<s>
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
(	O
formerly	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
,	O
and	O
for	O
a	O
short	O
time	O
known	O
as	O
GNU	B-Application
Cobol	I-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
COBOL	B-Application
programming	I-Application
language	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
is	O
a	O
transcompiler	B-Language
to	O
C	B-Language
which	O
uses	O
a	O
native	O
C	B-Language
compiler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
working	O
with	O
Rildo	O
Pragana	O
on	O
TinyCOBOL	O
,	O
Keisuke	O
decided	O
to	O
attempt	O
a	O
COBOL	B-Application
compiler	O
suitable	O
for	O
integration	O
with	O
gcc	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
soon	O
became	O
the	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Roger	O
then	O
took	O
over	O
as	O
lead	O
and	O
released	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
1.0	O
on	O
27	O
December	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Work	O
on	O
the	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
1.1	O
pre-release	O
continued	O
until	O
February	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2012	O
,	O
active	O
development	O
was	O
moved	O
to	O
SourceForge	B-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
pre-release	O
of	O
February	O
2009	O
was	O
marked	O
as	O
a	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
late	O
September	O
2013	O
,	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
was	O
accepted	O
as	O
a	O
GNU	B-Application
Project	I-Application
,	O
renamed	O
to	O
GNU	B-Application
Cobol	I-Application
,	O
and	O
then	O
finally	O
to	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
in	O
September	O
2014	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ron	O
Norman	O
has	O
added	O
a	O
Report	O
Writer	O
module	O
as	O
a	O
branch	O
of	O
GnuCobol	B-Application
2.0	O
,	O
and	O
Sergey	O
Kashyrin	O
has	O
developed	O
a	O
version	O
that	O
uses	O
C++	B-Language
intermediates	O
instead	O
of	O
C	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Transfer	O
of	O
copyrights	O
to	O
the	B-Operating_System
Free	I-Operating_System
Software	I-Operating_System
Foundation	I-Operating_System
over	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
source	O
code	O
(	O
including	O
versions	O
with	O
GNU	B-Application
Cobol	I-Application
and	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
spellings	O
)	O
was	O
finalized	O
on	O
17	O
June	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
striving	O
to	O
keep	O
in	O
line	O
with	O
COBOL	B-Application
Standards	O
up	O
to	O
the	O
current	O
COBOL	B-Language
2014	I-Language
specification	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
to	O
include	O
features	O
common	O
in	O
existing	O
compilers	O
,	O
the	O
developers	O
do	O
not	O
claim	O
any	O
level	O
of	O
standards	O
conformance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
so	O
,	O
the	O
2.2	O
final	O
release	O
passes	O
over	O
9,688	O
(	O
99.79	O
%	O
)	O
of	O
the	O
tests	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
NIST	O
COBOL	B-Application
85	O
test	O
suite	O
,	O
out	O
of	O
9,708	O
(	O
as	O
20	O
are	O
deleted	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
translates	O
a	O
COBOL	B-Application
program	O
(	O
source	O
code	O
)	O
into	O
a	O
C	B-Language
program	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
C	B-Language
program	I-Language
can	O
then	O
be	O
compiled	O
into	O
the	O
actual	O
code	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
computer	O
(	O
object	O
code	O
)	O
or	O
into	O
a	O
library	O
where	O
other	O
programs	O
can	O
call	O
(	O
link	O
to	O
)	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Under	O
UNIX	B-Application
and	O
similar	O
operating	O
systems	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
,	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
C	I-Application
compiler	I-Application
is	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
Microsoft	O
’s	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
Express	I-Application
package	O
provides	O
the	O
C	B-Language
compiler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
two	O
step	O
compilation	O
is	O
usually	O
performed	O
by	O
a	O
single	O
command	O
,	O
but	O
an	O
option	O
exists	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
programmer	O
to	O
stop	O
compilation	O
after	O
the	O
C	B-Language
code	O
has	O
been	O
generated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
opencobol.org	O
site	O
was	O
the	O
official	O
home	O
of	O
the	O
development	O
team	O
from	O
2002	O
until	O
2012	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
the	O
best	O
source	O
of	O
upstream	O
development	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
all	O
recent	O
developments	O
are	O
now	O
taking	O
place	O
within	O
a	O
SourceForge	B-Application
project	O
space	O
at	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
Programmer	O
's	O
Guide	O
,	O
by	O
Gary	O
Cutler	O
,	O
was	O
published	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Free	I-Application
Documentation	I-Application
License	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
been	O
updated	O
to	O
include	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
with	O
Report	O
Writer	O
and	O
is	O
listed	O
in	O
the	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
documentation	O
overview	O
page	O
with	O
latest	O
versions	O
in	O
the	O
code	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
shortest	O
valid	O
COBOL	B-Application
program	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
relaxed	O
syntax	O
option	O
in	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
2.0	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
blank	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Without	O
relaxed	O
syntax	O
and	O
with	O
any	O
version	O
of	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
,	O
GNU	B-Application
Cobol	I-Application
or	O
OpenCOBOL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
Note	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
7	O
leading	O
spaces	O
to	O
conform	O
to	O
FIXED	O
layout	O
COBOL	B-Application
source	O
)	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Please	O
note	O
that	O
these	O
trivia	O
listings	O
are	O
not	O
to	O
be	O
regarded	O
as	O
good	O
COBOL	B-Application
form	O
;	O
COBOL	B-Application
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
readable	O
English	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
parser	O
and	O
lexical	O
scanner	O
use	O
Bison	B-Application
and	O
Flex	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GPL	B-License
licensed	O
compiler	O
and	O
LGPL	B-Application
licensed	O
run-time	O
libraries	O
are	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
and	O
use	O
the	O
C	B-Language
ABI	B-Operating_System
for	O
external	O
program	O
linkage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Build	O
packaging	O
uses	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Build	I-Application
System	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Standard	O
tests	O
with	O
make	O
check	O
use	O
Autoconf	B-Application
,	O
ANSI85	O
testsuite	O
run	O
by	O
make	O
test	O
use	O
Perl	B-Language
scripts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
configure	B-Device
script	I-Device
that	O
sets	O
up	O
the	O
GnuCOBOL	B-Application
compile	O
has	O
options	O
that	O
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
1.0	O
release	O
from	O
SourceForge	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
open-cobol	O
Debian	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
2.2	O
Documentation	O
,	O
released	O
September	O
2017	O
from	O
the	O
SourceForge	B-Application
Code	O
Tree	O
.	O
</s>
