SML/NJ 110.50 NEWS

                         S  M  L   /   N  J

                   1  1  0  .  5  0      N  E  W  S
			
                           October 28, 2004

                                WARNING

        This working version is believed to be stable, but
        we have not run our full regression-test suite.

HOME:: http://www.smlnj.org/index.html
FILES:: http://smlnj.cs.uchicago.edu/dist/working/110.50/

Summary:

This release fixes important bugs and provides some additional functionality.

Details:

Basis:

Added specialized implementation of Int31.fromString.

MLRISC:

Fixed bugs in x86/c-calls related to passing structs as arguments or results.
Fixed bug in x86 assembly syntax (FU?COMIP?).

Libraries:

Minor enhancements to interfaces exported from the controls library.
Added libraries $smlnj-tdp/plugins.cm, $smlnj-tdp/back-trace.cm, and $smlnj-tdp/coverage.cm. This moves back-trace support out of the main compiler and into a library of trace/debug/profile plugins.
The test-coverage plugin is new.

Command-line:

Added flags -e and -E which print the names of environment variables that can be used to control internal settings.
Added support for tracing, debugging, and profiling (using stuff from $smlnj-tdp/plugins.cm) for stand-alone programs. (Stand-alone programs are those constructed using ml-build.)

Runtime:

Applied patch for setting rounding modes under Mac OS X.

Compiler:

PPC backend now silent (by default) even when it uses the "long form of branch"
Made the former backtrace-instrumentation pass more generic.
Some internal cleanup (consolidation of duplicated functionality).

Compilation Manager:

Direct support for lazy sml (keyword lazy) via new toolclass lazysml and filename suffix .lml.
Support for selectively setting arbitrary control flags on a per-sourcefile basis.
Fixed handling of CM keywords, thereby eliminating a bug with the shell tool.
CM now issues an obsolete feature warning when group files use the old owner syntax.

Bootstrap compiler:

Adde a version tool and some CM magic to have the file version.sml be auto-generated during CMB.make.
Moved version.sml (and above-mentioned magic) into its own library.