release_notes.txt

 Open64 Compiler Version 4.0 Release Notes 



                June 13, 2007



1. Overview

2. New Features

  2.1 Front End New Features
  
  2.2 Back End New Features

3. The Packages of the Compiler Suite

4. Installing the Compiler Suite

  4.1 Install from bz2 Package
  
  4.2 Install from RPM packages

5. Build the compiler Suite - directly from source

  4.1 Prerequisites

  4.2 Build Steps

  4.3 Build Fortran Front-End

  4.4 Some Notes on Build

6. Bug Reporting

7. Known Problems, Limitation and Some Notes

8. Credits



1. Overview

=============

 

 The objective of the Osprey project is to bring the Open64 compiler

 to that of a production quality compiler and catch up wit the GCC/G++

 features evolution. In this release, we introduce a new GCC 4.0.2 based
 
 front end to make the compiler compatible both with GCC 3.x and 4.x. 
 
 Also, we integrate Pathscale's code generator for x86_64. With the x86_64 
 
 code generator, the compiler can not only generate code for IA64, but also 
 
 for IA32/x86_64. Most importantly, the source code of all previous archives

 are merged into one subversion tree and it is readily available for

 researchers and developers to join the development and incrementally

 check in changes. The website for that is 

 http://www.open64.net/

 

 The release consists of two kinds of packages: a suite of pre-built 
 
 compiler binaries including C, C++, F95 and related archives, and 
 
 a suite of corresponding compiler source codes. The pre-built compilers 
 
 are build using a self-build bootstrap process. They are provided both in
 
 .bz2 and RPM packages.


 We will aggressively continue to update the GCC/G++ front end to the

 latest version after this release. Another important focus after this

 release is further performance improvement in the HPC area. We are

 looking forward for collaboration from the open source community for

 this effort. The SVN source control and Bugzilla system are built up

 to facilitate this. Our checkin testing will be continuously improved

 to achieve the "checkin early and checkin fast with little to no

 impact to overall quality" development environment.



 For a more detailed description of our kernel boot work-arounds and

 procedure, our performance comparison numbers, please send mail to

 http://sourceforge.net/projects/open64.



2. New Features

2.1 Front End New Features

-------------------

 In this release, the compiler contains two different GCC based front-ends. 
 
 One is based on the GCC 3.3.1, which is compatible with GCC 3.x and the
 
 other is based on the GCC 4.0.2, which is compatible with GCC 4.x. 
 
 The new GCC 4.0.2 based front end has better C++ ABI support than the 
 
 GCC 3.3.1 based front end. 
 
 The driver of the compiler will determine which front end should be used 
 
 based on the version of GCC is installed on the system. If the first gcc 
 
 found in the $PATH is GCC 4.x, the GCC 4.0.2 based front end will be invoked. 

 Otherwise, the GCC 3.3.1 based front end will be used.
 
 To force using GCC 3.3.1 or GCC 4.0.2 based front end, please add
 
 '-gnu3' or '-gnu4' to the command line, respectively.
 
 
2.2 Back End New Features

-------------------

  In this release, we integrate Pathscale's code generator for x86_64 into
  
  the compiler. Now, the compiler can generate code not only for Itanium, but
  
  also for x86_64/ia32. We have tested the back end at -O0/-O2/-O3. 
  
  The PBO (Profile-Based Optimization) and ipa (Inter-Procedure 
  
  Analysis/Optimization) is not tested heavily yet. They may not work on both 
  
  Itanium and x86_64/IA32.
  

