Free Pascal Compiler gains full dynamic package support
Free Pascal Compiler Now Supports Dynamic Packages
The Free Pascal Compiler and Lazarus IDE now support dynamic packages, letting users install components and extensions in seconds without rebuilding the entire IDE. Implemented as standard shared libraries for Linux, Windows, and macOS, they include compiler-generated metadata and runtime mechanisms for safely managing dynamic types and thread variables across package boundaries. The release also brings RTL enhancements, a new Packages window, automatic package rebuilding, and a form-to-control conversion feature.
Dynamic packages allow users to create and install components, controls, and Lazarus extensions in seconds without rebuilding the entire IDE.
- sysrpl
I am pleased to announce the first release of full dynamic package support for the Free Pascal Compiler and the Lazarus IDE. This feature has been a long time coming for the FPC ecosystem and has taken more than 20 years to realize through the work of many FOSS individuals.
Dynamic packages allow programmers to create and install components, controls, and Lazarus extensions in seconds without rebuilding the entire Lazarus IDE. They can also be used in by Free Pascal programmers to develop and deploy plugins that expose native Pascal classes and types through dynamic package libraries. To support this functionality, I have made numerous improvements to the compiler, its runtime, and the Lazarus IDE. I have also created additional IDE extensions to improve the experience of working with Lazarus packages. Read more at the link above.
- jan_m_savage
very excited for this, and thanks of course.
some of the greatest programming books in the world have been written with Pascal as their language.
- kristianp
This seems to be a fork of Lazarus. The official Lazarus is at https://www.lazarus-ide.org/
- ethin
I would love to use Lazarus, but the UI toolkit it uses has some very bad accessibility bugs that make it practically unusable with my screen reader. FreePascal's love of syntax diagrams is also a turn-off for me (I've always preferred things like EBNF or similar for grammar notation).
- Perenti
I love Free Pascal. I've tried using claude/codex/qwen to write in it, but all the models seem to love writing uncompileable code, and ending up in fearsome knots over it.
It's my number one "knock something together that just works" language for humans though.