fpc/install/doc/whatsnew.txt

                            Free Pascal Compiler

                               Version 1.00

******************************************************************************
                             Whats New in 1.00
******************************************************************************

Compiler:
  + -gl switch to automaticly load the lineinfo unit
  + Lot of Delphi compatibility additions, especially when using -Sd
  * Optimizer fixes, mainly register allocations needed for -Or
  * int64/qword fixes
  * RTTI fixes
  * Smartlinking fixes for classes
  * inline fixes (but still Beta)
  * Exceptions generate more usefull backtraces which also support the
    new lineinfo unit
  * {$Packrecords C} fixes to be better C compatible
  * operator should now work correctly when defined in other units
    and locally and other fixes
  * Better glibc 2.1.x support under linux
  * Lot of other small bugfixes for the reported bugs

RTL:
  + lineinfo unit to display the file and line when a backtrace is
    generated, this works for runtime errors, unhandled exceptions and
    heaptrc unit (hint: use -ghl to easily detect and fix memory leaks)
  * better precision when converting float to string
  * Better exception support for Go32v2 without the need to load dpmiexcp
  * Better Signal handling under linux for exception reporting
  * Windows unit for win32 has now more delphi compatible declarations
  * disksize/diskfree return now int64 so drives > 2GB work correctly
  * lot of graph unit fixes, with generic mode support
  * paramstr(0) under linux now returns the full executable instead of
    the commandline
  * heaptrc fixes for reallocmem
  * other fixes reported by users

Utils:
  + postw32 to postprocess win32 executables to patch the stacksize
  * h2pas is now better and also has a compact output mode with less
    spaces and blank lines.
  * fpcmake supports .so library creation and example installation


******************************************************************************
                            Whats New in 0.99.14
******************************************************************************

Compiler:
  + DLL creation fixed, it needs dlltool now
  + .so creation for linux works also with classes
  + Library writing works better, also linux library support
  + better FPU code generation
  + only one PPU is used per unit also when static, shared and smart linked
  + assembler understands KNI instructions
  + fail in class constructors works
  + resourcestrings support
  + gettext support for resourcestrings (localization)
  + > < >= <= support for boolean
  + checking for unused but assigned variables and private fields
  * lot of RTTI fixes
  * lot of property fixes
  * pointer addition/substraction works like inc()/dec() (with the size
    of the pointed type)
  * assembler reader fixes so it works more like BASM
  * exit in try...finally/except block works
  * don't allow goto/label with exception blocks
  * stabs debugging fixed for classes and result variable
  * array constructor support
  * initialization/finalization work also in default FPC mode
  * assert works now also within $H+ mode
  * lot of other fixes

RTL:
  + New graph unit for GO32v2, Win32, Linux
  + Delphi style GetMem/Freemem/ReAllocMem which knows the size of
    the allocated block itself. Specifying wrong size for freemem gives
    now also a Runtime Error
  + ports unit for both GO32v2 and OS/2, which contains the port[] support.
    It's now compatible with Linux ports unit
  + timezone support for linux
  + primitive routines Compare[Byte,Word,Dword], Index[Byte,Word,Dword]
  * better ioresult setting for GO32v2
  * some pchar fixes in sysutils unit
  * lot of RTTI fixes for typinfo
  * ansistrings speedups
  * some other small fixes

Utils:
  + fpcmake util to create a Makefile from Makefile.fpc
  + delp util to delete all created files after compiling (exe, o, ppu)
  + fprcp util for preprocessing win32 resource files
  + data2inc util to convert data into .inc files
  + binobj for binary to .o/.inc files, also with crypt, compression support
  + ppufiles show all created files needed by a unit
  + rstconv util to convert .rst files to gettext files
  + plex,pyacc Pascal Lex/Yacc
  * ppudump, ppufiles updated for new ppu version


******************************************************************************
                            Whats New in 0.99.12
******************************************************************************

Compiler:
  + lot of ansistring fixes
  + coff writer for go32v2,win32 with instant .a creation (BETA)
  + working global browser
  + new compiler directives (path and other cmdline switches)
  + val,readln support range checking
  + initialization/finalization support
  + methodpointer support
  + message support
  * better intel,at&t parsers with mmx,3dnow support
  * better unit dependency handling and recompiling
  * static var fixes
  * better addr() support
  * lot of other fixes, too many to list here

RTL:
  + Internationalization suport in sysutils
  + FileNameCaseSensitive boolean for go32v2,win32
  * more precise str/val
  * better val(),readln()
  * io error handling much more like tp7
  * small other fixes

Utils:
  + ptop to pretty print your sources
  * beter ppudump


******************************************************************************
                            Whats New in 0.99.10
******************************************************************************

Compiler:
  + better optimizer
  + ansistring support
  + array of const support for FormatStr
  + automatic heaptrc unit including with the -gh option
  + open strings ($P+) support
  + DLL generation for Win32
  + printf support for cdecl using array of const
  * exceptions are finally working
  * fixed some ppu problems
  * fixed unit interdependency problems
  * better range checking, also for enums
  * size of objects without virtuals is now the same as tp7
  * lot of fixes for the assembler readers
  * more constant expression evalutations
  * removed all memoryleaks
  * almost all reported bugs are fixed

RTL:
  + heaptrc unit to detect memoryleaks and other problems with the heap
  + graph unit works and some missing functions are added
  * objects unit fully works
  * more functions for the classes,sysutils unit

Utils:
  * ppudump updated for new ppu entries
  * h2pas updated to write new cdecl declaration


******************************************************************************
                            Whats New in 0.99.8
******************************************************************************

Compiler:
  + smartlinking support (-Cx)
  + new ppu format which much more portable en extendible
  + new scanner with better file position info
  + constant evaluation like tp7 (trunc,round,hi,swap)
  + rtti support
  + exception support
  + longbool,wordbool support
  + enumerated packing support like delphi
  + c variable support (-Sv)
  + Win32 support (no export and resource support yet)
  * optimizer switches changed to be easier to use
  * lot of fixes for sets, also supporting dynamic creation
  * working open array (sizeof,high)
  * better filename handling for all platforms
  * ability to list source lines in the assembler file
  * some error messages changed to for better understanding
  * better calling convention support, delphi compatible
  * glibc2 (linux) support
  * too many other small bugfixes and internal enhancements

RTL:
  + sysutils unit for objpas
  + port[] array for go32v2
  + graph unit for linux
  + uniform objects unit for all platforms
  + rtti support
  + automatic Longfilename (LFN) support for go32v2
  * go32 crt startup delay has been removed
  * missing pchar support for some file functions (assign,rename)
  * heapblocks support, which is much faster when allocating a lot
    of small blocks (like objects)
  * filerec/textrec is now uniform for all platforms (but not tp7 compatible)
  * extended is the default floating point type
  * lot of other fixes and small enhancements

Utils:
  + h2pas util to convert .h files to .pas file
  + ppudump util replaces the old dumpppu
  * mkdep is now much less strict and (* *) support


******************************************************************************
                            Whats New in 0.99.5
******************************************************************************

Mainly, bugs are fixed and some improvements are
made in that release, besides that the following stuff is
added:
 * compiler
   - mem[] and absolute works now as expected (go32v2 target only)
   - basic MMX support by the compiler (see docs for more infos)
 * runtime library
   - better support of floating point types