3. The Packages of the Compiler Suite
======================================

 This compiler is available in both in binary and source-code form for
 
 different target machines.

 o: open64-4.0-0.src.tar.bz2

   This package contains all compiler's source code. it's machine independent.


 o:open64-4.0-0.ia64.tar.bz2

   This package contains all the binary code for ia64 machine including
   
   prebuilt library. The compiler is built on an Itanium2 based system with
   
   kernel 2.6.9 and glibc 2.3.4. The OS is RHEL4 for IA64. The GCC version 
   
   is 3.4.5. The compiler is built twice for releasing. The first stage 
   
   is built by 'gcc -O0', the we use the compiler built in the first stage 
   
   to build the release compiler by 'opencc -O2'. The libraries is built 
   
   by the release compiler. 


 o:open64-4.0-0.i386.tar.bz2, open64-4.0-0.x86_64.tar.bz2

   These two package are the same, contain all the binary code for i386 and 
   
   x86_64 machine. The compiler is built on an x86_64 based system with 
   
   kernel 2.6.9 and glibc 2.3.4. The OS is RHEL4 for x86_64. We upgrade the 
   
   GCC version to 4.1.2. The compiler is built by 'gcc -O2'. The 64-bit and 
   
   32-bit libraries are built on the same system by the Open64 compiler itself.
 

 o:open64-4.0-0.i386.rpm, open64-4.0-0.x86_64.rpm, open64-4.0-0.ia64.rpm    

   these three packages are binaries rpm for different machine. The binaries 
   
   are the same in both bz2 and rpm packages. It's more easy to install the 
   
   compiler from the rpm.


4. Installing the Compiler Suite

=================================


4.1 Install from bz2 Package

-------------------
 Before installing the compiler, the environment variable $TOOLROOT

 should be set properly. As the name suggests, this variable specifies

 the root of the installation hierarchy. You can set it to anywhere

 you have write permission. For example, in GNU BASH this may be done

 with the following command: may set this variable by adding this

 command to the $HOME/.bash_profile file:

   export TOOLROOT=$HOME/mycompiler

 

 After that, run 'source $HOME/.bash_profile' to make the change effective



 Now, to complete the installation:

 o. expand open64-4.0-0-ia64.tar.gz with the command:

    tar zxvf open64-4.0-0-ia64.tar.gz

 o. Run script 'INSTALL.sh'



 The C, C++, Fortran compilers are now available in folder

 $TOOLROOT/bin. They are opencc, openCC, openf90 respectively.


4.2 Install from RPM Package

-------------------

 To install the compiler from rpm:
 
 $ rpm -ivh open64-4.0-0.ia64.rpm
 
 This command will install the Open64 compiler to /opt/open64. The C, C++, 
 
 Fortran compilers are in folder /opt/open64/bin.
 
 To install the compiler to another location:
 
 $ rpm --prefix=/path/to/folder -ivh open64-4.0-0.ia64.rpm
 
 Then the compiler will be installed to /path/to/folder


5. Build the compiler Suite - directly from source

====================================================


 If you choose to build the compiler suite from the source tar ball,

 follow the steps outlined below.



5.1 Prerequisites

-------------------

 In order to compile Open64 successfully, your system should meet the

 following requirements:



 o.Linux OS on IA64/ix86/x86_64

  Open64 as well as its variants have been successfully built on many Unix

  variants and Unix-like systems. This release has only been tested extensively

  on IA64/ix86/x86_64 running Linux operating systems. If you are going to

  build it on any platform other than Linux on IA64/ix86/x86_64, you may need 
  
  to make some minor changes to the source code.



 o.GNU Compiler Collection

   Currently, GCC 3.3.x through 4.1.x are supported. GCC 4.1.x is preferred.



 o.A open64 binary for building the Fortran Front End
 
   you can just download the Open64 binary for system and install it to 
    
   some place and make sure that openf90 is in your PATH before building 
    
   the Fortran front end.


5.2 Build Steps

-------------------

  Follow these steps to build the compiler:



 Step 1. Expand the source tarball

   After that, the whole source hierarchy will be in directory rooted at

   open64-4.0-0/. Change working directory to open64-4.0-0/.



 Step 2. Build the compiler components by simply invoking command:

     make or make V=1(V=1 will show all the building information)

   If you want to build a debuggable compiler, use this command instead:

     make BUILD_OPTIMIZE=DEBUG


   note that, if you type "make", it will only build the compiler's source 
     
   code by default it won't build the prebuilt library. if you want to 
     
   build it by yourself, type 
          
     make library
    
  
   The defaut Fortran compiler in source code is openf90. If the openf90 is 
     
   not in the PATH, the Fortran front end will not be built. During the 
     
   installation, the prebuilt version will be picked up. Then, we can use
     
   it to build the Fortran front end again. 
     
