[fpc-pascal] FPC 1.9.6 (a.k.a. 2.0.0-RC1) is out

[Michael.VanCanneyt at Wisa.be]

Hello,

The Free Pascal Team is pleased to announce that FPC version 1.9.6
(or 2.0.0-RC1) is available and ready for download.

This is a pre-release of version 2.0. As such, it is considered a beta of
the upcoming 2.0 release, which is expected to be released in one or two
months from here.

While this is officially a beta, we believe that this version is release
quality. We would very much like you download and install this version, and
give any feedback regarding bugs and other issues.

If no major bugs are found, version 2.0 will be released in a short
timeframe.

Highlights in this version:

Compiler:
  + New platforms: 
    - Linux: x86_64, amd64, sparc, PowerPC architectures.
    - Mac OS and Mac OS X (Darwin).
    - Netware Libc.
    - MorphOS.
  + Code generation improvements: 
     Register variable support (-Or) for all targets, better inlining support.
  + MacPas compiler mode (-Mmacpas).
  
RTL/FCL/FV:
  + New heap manager that releases memory back to the OS.
  + TThread.Synchronize support.
  + Further additions for improved Delphi compatibility.
  + Many other additions (RTTIUtils, new Datasets, FPCUnit test framework).
  * Free Vision Updated to fvision implementation, first official release.

IDE:
  * Lots of improvements and stability fixes.
  * Support latest gdb 6.2.x and 6.3.x releases.

Docs:
  + Lots of updates.
  + Easier to navigate html documentation.
  * fpDoc is used to generate all unit documentation.

And of course many many bugfixes.

A complete list of changes can be found in the whatsnew.txt file in the
distribution.

Downloads are available from the website for the following platforms:
- Darwin (Mac OS X)
- Dos (Go32V2)
- FreeBSD
- Linux (I386/Sparc/PPC/x86_64 (amd64))
- Mac OS
- Netware (clib and libc)
- OS/2 (native)
- Win32

To download, go to 
  http://www.freepascal.org/sdown.html
and select a mirror near you. Look in the section 'official beta releases' 
and select the platform of your choice; then follow the download
instructions. 

If you choose the SourceForge mirror, the download instructions are
different. Also note that sourceforge mirrors are not immediatly up-to-date.

Enjoy it, and a Happy New Year from

  The Free Pascal team.