gcobol: a native COBOL compiler

The gcobol project has announcedits existence; it is a compiler for the COBOL language currentlyimplemented as a fork of GCC.

There's another answer to Why: because a free Cobol compiler is anessential component to any effort to migrate mainframe applicationsto what mainframe folks still call "distributed systems". Our goalis a Cobol compiler that will compile mainframe applications onLinux. Not a toy: a full-blooded replacement that solves problems.One that runs fast and whose output runs fast, and has native gdbsupport.

The developers hope to merge back into GCC after the project has advancedfurther.