ZL is a C compatible and C++ like programming language that focuses on
extensiblilty and giving the programmer control over how high-level
constructs (such as classes) are implemented.

ZL was original developed on Ubuntu 10.04, but it should work with any
Linux system.  (For Ubuntu 12.04 please see the note near the end of
file if you run until problems.)  Other Unix-like systems may work.

ZL uses the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector, which
can be found at http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/.  It is
also available Ubuntu under the package names libgc1c2 and libgc-dev.

Also, in order to produce executable code, ZL requires a modified
version of gcc.  If this is a release than a patch file should have
been provided.  Most of the development has been done using gcc-4.4.0
however later versions of gcc-4.4.* should work provided that the
patch file applies cleanly.  Download gcc 4.4.0 from
ftp://gcc.gnu.org/pub/gcc/releases/gcc-4.4.0 (gcc-core is all that is
required) and apply the patch gcc-4.4.0-zl.patch.  When configuring
make sure you enable the zls language:

  tar xf gcc-core-4.4.0.tar.bz2
  mv gcc-4.4.0-src
  mkdir gcc-4.4.0
  mv gcc-4.4.0-src gcc-4.4.0/src
  pushd gcc-4.4.0/src
  patch -p0 < PATH_TO_PATCH/gcc-4.4.0-zl.patch # should apply cleanly
  popd
  mkdir gcc-4.4.0/obj
  cd gcc-4.4.0/obj
  ../src/configure --enable-languages=zls # --prefix=/opt/gcc-4.4-zl/
  make bootstrap
  make install
  sudo ln -s /opt/gcc-4.4-zl/bin/gcc /usr/local/bin/zls

The latest version of zls is also available in github at
https://github.com/kevina/zl-gcc.  Just checkout master and follow the
instructions above, but skip the patching part as the git
repository includes the full source.

ZL Build instructions:

  # When checking out from git for the first time:
  # ./autogen

  ./configure
  make
  # no need to install, in fact the install target is empty
  # use "make fake-install" to install a link to to zlc so you can
  # easily compile zl programs

To test ZL, make sure "zls" in your path and then:
  make -C test test

To create executable use the "zlc" perl script, which acts as a
drop-in replacement for cc/gcc and c++/g++.

Ubuntu 12.04 notes:

To build (both gcc and zl) on Ubuntu 12.04 you might need to do
something similar to

  export LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/$(gcc -print-multiarch)
  export C_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/include/$(gcc -print-multiarch)
  export CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/include/$(gcc -print-multiarch)

as there is a known problem that puts the files in a non standard
location (http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2012-02/msg00314.html).


Copyright (C) Kevin Atkinson 2012

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02110-1301 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.