SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
-------------------
Linux on X86 machines
Mac OSX on X86 machines
Solaris on Sun machines

REQUIREMENTS
------------
Installing Hancock from source requires 3 things:
  1. The Hancock tarball, hancock.2.0.2.tar.gz, available from the
     Hancock web page: www.research.att.com/projects/hancock.

  2. A C compiler.

  3. The Standard ML of NJ compiler (sml), version 110.65
     
     The sml compiler and directions on how to install it are
     available from the SMLNJ home page:
       http://www.smlnj.org/index.html.
     It is a good idea to install the complete sml system rather
     than trying to select a minimal subset.
 
INSTALLATION
------------
1. Download the Hancock tarball, hancock.2.0.tar.gz, from the Hancock web
   site, www.research.att.com/projects/hancock.

2. Unzip and untar the file, to produce the directory hancock.

3. The installation process is parameterized by a machine description
   file, templates for which are located in directory hancock/install.
   The file install_form is generic, while files if.linux, if.macOSX,
   and if.solaris have been customized for the indicated platforms.  These
   files may need to be further specialized depending on your
   particular machine configuration.   Comments in these files
   indicate how to use them to describe your machine.  Use the
   appropriate one of these files to create a machine description file
   for your machine, which we will call if.your_machine.

   Note that the install forms used for the source code installation
   and the binary code installations are different.

4. In the hancock directory, run the installation script, invoking it
   with the path to the file describing your machine:
     
              install/install.sh if.your_machine

5. The installation process finishes by running a regression suite and
   using diff to compare its output to a sample output.  If there are no
   differences, then Hancock reports a successful installation.

6. After installation, the Hancock compiler can be found in bin/hcc.


FILE YOU NEED TO CREATE
-----------------------
if.my_machine, using one of the files
  hancock/install/{install_form, if.linux, if.irix, if.solaris}
as a template.

DOCUMENTATION
-------------
The hancock directory contains a subdirectory manual, which
includes within postscript and pdf versions of the manual.
This document describes the Hancock language and compiler interface. 

KNOWN BUGS
----------
Writes into directories, maps, and pickles declared as const will
affect their in-memory representation.  The on-disk representation 
will not be affected.


CONTACT INFORMATION
-------------------
Report bugs to hancock@research.att.com.