Hello,

we have placed a new major release of the Free Pascal Compiler, version 2.4.2 on our ftp-servers.

Changes that may break backwards compatibility are documented at: http://wiki.freepascal.org/User_Changes_2.4.2

Downloads are available at:

the main FTP server at

ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.2/

and mirrors like

ftp://freepascal.stack.nl/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.2/
ftp://ftp.hu.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/dist/2.4.2/

and sourceforge.

Enjoy!

The Free Pascal Compiler Team

Free Pascal Compiler

Version 2.4.2

****************************************************************************** What's New in 2.4.2
******************************************************************************

Free Pascal 2.4.2 contains many fixes and a few new features. Most bugfixes in the RTL and packages before june 2010 have been merged.

Please also see http://wiki.freepascal.org/User_Changes_2.4.2 for a list of changes which may affect the behaviour of previously working code, and how to cope with these changes.

Some highlights are:

Compiler:
* Support D2006+ FOR..IN, with some FPC specific enhancements. Refer to http://wiki.freepascal.org/for-in_loop for more information
* Support for sealed and abstract classes.

Packages:
* Many improvements to the XML units
* Many improvements to the database units
* Many improvemnets to the chm units

Platforms:
* Long term bug in OS/2 implementation of unit Video finally fixed which among others allows inclusion of the text-mode IDE (without debugger) for this platform as part of the distribution again.

See http://bugs.freepascal.org/changelog_page.php for the list of reported bugs which have been fixed in this release.

Congratulations to the whole team!

I believe this was a long awaited release (especially for Lazarus) and let's hope that there aren't any nasty "surprises" (yes, I know that we users should have tested more well *blush* ) this time.

Enjoy your weekend all together, I think you've earned it ;)

Regards,
Sven

I downloaded the win32 installer from the ftp site and started it. While in the setup dialogs I found that it installs what it calls the FPC IDE and asks if I want to set file associations to point to the IDE.
Question:
Does this mean that it installs a new version of lazarus as well??? If not, what is the FPC IDE? Another development environment???

I was about to install fpc into c:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2, but now I am not so sure because of the confusing dialogs. :-(

The c:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.2.4 folder was where the Lazarus installer deposited the fpc version 2.2.4, so I figured that I could put 2.4.2 in parallel to that version in folder 2.4.2.

But that was before I saw the IDE questions popping up...

Bo Berglund

The FPC IDE is the text mode IDE maintained by the FPC team itself (Lazarus is a separate but closely related project). The IDE resembles the Turbo Pascal IDE, but has some modern features as well.

You can install it without any conflicts with Lazarus. It's inside the %FPCINSTALLDIR%\bin\i386-win32\ folder and named "fp.exe".

You should not associate the source files with FP IDE though if you prefer Lazarus.

You can install into that folder without problems. As said the two IDEs won't conflict with each other (except the file associations, but most applications have a similar problem ^^).

Regards,
Sven

Thanks for the clarification!
I will go ahead and install fpc, then change the compiler location in Lazarus and recompile it and go from there. :-)

Bo Berglund

OOPS!
Forgot to ask:
If I do this in the directory C:\Programs\lazarus: C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\make.exe clean all will this recompile lazarus with the new fpc?
Or do I need to make some changes elsewhere first? How is the new compiler specified for the rebuild?

Bo Berglund

When you do this in C:\Programs\lazarus the make utility will look for fpc in %PATH%. Execute "fpc -i" in a console window and at the top of the output you'll see the version number of the compiler. If you want to use a different one you need to specify it to the make utility by setting the "FPC" variable.

E.g.

C:\Programs\lazarus\>
C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\make.exe clean all FPC=Some\Other\Dir\With\fpc.exe

If you have used the installer for 2.4.2 the path
"C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32" should already be in %PATH% (and thus you could also just use "make" without the path...).

You can also recompile the IDE from within the IDE if you want to.

Regards,
Sven

Make sure the PATH environment variable
contains the path to the correct fpc executable;
that should be enough.

How is the new compiler specified for the rebuild?

You can force a particular compiler with the PP variable:

make PP=C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\fpc

Michael.

Can it be that make searches for binaries in its own directory? (or does Windows do that by default?!)

E.g. (without any FPC dir in %PATH%):

C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\make.exe will use FPC 2.4.2 in the same directory

and

C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.2.4\bin\i386-win32\make.exe will use FPC 2.2.4 in the same directory

This would explain the behavior described in Bo's mail "Multiple FPC versions for Lazarus 0.9.28.2", where he "just" switched the make utility and achieved different results

Regards,
Sven

Dear members:

I am learning the use of TDBF with a very low experience in BD.

