory, i.e., ln -s ../g++-1.37.0/* . (3) Read carefully the comments at the top of the Makefile, to see what flags, you will need to modify, if any. For example, if you have a System V machine, you may have to uncomment the line which defines USG_STDIO. (4) Do a `make' of the "maketest" target in the Makefile. If your directory structure is as described here, you need not give any additional arguments. Otherwise, you must set DIR to the directory which contains GNU CC sources, and TDIR to the directory which contains GNU CC object files. The variable CDIR is the directory for GNU CC's machine-specific files. You do not need to explicitly give this a value unless you have moved GNU CC's "config" directory relative to the DIR director. The error messages about links that could not be made should be ignored. (5) Configure the compiler for the machine target you want. This is accomplished by running the program "config.g++". For example, on a Sun4 running SunOS 4.0, you would type: install% config.g++ sun4-os4 Now, You should still be in the directory g++/: install% pwd ./g++ install% If GAS and GNU LD work for your machine, *use them*. That will permit you to use the system's crt0.o, including mcrt0.o and gcrt0.o which support profiling and other features. Said another way, if you use GNU ld and GNU as, don't use special crt0.o! To install GAS, you should have release 1.34 or greater. Since GAS and GNU C/C++ do not share source code, there is no need to try to match GAS and GNU C/C++ version numbers. To install GAS in such a way that GNU C/C++ can find it, install it as `gcc-as' wherever `gcc-cc1' and `gcc-cc1plus' are installed. Usually this is `/usr/local/lib/gcc-as'. Similarly install GNU LD as `gcc-ld' where `gcc-cc1' and friends are installed, usually `/usr/local/lib/gcc-ld'. GNU LD will not work if your system uses COFF object files. In this case, use the `collect' program. If neither GNU LD or `collect' works, use collect2.c. (In particular, use it on Convex machines.) To use collect2.c, your system must support the -r flag of ld. Edit collect2.c if necessary to tell it about your assembler syntax, then compile it with gcc and install it as /usr/local/lib/gcc-ld. *Very Important* [For non-GAS users]: If you do not use GAS, GNU C++ may need to use its own crt0.c, borrowed and modified from GNU Emacs. You should verify that the crt0.c provided is fed suitable definitions for correct compilation. If you have GNU Emacs, and you are not compiling to a SUN, consult your local GNU Emacs guru, to see what sort of #defines are required for proper operation. In any event, at this point, just type `make': install% make If you are not using a SUN, you will need to use the appropriate machine dependent files, as per GNU CC. If you do not provide a proper crt0.c, any executable produced by GNU C++ may fail to run at all. Conversely, if you have a program which does not make it as far as the first line in main (), you have probably failed to provide the correct flags to the compiler when building crt0.c. You have now just made GNU C++. Having done that, you should now proceed to use GNU C++ to build the GNU C++ run-time libraries, which are in the directory dist-libg++/ . This code was contributed by Doug Lea, and implements streams, obstacks, structured files, and other C++ public service objects. The README in that directory explains the installation procedure for that code. Also, by making the library and running the test programs (the Makefile in dist-libg++/ will tell you what to do), you can verify that GNU C++ has been properly installed. Installation of GDB. GNU C++ and GDB 3.4 are intended to be compatible. GDB+ no longer exists. Read installation instructions provided in dist-gdb. Suggestions. I suggest making all of the files in ../gcc/ read-only, so that when you are making modifications to files of GNU C++, you will notice when new ground is being broken. It also helps to know what files can be updated from the standard GNU software without impacting GNU C++. For example, if there is a bug fix for the file `cse.c', that same fix applies to GNU CC and GNU C++. With both compilers pointing to the same directory via symbolic links, one need not concern oneself with those changes. Have fun! Michael Tiemann 11/6/89 For more information. For questions concerning GNU CC and GDB, the Free Software Foundation maintains the following address: The Free Software Foundation 675 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, Mass 02139 Phone: (617) 876 - 3296 For questions which cannot be answered by the Free Software Foundation, please contact Michael Tiemann directly: Michael Tiemann 16361 Skyline Blvd Woodside, CA 94062 Phone: (415) 851-4027 ARPA Email: tiemann@lurch.stanford.edu tiemann@wheaties.ai.mit.edu (will forward to Stanford). Cygnus Support provides commercial support for GNU C++ on a fixed-fee basis. If you want support, or have support-related questions, please contact: Cygnus Support 814 University Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 Phone: (415) 322-3811 Software from the Free Software Foundation is provided with absolutely no warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable state law. Redistribution of its code (source and/or executable) by MCC does not imply that MCC offers a warranty for such code.