Foreign.GreenCard.StdDIS (was Re: X11 libraries)

[Malcolm Wallace]

Alastair Reid <alastair@reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk> writes:

> This is a bit of a side-issue but...  I thought the current CVS copy of 
> GreenCard would work for NHC using the ffi target.

Yes, I would be surprised if the FFI target of the latest GreenCard
did not work with nhc98 (although I haven't specifically tested it).

> Is there a fundamental 
> problem or is it the lack of the extensions provided in the nhc version?

There are two reasons why the nhc98 distribution contains a separate
version of GreenCard.
  1  Many of the standard libraries in nhc98 are coded using the
     syntax extensions to GreenCard that were agreed way back in 1997,
     but which somehow never got incorporated back into the main CVS.
     It would be a lot of pointless work to re-code them now.
  2  Because building the libraries depends on having GreenCard
     present, it is easier to distribute GC with the compiler than to
     require the user to install GC separately.

Regards,
    Malcolm