I have two tables and in the secondary table I have declared a field connected with another field in the master table.
I ask: What component you suggest to read the fields in the master and select one of them?

Another question, Is possible to use a mask for values to have always two decimal places (the cents).?

Thanks in advance,

yours truly,

Ing. H?ctor F. Fiandor Rosario

OK, that is the info I needed to know, but meanwhile I have been told that there also exists a lazarus "configuration" in %APPDATA% and that this contains a specifier on which compiler to use. If this is the case then this location is not lazarus install specific and not fpc install specific either so it makes life much harder to have different versions available at the same time... I guess that Microsoft decided tha we can have only one single version of a program installed on Windows at a single time. :-(

And now my problem is to find out if this configuration setting is used by the command line rebuild of lazarus or only if the rebuild is started from within lazarus...
Anyone knows the answer to this?

If you have used the installer for 2.4.2 the path "C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32" should already be in %PATH% (and thus you could also just use "make" without the path...).

I inspected the path by reading it on the command line, but there was no trace of fpc (not 2.4.2 and not 2.2.4 from the lazarus installation either).
This lack of path info previously forced me to use the full path to make.exe because otherwise the make that would be picked up was the one from my BDS2006 installation, which is on path. I got this advice when I wanted to rebuild a broken lazarus.

Now I looked in ControlPanel/System/Advanced/Environment and I can see the added path, but it was done to the SYSTEM path, not the USER path. The difference between thies is very profound, anything added to USER path will be available to any application that is started after the setting has been done, but in order to get the SYSTEM path changes activated you need to restart Windows....
That is why I don't have fpc 2.4.2 on my path yet.

I think the fpc installer should tell the user that in order to get the path set he must restart Windows.

You can also recompile the IDE from within the IDE if you want to. Regards, Sven

This setting is only used when you compile an application inside Lazarus or you compile the IDE within the IDE. If you use make the mechanisms I described are used.

This isn't a decision done by Microsoft, but by the Lazarus team.

I believe I've already sent you that today ^^

You need to launch Lazarus with an additional command line parameter: --pcp or --primary-config-path. This will tell Lazarus to use the path you specify there as the configuration path instead of "%APPDATA%\lazarus".

E.g.:

lazarus.exe --pcp=C:\configs\lazarus\0.9.28.2\

You can also specify this for the shortcuts on the desktop or in the startmenu. Click on them with the right mouse key and go to "Settings" (or "Properties", I don't know what it's called in an English Windows). Then their is a edit box that's labeled "target" or similar and should contain your path to Lazarus (e.g. C:\Programs\lazarus\lazarus.exe). There you just append the pcp option like above. Then press OK and double click the shortcut. :)

Ehm... no. In the last few weeks I've worked on my system PATH very often and I never restarted Windows. You just need to restart the applications that use the PATH, because their environment settings are fixed once they've started (and no, you don't need to restart explorer.exe). So if you have a command window open and you change the PATH in the Control Panel then you need to close that command window and start it again. Just try it :)

As a side note: it seems that either make or Windows look for executables in the directory where make is located. Thus when you use the make in your 2.2.4 dir it uses the 2.2.4 compiler and if you use the make in your 2.4.2 dir it will use the 2.4.2 compiler. This changes of course if you explicitly specify a compiler using the FPC or PP variable when calling make...

Regards,
Sven

I have inspected the environment variable path as follows (for readability I have replaced ; with CRLF so each path item will be on a separate line):

In ControlPanel the System path is:

C:\Programs\Tcl\bin
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\
C:\Programs\Borland\BDS\4.0\Bin
C:\Programs\Python\.
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Bin
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Projects\Bpl\
%SystemRoot%\system32
%SystemRoot%
%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN C:\Program Files\Borland\CaliberRM SDK 2005 R2\lib c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\ C:\Programs\ULTRAE~1
C:\Programs\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\VDI
C:\Programs\GnuPG
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin
C:\Programs\TortoiseSVN\bin
C:\Programs\Subversion\bin
C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-Win32

And user path is:

C:\Programs\Utils
C:\Documents and Settings\Bosse\My Documents\Borland Studio Projects\Bpl
C:\Programs\CVSNT\
C:\Programs\QT\4.4.3\bin

When I start a new command window and type PATH into it:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\
C:\Programs\Borland\BDS\4.0\Bin
C:\Programs\Python\.
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Bin
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Projects\Bpl\
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN C:\Program Files\Borland\CaliberRM SDK 2005 R2\lib c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\ C:\Programs\ULTRAE~1
C:\Programs\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\VDI
C:\Programs\GnuPG
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin
C:\Programs\TortoiseSVN\bin
C:\Programs\Subversion\bin
C:\Programs\Utils
C:\Documents and Settings\Bosse\My Documents\Borland Studio Projects\Bpl
C:\Programs\CVSNT\
C:\Programs\QT\4.4.3\bin

As you can see in the active path there is no sign of FPC, but I have not restarted after installing FPC...

