Free COBOL compilers
The following is a list of free COBOL compilers available in the market.
Tiny COBOL Free Compiler
Tiny COBOL is an Open source free COBOL compiler. This free COBOL compiler implements the standards of COBOL 85. Tiny COBOL compiler is portable and works well on different platforms and operating systems like FreeBSD, BeOS, Linux and windows 32. The compiler is available for intel architecture (IA32).
This Free compiler is licensed under the GNU General Public License. The run time libraries are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License .
As on Jan 1, 2011 the final version of Tiny COBOL compiler is version 0.66. You can download it from here.
Frequently asked questions are also available here for this free COBOL compiler. There is a manual available here.
OpenCOBOL Free COBOL compiler
OpenCOBOL is a free COBOL compiler which is an open source compiler. This compiler uses and implements important parts of COBOL 85 and COBOL 2002 standards. Apart from COBOL 85 and 2002 standards OpenCOBOl also implements many extensions of existing COBOL compilers available in the market from variety of vendors.
OpenCOBOL actually translates COBOL code into C and then compiles the translated code in C using the native C compiler. OpenCOBOL is a portable compiler and it would work across different platforms and operating systems like Unix/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.
The compiler is licensed under GNU General Public License. The run-time library is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License.
You can download it from here. Frequently asked questions are also available for OpenCOBOL here. You can follow the installation steps by referring the install guide.
A complete manual has been published by Gary Cutler on OpenCOBOL which is available at the the following link.
“Cevela MX COBOL” Free Compiler
Cevela MX COBOL is a free COBOL compiler, which has implemented ANSI-74 COBOL standards along with some features acquired from COBOL 85 and COBOL 2002. This is a windows compiler for COBOL and generates code in C language. It then compiles the generated C code using the Borland Turbo C 2.01 compiler. This is primarily beneficial for users for personal training on COBOL’s basic programming concepts. It works on Windows operating system. You can use text pad or windows notepad for editing the code.
A complete list of Frequently asked questions are available here. You can download this free COBOL compiler from here.
Once you have downloaded the compiler, you may want to look at the installation guide here.
A manual for this free cobol compiler is available here.
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Open Source “COBOL for GCC” free Compiler
COBOL for GCC is a free COBOL compiler, which has implemented standards from COBOL 85 integrated with GNU compiler collection(GCC) . This is an open source compiler and works on Linux and other operating systems. The original compiler was written in C and produced around 58000 lines but there is still more work to be done on this compilers. Since this is an open source project, programmers from across the world may contribute to its development.
COBOL 12 Compiler (Free)
COBOL 12 is a free 16 bit compiler which runs on DOS or windows. It originally implemented ANSI 74 standards but it has changed a lot since its inception. Some of the features not supported by this compiler are SORT and STRING functions.
You can download the COBOL 12 compiler from here
“COBOL 650” Free COBOL compiler
COBOL 650 free COBOL compiler is a DOS based compiler. You can download the compiler from here
COBOL-IT Compiler Suite
This COBOL compiler is compliant with COBOL 85 standards. The compiler’s use is free but must comply with GNU General Public licence. You can download this compiler from here.
Disclaimer:- There is no warranty whatsoever on the use of above programs. The information is provided here to facilitate users and the users may use these on their own risks. Just listing these programs here does not mean that I endorse or approve these programs. The standard disclaimers also apply.