lina : a LInux NAtive Forth

You can download here release 4 of a 32-bit ISO Forth for Linux Intel called lina. This is a binary download, ready to run, with documentation ready to be viewed or printed. The last release 3 version is still available. For still older versions and previous release 4 version you may search my FTP-site. A release5 version (32 and 64-bit) is in beta. In fig/eForth tradition it is based on an assembler in only one file, so no c-code is present nor are any c-libraries called.

Features, present in the archive:

  • binary ; it works on all kernels at least since 1.2.
  • assembler source, GPL-ed.
  • indirect threaded Forth
  • 80386 assembler/disassembler based on the posit/fixup principle
  • savesystem and turnkey facility. Make a standalone 30 Kbyte programs, independant of any libraries, resident or not.
  • texinfo documentation. So you have info and PostScript and pdf.
  • html documentation with references between related words.

    If you want to modify and rebuild it from the above assembler source, you need the excellent nasm assembler , I myself used version .98 .
    Since the gnu Intel assembler supports the directive .Intel_syntax prefix, which forces Intel's non-standard destination-source order of operands, it became feasible to supply a .s file that can be assembled on any system equipped with a gcc compiler. This too is supplied in the archive. Use the instructions contained in the file to assemble it. This is a bit tricky
    Use the generic system for more important changes.

    Apart from above source and documentation, the wc program is included in this archive. The wordcount program is an example of how to use lina as a scripting language. The only environmental dependancy is using Linux system calls.
    It has become a bit of a disgrace since the later version have much better facilities for scripting.

    Experimental coloring version

    You can also download the experimental (unstable) version called 4.1.22. It has a number of small improvements over the stable version. Most important, it allows color high lighting using the stack effect analyser and a drop-in replacement for the kernel: lina+a. It shows the words with color high lighting, as follows. 
            lina+a -r
        "analyserconfig.frt" INCLUDED
        "color.frt" INCLUDED
        DO-COLOR WORDS
    The file smallanalyser.frt can be used to add the stack effect for new words. For more information see the supplied sources.

    lina release 5, a snapshot version

    A beta snapshot version of the forth coming release 5 is available based on Revision 5.50 of the main source file ci86.gnr. A novelty is that there is a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version based on Revision 5.63. The 64-bit version is called lina64, such that it is possible to have the two versions installed at the same time. The 64 bit version has threading activated.
    Some substantial changes are made with respect to the introspective properties of the Forth, which in the end should make a good optimiser possible. Like in the above 4.22 snapshot version, a mechanism is in place to allow to derive (semi-)automatically the stack effect of words. On top of that there are numerous small improvements and additions to the library.
    An important change is the rename of REQUIRE to WANT such that the Forth doesn't become incompatible with upcoming additions to the Forth standard.
    All code published on this site is still based on 4.0.6. It should run on a release 5 ciforth after WANT -legacy-.
    A beta version has some issue, some probably undetected, yet. An important issue, that the -g option didn't work, has been resolved for 32 and 64 bit.

    The following applies only to the 64-bit lina releases 5.x, not to the latest 32-bit releases.

    There is a list of current defects . See also the list of defects of the generic system. .

    This binary distribution is based on a generic Intel Forth system that is available too.

    Go to the home page of Albert van der Horst