<html><!-- $Id$ --><head><title>The Isabelle System Distribution</title></head><body><h1>The Isabelle System Distribution</h1><h2>Version information</h2>This is the internal repository version of Isabelle. The current lineof Isabelle99 development introduces many new features, with only afew incompatibilities over Isabelle98-X. See the <tt>NEWS</tt> filein the distribution for more details.<h2>System requirements</h2>Isabelle requires a real Unix box with sufficient resources. Funstarts at about 32-64 MB of main memory (somewhat depending on your MLsystem), with several tens of MB disk space and a decent CPU.Speaking by today's hardware standards, any moderate Linux box shouldmake a nice platform for Isabelle.<p>Furthermore, Isabelle needs the following software, which is not partof the distribution:<ul><li> A full Standard ML Compiler (e.g. SML of New Jersey).<li> The GNU bash shell (version 1.x or 2.x).<li> Perl 5.x - the Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister (Perl 4.xis <em>not</em> sufficient).</ul><p>The following ML system and platform combinations are known to workvery well:<ul><li> SML/NJ 110.x on any Unix platform (e.g. Linux, Suns).<li> SML/NJ 0.93 on Suns and SGIs. There seem to be severalproblems with Linux and HP-UX, though.<li> Poly/ML versions 2.x and 3.1 on Suns.</ul><p><ahref="http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/software.html">SML/NJ</a>needs lots of store and disk space, but it is free. The currentofficial release is 110 (there is an <ahref="ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/MIRRORED/smlnj/release/110/smlnj-110.0-3.i386.rpm">RPMarchive</a> available for Linux/x86). We still support the old 0.93release, but do not recommend to use it.<p><a href="http://www.harlequin.com/products/ads/ml/">MLWorks</a> is acommercial ML programming environment. Isabelle on MLWorks 2.0 workswell. It is about 20% faster than on SML/NJ while using slightly lessmemory and disk space. A few minor features (e.g. ML top-level prettyprinting) are not yet supported, though.<p>Poly/ML used to be a commercial product by Abstract Hardware Limited(now Abstract, Inc.). It is no longer available. We're awaiting newsabout future availability of Poly/ML.<p><h2>Installation</h2>Binary rpm packages are available for Isabelle/HOL and ZF on theLinux/x86 platform. Alternatively, the system may be built fromscratch as described in file <tt>INSTALL</tt> of the Isabelle sources.Further background information may be found in the <em>Isabelle SystemManual</em>, distributed with the sources (directory <tt>doc</tt>).<h2>Interfaces</h2>The distribution includes only a very primitive interface based onordinary terminal sessions.<p><a href="http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/da/Isamode/">Isamode</a> byDavid Aspinall is a more elaborate interface for Isabelle. It runsunder recent versions of XEmacs and is useful to both novices andexperts.<p><a href="http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/proofgen/">Proof General</a> isa generic Emacs interface for proof assistants, including Isabelle (asof version 2.0). Proof General is suitable for use by pacifists andEmacs militants alike. Its most prominent feature is scriptmanagement, providing a metaphor of <em>live proof scriptediting</em>.<h2>Other sources of information</h2><h3>Mailing list</h3>The electronic mailing list <tt>isabelle-users@cl.cam.ac.uk</tt>provides a forum for Isabelle users to discuss problems and exchangeinformation. To join, send a message to<tt>isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk</tt>.<h3>Personal mail</h3><a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/lcp/">Lawrence C Paulson</a><br>Computer Laboratory<br>University of Cambridge<br>Pembroke Street<br>Cambridge CB2 3QG<br>England<br><br>E-mail: lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk<br>Phone: +44-223-334600<br>Fax: +44-223-334748<br><p>or<p><a href="http://www.in.tum.de/~nipkow/">Tobias Nipkow</a><br>Institut fuer Informatik<br>T. U. Muenchen<br> D-80290 Muenchen<br>Germany<br><br>E-mail: nipkow@www.in.tum.de<br>Phone: +49-89-289-22690<br>Fax: +49-89-289-28183<br><p><hr>Please report any problems you encounter. While we shall try to behelpful, we can accept no responsibility for the deficiencies ofIsabelle and their consequences.<hr></body></html>