  This is release 0.5 of the Caml Light system, for Unix machines.

OVERVIEW:

  Caml Light is a small, portable implementation of the ML language.
  that runs on most Unix machines. It has also been ported to the
  Macintosh and to the IBM PC.

  Caml Light implements the Caml language, a functional language from
  the ML family. Caml is quite close to Standard ML, though not strictly
  conformant. There are some slight differences in syntax and semantics,
  and major differences in the module system (these changes were
  required to support separate compilation).

  Caml Light is implemented as a bytecode compiler, and fully
  bootstrapped.  The runtime system and bytecode interpreter is written
  in standard C, hence Caml Light is easy to port to almost any 32-bit
  platform. The whole system is quite small: about 100K for the runtime
  system, and another 100K of bytecode for the compiler. 1.5 megabyte of
  memory is enough to recompile the whole system. This stands in sharp
  contrast with other implementations of ML, such as SML-NJ, that
  requires about ten times more memory. Performance is quite good for a
  bytecoded implementation: five to ten times slower than SML-NJ.

  Caml Light comes in two flavors: a classical, interactive, toplevel-based
  system; and a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces standalone
  programs, in the spirit of the Unix cc compiler. The former is good for
  learning the language and testing programs. The latter integrates more
  smoothly within the Unix programming environment: make, compilations under
  Emacs, ... The generated programs are quite small, and can be used like
  any other Unix command.

  This distribution has been tested on the following platforms:

        Sun Sparcstation 2, SunOS 4.1.1
        Sun 3/60, SunOS 3.4
        DecStation 5000/200, Ultrix 4.1
        DecStation 3100, Ultrix 2.1
        Sony News 1510, NEWS-OS 3.3
        Sony News 3410, NEWS-OS 4.0
        SGI Indigo, IRIX 4.0.2
        Next Cube, Mach 1.0
        HP 9000/350, HP-UX 8.00
        HP 9000/750, HP-UX 8.07
        HP 9000/720, OSF1 1.0
        IBM RS 6000, AIX 3.2
        Pyramid MIS-4/02, OSx 5.0 (both ATT and BSD universes)
        Encore Multimax, NS32532, Encore Mach 1.0
        VAX 9215, Ultrix 4.2

CONTENTS:

  src/                  the sources for the core Caml Light system
    src/runtime/          the bytecode interpreter and runtime system (in C)
    src/lib/              the standard library (in Caml Light)
    src/compiler/         the compiler (in Caml Light)
    src/linker/           the linker (in Caml Light)
    src/librar/           the linker (in Caml Light)
    src/toplevel/         the toplevel interactive system (in Caml Light)
    src/lex/              the lexer generator (in Caml Light)
    src/yacc/             the parser generator (in C)
    src/tools/            various utilities (sh, perl, C, Caml Light)
    src/caml*             the bootstrap compilers
  config/               the configuration files and autoconfiguration tool
  contrib/              the sources for Caml Light libraries and utilities
    contrib/libunix/      an interface to Unix system calls
    contrib/caml-tex/     a tool to insert Caml Light code in LaTeX files
  examples/             various example programs
  COPYRIGHT             INRIA's copyright notice
  INSTALL               instructions for installation
  README                this file
  CHANGES               what's new since release 0.4
  PORTING               hints on porting Caml Light to a non-Unix machine

INSTALLATION:

  See the file INSTALL for installation instructions on Unix
  machines. 


DOCUMENTATION:

  The Caml Light system is described in the manual:

  "The Caml Light system, version 0.5" by Xavier Leroy and Michel Mauny.

  This manual is distributed in Postscript and in DVI formats.
  It can be obtained by anonymous FTP from nuri.inria.fr as described below.

  You can also order hardcopy for the manual from:

          INRIA SEDIS diffusion
          B. P. 105
          78153 Le Chesnay Cedex
          France
          Tel. +33-1-39635627

  Contact them for pricing information.

AVAILABILITY:

AVAILABILITY:

  The whole Caml Light distribution resides on nuri.inria.fr, and can
  be accessed by anonymous FTP:

        host:       nuri.inria.fr (128.93.1.26)
        directory:  lang/caml-light
        files:

  cl5unix.tar.Z         Complete source code for Unix machines, plus a
                        bootstrap compiler.
  cl5docps.Z            Compressed Postscript for the Caml Light documentation
                        (250 pages).
  cl5docdvi.tar.Z       Compressed DVI (with Postscript inserts) for the
                        Caml Light documentation (250 pages).
  cl5macbin.sea.hqx     Binaries for the Macintosh version.
  cl5pc386bin.zip       Binaries for the 80386 PC version.
                        They run only on 80386 or 80486 processors,
                        in protected 32-bit mode.
  cl5pc86bin.zip        Binaries for the 8086 PC version.
                        They run on any PC, in native 16-bit mode.
  cl5macsrc.sea.hqx     Source code for the Macintosh version.
  cl5pc386src.zip       Source code for the 80386 PC version.
  cl5pc86src.zip        Source code for the 8086 PC version.


KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE CAML COMMUNITY:

  There exists a mailing list of users of the Caml and Caml Light
  systems developed at INRIA. The purpose of this list is to share
  experience, exchange ideas (and even code), and report on applications
  of the Caml language. This list will be moderated; messages can be
  written in English or in French. 

  Messages to the list should be sent to:

                caml-list@margaux.inria.fr

  If you wish to subscribe to this list, please send a message
  (including your email address) to:

                caml-list-request@margaux.inria.fr


BUG REPORTS AND USER FEEDBACK:

  Send your bug reports by E-mail to

          caml-light@margaux.inria.fr

  or by paper mail to

          Caml Light, projet Formel
          INRIA Rocquencourt
          B.P. 105
          78153 Le Chesnay
          France

  To be effective, bug reports should include a complete program (as
  small as possible) that exhibits the unexpected behavior, and the
  configuration you are using (machine type, etc).

  We welcome your bug reports and comments, but no guarantees are
  offered as to when they will be dealt with.
  We cannot guarantee any answers to your questions. 
  Also, we react extremely negatively to any attempt at contacting us
  directly by phone.

