Mono 0.9

Release date: 22 Feb 2002

Hello!

I have just uploaded Mono 0.9 to the web server, you can get the goodies here:

http://www.go-mono.com/archive/mono-0.9.tar.gz
http://www.go-mono.com/archive/mcs-0.9.tar.gz

mono-0.9.tar.gz contains the source code to the runtime (JIT and interpreter) as well as a pre-compiled version of the compiler (mcs.exe) and the class libraries.

To compile the compiler and the class libraries, you still need Windows with the .NET SDK, as our runtime can not host the compiler completely yet.

Improved Build System

You can check http://www.mono-project.com/download/ for the new and fresh compilation instructions. Same requirements as the last version (pkg-config, glib 1.3.xx need to be installed).

What is new

  • Compiler can compile about 75% of our regression test suite on Linux. Most of this work is on the class libraries and Paolo has been the magician behind the work here.

  • JIT can run the compiler now (Dietmar)

  • Mint works on Windows now (Dick).

  • Application Domains have been implemented (Dietmar)

    • Two modes of operation are available, depending on your needs: share code, or maximize speed (does not share code). This is described by the the LoaderOptimization enumeration in .NET.
  • Corlib no longer has references to mscorlib (Daniel Lewis)

  • Ports:
    • PowerPC has been updated (Radek Doulik)
    • New SPARC port (Jeffrey Stedfast)
  • Documentation system:
    • Adam Treat has been working on finishing the Doctools to maintain the Mono class library documentation. We still need a GUI editor though.
  • Tracking progress:
    • Nick’s new tools to track progress are included in this release.
  • Many new more regression tests for the class library (David Brandt, Mark Crichton, Nick Drochak, Bob Doan, Duco Fijma).

  • Lots of new code:
    • Gaurav Vaish (the hacking god behind System.Web),
    • Chris Podugriel (System.Data) and Mark Crichton (Crypto)
  • Runtime:
    • Socket layer is finished (Dick Porter)
  • Compiler has full support for unsafe code now (Miguel)

    Still a few things missing: constant folding is not finished everywhere and access permissions are not enforced yet.

Many many many bug fixes everywhere from everyone on the team:

Paolo Molaro, Daniel Lewis, Daniel Stodden, Dietmar Maurer, Jeff Stedfast, Nick Drochak, Duco Fijma, Ravi Pratap, Dick Porter, Duncan Mak, Jeff Stedfast and Miguel de Icaza.

I am sorry if I left a major component out of the announcement, this were some intense 11 days of work.

What is obviously missing

Currently our System.Reflection.Emit is lacking array and pointer support, which is why many programs still do not compile, but this should be taken care of next week.

How can you help

There are many ways to help the project, check the details documentation in:

/community/contributing/

You might also want to stop by our IRC channel on irc.gnome.org, channel #mono if you are interested in contributing.

Have a happy weekend! Miguel.