hansake/whitesmiths-c-compiler

Whitesmiths C compiler. One of the earliest commercial C compilers available.

Whitesmiths, Ltd. C Compiler

Background

The original Whitesmiths compiler was released in 1978 and compiled a version of C similar to that accepted by Version 6 Unix. It was an entirely new implementation, borrowing no code from Unix.

When Whitesmiths released version 3.0 of its C compiler in 1985 it supported the emerging ANSI C standard.

The Whitesmiths compiler had code generators for DEC PDP-11, Intel 8080/Zilog Z80, Intel 8086, Motorola MC68000, DEC VAX-11, IBM System/370 and IBM System/36. It was commonly used as a cross compiler.

The company's president from 1978 to 1988 was P. J. Plauger.

Whitesmiths - Wikipedia

Making the C compilers available for download

As the Whitesmiths C compilers are a very important contribution to the development of the use of the C language, I think that it is important that this software is not lost for the future.

I recieved an e-mail reply from P.J. Plauger on 3 Apr 2021 where he is positive to making the compiler available for download.

<pjp>

I own all rights to the Whitesmiths C compiler. if you want to go to the trouble to package it so that it can be downloaded from such a site, II'll be happy to supply you with a letter giving limited rights to use it at no cost, at least for non-commerecial purposes, provided you supply me with a copy of the package you make.

Glad you're still active after all these decades. I am too, but definitely slowed down by age.

Best regards,

P.J. Plauger

</pjp>

I have tried to get in contact with him to confirm that it is ok to put the C compiler in a public repository, but unfortunately I have not got any answer yet.

Where to find the different compilers

The Whitesmiths C Compiler for CP/M-80 Edition 2.2 in binary format is in the "ccpm80_v22_bin" directory. The manuals for Edition 2.2 compilers are in the "compiler_v22_doc" directory.

The Whitesmiths C Cross Compiler an a MS-DOS host for IBM Systerm/36 Version 3.1 in binary format is in the "cx36_v31_bin" directory. A QEMU disk image with MS-DOS where thw compiler is installed is also in this directory. The manuals for this compiler are in the "compiler_s36_v31_doc" directory.

The source code for the CP/M-80 Compiler Edition 2.2 and Makefiles to build it are available in the "c_compiler_v22_src" directory. The source should be for edition 2.2 but there might be some source coming from other releases. The intention is to add more hosts and targets to this build environment.

Manuals for the Whitesmiths/COSMIC C Cross Compiler Version 3.32 for target Z80 is in the "compiler_z80_v332_doc" directory. Eventually also the compiler will be added to this repository.

whitesmiths-c-compiler's Issues

library standalone, licensing, and 68000, xenix

Thanks for putting this up, it brings back memories because I started my career doing whitesmith's C.

I think the most valuable part here is the C library, which though non standard was quite innovative. It would be nice at some point if someone took up the project of making the C library a separately downloadable item, with appropriate make files or configure files or whatever. But of course, you would need to clarify what the licensing is on that component, should someone care to use it in their project (which is unlikely to be fair, but would be good to get clarified).

I'm also curious because my vague memory is that we used the compiler on Xenix to build for MSDOS, Xenix and Motorola 68000, and the Motorola was a cross compiler. Does this include what we would have been using ?

What’s about the S/370 backend

Hey…

this is really great news. It would be a shame to let such software just disappear.

I come from the S/370 (MVS&VM) corner and would love to use this compiler.

Unfortunately, I can't find any sources for the S/370 backend.

Can you help me? And what about the standard library?

Thanks a lot for your effort.

Mike

68000 cross compiler source code availability?

Hi,
Just curious about the 68000 support because the manual is available (compiler_v22_doc).
Thanks.

How to recompile p1pr.exe

I am trying to update p1pr.exe so it will generate IBM system/3 compatible assembler code which will then run on my operational system.

Please let me know which C compiler I need to use to re-compile p1pr.exe .

Thanks !
Regards Henk
ibmsystem3 -at- hccnet.nl

Z80 cross compiler source code availability?

this would be nice to have, since we have the docs.