   Developers may find this command handy in building individual component,     
     
   say wopt.so:

     make BUILD_OPTIMIZE=DEBUG wopt.so 


 step 3. set environment variable TOOLROOT to anywhere you have write

  permission as detailed in section 3. 
  
  If you do not want to use $TOOLROOT, just skip this step.


 step 4. call 'make install'  or 'install_compiler.sh' to install

  all compiler components and archives.

  If $TOOLROOT is set, the compiler will be installed to that folder. 
  
  Otherwise, a path will be prompted.

  The C, C++, Fortran compilers are now available in folder

  $TOOLROOT/bin/ They are opencc, openCC, openf90 respectively.


5.3.Build Fortran Front-End

-------------------------------

 The Fortran front-end executable is provided in both

 binary and source packages. Normally, you need *NOT* to build it by yourself.


 If you are going to build one, make sure that an Openf90 is already in 
 
 your $PATH(you need to download a binary form and install it  somewhere).
 
 then just type:
   
   make mfef95.
   
 the makefile will use a pre-hand openf90 to build the new mfef95 for you.



5.4 Some Notes on Build

--------------------------

 o.The compiler is built with flag '-Werror' which treats warnings as error.

  If the build process terminates due to warnings, you can get around this

  with:

      make ... ERROR_ON_WARNINGS="" ...

  i.e. simply repeat the make process with ERROR_ON_WARNINGS="".



 o.GNU Make utility version 3.81 is shipped with many of the latest Linux

  distributions. Building the compiler suite with it may cause some weird

  complaints pertaining to dependent files don't exist (they are actually

  there). You can ignore those complaints, and repeat the make command to

  continue.



6. Bug Reporting

==================



   You are WELCOME to report bugs. The bugs tracked at

   http://bugs.open64.net/. Bug reports should include these items in

   order to be reproduced:

 o. the compiler release version;

 o. system details -- the OS, libc etc;

 o. the compilation flags that trigger the bug;

 o. the test file if applicable (it is highly appreciated if the test file

   is minimized);

 o. the correct output of the test file.



7. Known Problems, Limitation and Some Notes

==============================================

 o. Due to limited resources, the archives shipped with this compiler may

  not be built successfully from the source.  'make library' may not work
  
  correctly. 
  
 o. libmsgi.a in prebuilt library didn't work very well, so the compiler won't 
 
  link it by default.
         

 o. we can bootstrap the compiler on ia64, but may meet error at x8664 if the 
 
  first stage compiler is built by gcc3.x

 o. Currently, we build the compiler *ONLY* on Linux/IA64, x86_64, i386.

  'make cross' is supposed to be used to build the cross compiler on

  Linux/IA32 systems targeting IA64. However, we have not tested this 
  
  thoroughly.


 o. The perlbmk benchmark in CPU2006 suite may not run successfully without

  some changes to its source code. It is *NOT* an Open64 bug. The problem is

  with the perlbmk benchmark itself. Please check the bug-81

  (https://bugs.open64.net/) for details. This problem can be solved by

  deleting following lines from file spec_config.h (of perlbmk benchmark):

     1172 #undef HASATTRIBUTE

     1173 #ifndef HASATTRIBUTE

     1174 #define __attribute__(_arg_)

     1175 #endif

 o. IPA and PBO option is not support very well in this release. See the 
 
  bugzillar or detail bug information about IPA and Feedback.

 o. A full list of known bugs can be found in our bug database. You can visit

  http://bugs.open64.net

  to view them.




8. Credits
============
 This project is led by Shin-Ming Liu at HP Inc. It is the result of

partnership between Tsinghua University, Institute of Computing

Technology at the Chinese Academy of Science, CAPSL research laboratory

at the University of Delaware, and Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
 
  
  We'd also like to acknowledge the contributions of QLogic Inc

(formerly PathScale Inc.), Google Inc, Paul Yuan at Peking University 

and Sun Chan at SimpLight Nanoelectronics.