ALEP is a graphical, object-oriented system running under SunOS 4 or Solaris on Sparc machines. It includes a number of tools for grammar and lexicon development, debugging, text handling, and linguistic processing. Although ALEP is in principle formalism-independent, it is delivered complete with a 'lean' formalism implementation and demonstration lingware. The detailed hardware and software requirements for running ALEP are described below.

It has recently become possible for the CEC to release the ALEP software within Eastern Europe. Some funding may also be available under the Copernicus programme to assist in the deployment of the system.

In the first instance, the CEC aims to provide the ALEP software, together with the requisite supporting software and licences (Prolog by Bim, ClauseDB, MOTIF )to a maximum of 10 user sites in Central & Eastern Europe, free of charge.

Towards the end of the year, the CEC also intends to hold an ALEP training course in Luxembourg, for up to 10 participants. It is hoped that travel and subsistence expenses for attendees from Central and Eastern Europe can be reimbursed. A limited number of on-site visits by ALEP support staff may also be undertaken.

Organisations who are interested in obtaining the ALEP software and participating in the ALEP course are invited to contact the CEC's support contractor Cray Systems, stating the nature of their involvement in language engineering and the uses to which the ALEP system might be put.

The pre-requisite software packages required to run ALEP-2.2 are:

• ProLog by BIM 4.0.5
• ClauseDB 2.0.1
• GNU Emacs 19.19
• OSF/Motif 1.2

These will be provided by the CEC on the ALEP distribution. Furthermore, all versions of ALEP require X-Windows X11R5. The system is delivered in a compiled state (ready to run) with an installation script.

For compiling the software, development licences for ProLog by BIM and ClauseDB packages are required. Compilation also requires: GNU C-compiler gcc 2.4.5, GNU Make gmake 3.67.X, GNU bison 1.03, GNU flex 2.3.X and GNU makeinfo 1.55(or higher versions). ALEP-2.3 also requires RCS and nuweb 0.87(delivered with the system).

Hardware Requirements- ALEP-2.3 is available on Sparc with operating system Solaris 2.X or a Sparc running SunOs 4.1.x. Swap: At least 70 Mb should be reserved for ALEP, Memory: Recommended 32 Mb, Source and compiled software: ALEP-2 requires approximately 100 Mb. More than 40% of this space may be reclaimed by deleting the source code and large amounts of test data.Required software: Around 56 Mb should be reserved for ProLog by BIM, ClauseDB and Emacs.

Further information on the ALEP system may also be obtained from:

Cray Systems
11 Rue des Muguets
Kirchberg
Luxembourg
Tel : (352) 427744
Fax : (352) 439594
Email: alep-support@cray-systems.lu

The LISA office also has a copy of an 8-page article about ALEP by Neil K. Simpkins of Cray Systems (neil@cray-systems.lu)