7 <title>The Isabelle System Distribution</title>
12 <h1>The Isabelle System Distribution</h1>
14 <h2>Version information</h2>
16 This is the internal repository version of Isabelle. The current line
17 of development introduces many new features, while attempting to keep
18 incompatibilities over Isabelle98-X at a minimum. See the
19 <tt>NEWS</tt> file in the distribution for more details.
22 <h2>System requirements</h2>
24 Isabelle requires a real Unix box with sufficient resources. Fun
25 starts at about 32-64 MB of free main memory (somewhat depending on
26 your ML system), with several tens of MB disk space and a decent CPU.
27 Speaking by today's hardware standards, any moderate Linux box should
28 make a nice platform for Isabelle.
32 Furthermore, Isabelle needs the following software, which is not part
35 <li> A full Standard ML Compiler (e.g. Poly/ML).
36 <li> The GNU bash shell (version 1.x or 2.x).
37 <li> Perl 5.x - the Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister (Perl 4.x
38 is <em>not</em> sufficient).
43 The following ML system and platform combinations are known to work
46 <li> Poly/ML 3.x on Linux and Suns.
47 <li> SML/NJ 110.x on any Unix platform (e.g. Linux, Suns).
48 <li> SML/NJ 0.93 on Suns and SGIs. There seem to be several
49 problems with Linux and HP-UX, though.
52 <p> <A HREF="http://www.polyml.org/">Poly/ML</A>, previously a commercial
53 product, is back in the public domain. It is the best compiler for running
54 Isabelle, requiring the least memory and offering the fastest performance.
57 href="http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/software.html">SML/NJ</a>
58 needs lots of store and disk space, but it is free. The current
59 official release is 110 (there is an <a
60 href="ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/MIRRORED/smlnj/release/110/smlnj-110.0-3.i386.rpm">RPM
61 archive</a> available for Linux/x86). We still support the old 0.93
62 release, but do not recommend it.
64 <p> MLWorks is a commercial ML programming environment developed by
65 <a href="http://www.harlequin.com/">Harlequin</A> and was
66 unfortunately withdrawn after that company was taken over. Isabelle on
67 MLWorks 2.0 works well. It is about 20% faster than on SML/NJ while using
68 slightly less memory and disk space. A few minor features (e.g. ML top-level
69 pretty printing) are not supported, though.
75 Binary rpm packages are available for Isabelle/HOL and ZF on the
76 Linux/x86 platform. Alternatively, the system may be built from
77 scratch as described in file <tt>INSTALL</tt> of the Isabelle sources.
78 Further background information may be found in the <em>Isabelle System
79 Manual</em>, distributed with the sources (directory <tt>doc</tt>).
82 <h2>User interfaces</h2>
84 The distribution includes only a very primitive interface based on
85 ordinary terminal sessions. Advanced interfaces are available from
90 <a href="http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/da/Isamode/">Isamode</a> by
91 David Aspinall is a more elaborate interface for Isabelle. It runs
92 under recent versions of XEmacs and is useful to both novices and
96 <a href="http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/proofgen/">Proof General</a> is
97 a generic Emacs interface for proof assistants, including Isabelle
98 (both for the classic and Isar version). Proof General is suitable
99 for use by pacifists and Emacs militants alike. Its most prominent
100 feature is script management, providing a metaphor of <em>live proof
104 <h2>Other sources of information</h2>
106 <h3>Mailing list</h3>
108 The electronic mailing list <TT>isabelle-users@cl.cam.ac.uk</TT>
109 provides a forum for Isabelle users to discuss problems and exchange
110 information. To join, send a message to
111 <A HREF="mailto:isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk">isabelle-users-request@cl.cam.ac.uk</A>.
114 <h3>Personal mail</h3>
116 <a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/lcp/">Lawrence C Paulson</a><br>
117 Computer Laboratory<br>
118 University of Cambridge<br>
120 Cambridge CB2 3QG<br>
123 E-mail: <A HREF="mailto:lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk">lcp@cl.cam.ac.uk</A><br>
124 Phone: +44-223-334600<br>
125 Fax: +44-223-334748<br>
131 <a href="http://www.in.tum.de/~nipkow/">Tobias Nipkow</a><br>
132 Institut fuer Informatik<br>
137 E-mail: <A HREF="mailto:nipkow@in.tum.de">nipkow@in.tum.de</A><br>
138 Phone: +49-89-289-22690<br>
139 Fax: +49-89-289-28183<br>
145 Please report any problems you encounter. While we shall try to be
146 helpful, we can accept no responsibility for the deficiencies of
147 Isabelle and their consequences.