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<h1>The Isabelle System Distribution</h1>
<h2>Version information</h2>
<p>This is the internal repository version of Isabelle. See the
<tt>NEWS</tt> file in the distribution for details on user-relevant
changes.</p>
<h2>System requirements</h2>
<p>Isabelle requires a regular Unix platform (e.g. GNU Linux) with the
following additional software:</p>
<ul>
<li>A full Standard ML Compiler (e.g. Poly/ML 4.1.x, SML/NJ 110.x).</li>
<li>The GNU bash shell (version 2.x).</li>
<li>Perl (version 5.x).</li>
<li>XEmacs (version 21.4.x) -- for the ProofGeneral interface.</li>
<li>A complete LaTeX installation (e.g. teTeX 1.0) -- for document preparation.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Installation</h2>
<p>Binary packages are available for Isabelle/HOL and ZF for several
platforms from the Isabelle web page. The system may be easily built
from scratch as well, taking the traditional tar.gz source
distribution. See file <tt>INSTALL</tt> as distributed with Isabelle
for more information.</p>
<p>Further background information may be found in the <em>Isabelle System
Manual</em>, distributed with the sources (directory <tt>doc</tt>).</p>
<h2>User interface</h2>
<p>The canonical Isabelle user interface is <a
href="http://proofgeneral.inf.ed.ac.uk/">Proof General</a> by David Aspinall
and others. It is a generic (X)Emacs interface for proof assistants,
including Isabelle (both for the classic and Isar version). Proof
General is suitable for use by pacifists and Emacs militants
alike. Its most prominent feature is script management, providing a
metaphor of <em>live proof script editing</em>. Proof General has
recently gained a rather large following of both beginning and expert
users of Isabelle.</p>
<p>Proof General is distributed together with the XEmacs
<a href="http://x-symbol.sourceforge.net">
X-Symbol package</a>, which provides a nice way to get proper
mathematical symbols displayed on screen.</p>
<h2>Other sources of information</h2>
<h3>The Isabelle Page</h3>
<p>The Isabelle home page may be accessed both from Cambridge and Munich:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/HVG/Isabelle/">http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/HVG/Isabelle/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://isabelle.in.tum.de">http://isabelle.in.tum.de</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Mailing list</h3>
<p>The electronic mailing list <tt>isabelle-users@cl.cam.ac.uk</tt>
provides a forum for Isabelle users to discuss problems and exchange
information. To join, send a message to <a
href="mailto:isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk">isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk</a>.</p>
<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>
JJ Thomson Avenue<br>
Cambridge CB3 0FD<br>
England<br>
<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk">lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk</a><br>
Phone: +44-223-763500<br>
Fax: +44-223-334748<br>
<p>
or
<p>
<a href="http://www.in.tum.de/~nipkow/">Tobias Nipkow</a><br>
Institut für Informatik<br>
Technische Universität München<br>
Boltzmannstr. 3<br>
D-85748 Garching<br>
Germany<br>
<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:nipkow@in.tum.de">nipkow@in.tum.de</a><br>
Phone: +49-89-289-17302<br>
Fax: +49-89-289-17307<br>
<p>
<hr>
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.
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