[Mono-list] Mono 0.5 runtime released.

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hello!

   I have just packaged up a new version of the Mono runtime.  Dietmar
Paolo and myself have been very busy hacking on the runtime engine,
and we have got some new bits in the package.

   The only drawback of this release is that it requires LibFFI to
compile, as we have implemented the initial PInvoke support.  This is
a problem, because libffi 1.20 does not work on Windows yet.  I am
going to take a look at this problem this week (I read Windows calling
conventions were the same as SysVR3 on Intel).  

    So the new mono release features, bits of this are for the shared
runtime, and bits of this are only for the interpreter:

	* PInvoke implementation (Dietmar)

	* Object system layout (Miguel, Paolo)

	* Class initialization (Miguel, Paolo)

	* Implemented calls to Members and MethodRefs (Paolo)

	* Static class variables and class method (no virtual methods
	  yet) (Paolo)

	* Handle PInvoke signatures on disassembler (Dietmar).

	* Move towards using MonoImage, to resolve *Refs.

   Availability:

	http://www.go-mono.com/archive/mono-0.5.tar.gz

* More stuff

   The CVS server is up, and I have opened accounts for about ten
contributors so far.  I hope you do not have too much trouble learning
cvs ;-).

* This week.

   Starting this week, I will make daily CVS snapshots available (as
the `mono' tarball only contains a fraction of what the CVS module
has) for those who do not have CVS access, and until we can get
AnonCVS mirrors.  

   I will also try to get a `single tarball' process for the release
and make sure that everything that you need is included in a single
location to simplify compilation (so mono would ship with libffi for
instance).   I will also be making things available as ZIPed files, as
it seems that is the most used format on the Windows world, compared
to the Unix .tar.gz format.

Best wishes,
Miguel.