
                       The Isabelle System Distribution
                                       
Version information

   This is Isabelle98-1: October 1998. Starting with Isabelle98, the
   current line of Isabelle introduces many new features, but also some
   incompatibilities with Isabelle94-XX. See the NEWS file in the
   distribution for more details.
   
System requirements

   Isabelle requires a real Unix box with sufficient resources. Fun
   starts at about 32MB of main memory (somewhat depending on your ML
   system), with several tens of MB disk space and a relatively fast CPU.
   
   Furthermore, it needs the following software, which is not part of the
   distribution:
     * A full Standard ML Compiler (e.g. SML of New Jersey).
     * The GNU bash shell (version 1.x or 2.x).
     * Perl 5.x - the Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister (Perl 4.x is
       *not* sufficient).
       
   The following ML system and platform combinations are known to work
   quite well:
     * SML/NJ 110.x on any Unix platform (e.g. Suns, Linux).
     * SML/NJ 0.93 on Suns and SGIs. There seem to be several problems
       with Linux and HP-UX, though.
     * Poly/ML versions 2.x and 3.1 on Suns.
       
   [1]SML/NJ needs lots of store and disk space, but it is free. The
   current official release is 110. We also still support the old 0.93
   release.
   
   [2]MLWorks is a commercial ML programming environment. Isabelle on
   MLWorks 2.0 works well. It is about 20% faster than on SML/NJ while
   using slightly less memory and disk space. A few minor features (e.g.
   top-level pretty printing) are not yet supported, though.
   
   Poly/ML used to be a commercial product by Abstract Hardware Limited
   (now Abstract, Inc.). It is no longer available. We're awaiting news
   about future availability of Poly/ML.
   
Installation

   See file INSTALL in the Isabelle sources on how to build the system.
   Further background information may be found in the _Isabelle System
   Manual_, distributed with the sources (see directory doc).
   
Interfaces

   The distribution includes only a very primitive interface based on
   ordinary terminal sessions.
   
   [3]Isamode by David Aspinall is a more elaborate interface for
   Isabelle. It runs under recent versions of XEmacs and is useful to
   both novices and experts.
   
Other sources of information

  Mailing list
  
   The electronic mailing list isabelle-users@cl.cam.ac.uk provides a
   forum for Isabelle users to discuss problems and exchange information.
   To join, send a message to isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk.
   
  Personal mail
  
   [4]Lawrence C Paulson
   Computer Laboratory
   University of Cambridge
   Pembroke Street
   Cambridge CB2 3QG
   England
   
   E-mail: lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk
   Phone: +44-223-334600
   Fax: +44-223-334748
   
   or
   
   [5]Tobias Nipkow
   Institut fuer Informatik
   T. U. Muenchen
   D-80290 Muenchen
   Germany
   
   E-mail: nipkow@www.in.tum.de
   Phone: +49-89-289-22690
   Fax: +49-89-289-28183
   
     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
   Please report any problems you encounter. While we shall try to be
   helpful, we can accept no responsibility for the deficiencies of
   Isabelle and their consequences.
     _________________________________________________________________

References

   1. http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/software.html
   2. http://www.harlequin.com/products/ads/ml/
   3. http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/da/Isamode/
   4. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/lcp/
   5. http://www.in.tum.de/~nipkow/
