This is the file README. It documents release 1.39.0 of the GNU C++
compiler system, still in test release status. Many bugs reported in
the 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 1.39, 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 3.5, 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 1.39
(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.
You also need to have bison installed. In this directory, you should
have the subdirectories
gcc-1.39/
gcc/ linked to -> gcc-1.39
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++-1.39.0/
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++-1.39.0/
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++-1.39.0/. Here is how to
install GNU C++:
(0) Installation of GNU C++ assumes that you will share binaries
with GNU CC. If this is not the case, then run "make cleanconfig"
after running "make maketest".
(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++-1.39.0 directory
to the current g++ directory, i.e., ln -s ../g++-1.39.0/* .
(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.
GNU ld is normally distributed with the GNU binary utilities. It is
preferable to use that for linking GNU C++ programs. However, it is
possible to link GNU C++ programs using the version of GNU ld
distributed with GNU C++ (this has been tested under SunOS 4.0 and
under SunOS 4.1.1). To install GNU ld from these sources, execute the
following command:
install% make install-ld
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
1/11/91
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
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.
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