------------ Restarting test PC --------

And here is the output of path after restart:

C:\Programs\Tcl\bin
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\
C:\Programs\Borland\BDS\4.0\Bin
C:\Programs\Python\.
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Bin
C:\Programs\Borland\Delphi7\Projects\Bpl\
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN C:\Program Files\Borland\CaliberRM SDK 2005 R2\lib c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\ C:\Programs\ULTRAE~1
C:\Programs\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\VDI
C:\Programs\GnuPG
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin
C:\Programs\TortoiseSVN\bin
C:\Programs\Subversion\bin
C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-Win32
C:\Programs\Utils
C:\Documents and Settings\Bosse\My Documents\Borland Studio Projects\Bpl
C:\Programs\CVSNT\
C:\Programs\QT\4.4.3\bin

Now two items have been added:
C:\Programs\Tcl\bin
C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-Win32

Yes, I guess that would be the case if make.exe changes the current dir when it starts.

But the strange thing in that case is that the lazaus makefile resides in the directory where I invoked the command so how does make find it if it changes the current dir?

I had a look at the makefile and searched for FPC and located a section where it goes to extensive lengths to find the FPC compiler!

Anyways I repeated my compilation now with the extra FPC argument added (all on one line of course):

C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\make.exe clean all FPC=C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\fpc.exe

At the end there was this error:

Compiling lazconfigstorage.pas
lresources.pp(5320,13) Error: Incompatible types: got "AnsiString" expected "Char"
lresources.pp(5514) Fatal: There were 1 errors compiling module, stopping
Fatal: Compilation aborted

I guess I have to get the dev snapshot of lazarus sources to get around this?

Bo Berglund

What about starting a separate thread about this rather than hijacking this one?

Bo Berglund

[snip]

Strange... can you please test the following:

* add a path to the user path and check whether a freshly started command window contains that path
* add a path to the system path and check whether a freshly started command window contains that path
* add one path to the user path and one to the system path and check whether a freshly started command window contains one or both of the paths (this is obviously only needed if one of the two preceding tests is successful ^^)

I'm not talking about the Makefile... I'm talking about the make.exe. If you look into the bin\i386-win32 directories, you'll see that it contains other executables besides make and fpc. Those are found by the make utility as well, so it might be that make compiled for Windows adds its own directory to its own copy of PATH as well (it does not cd into that directory!). And all tools (e.g. mkdir, cp, etc) that a makefile uses by relative paths are found in that directory... and a "relative" fpc is found there as well.

Yes, seems so...

Regards,
Sven

If I do this in the directory C:\Programs\lazarus: C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\make.exe clean all will this recompile lazarus with the new fpc?

Only if there is a Makefile in that directory.

Or do I need to make some changes elsewhere first?

I use to change the PATH in my console window to e.g. PATH=D:\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32
or whatever is applicable to your installation. This way no other (BDS...) tools can get into the way. Effectively I've put according setpath24.bat and setpath25.bat files into the bin directory, that is in the initial Windows PATH.

Then I CD into the desired FPC (or Lazarzus) directory, where the Makefile resides, and do a make clean all.

How is the new compiler specified for the rebuild?

This can be done with the PP=... or FPC=... options (should be equivalent): make clean all PP=C:\Programs\lazarus\fpc\2.4.2\bin\i386-win32\fpc.exe

DoDi

Now at work where I have a Win7 PC I have made the same tests as I did back home on the XP PC. I added one bogus path member to both User and System path via Control Panel.
Results:

Win XP-Pro SP3:
+ New User path updated immediately in newly started cmd processes
- New System path is updated only after a system restart

Win7Pro X64:
+ New User path immediately available in a new cmd window
+ New System path is also immediately available

So I guess it is a legacy thing on XP....

Note though that applications reading the environment variable from the registry rather than using the API will see the new system path entry as soon as it has been saved in Control Panel.

Thanks for testing.

I'll test that tomorrow at work as well (I have a XP there and I want to know whether I just imagined all that ^^).

Note though that applications reading the environment variable from the registry rather than using the API will see the new system path entry as soon as it has been saved in Control Panel.

I personally consider something like that "bad practice"...

Regards,
Sven

Dear colegas:

I have solved the main question.

now I need to save the BD table with the float field with two decimal places. I think I need to declare a mask, but I dont know how to do it.

thanks in advance,

yours truly,