Ian Lynagh:
On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 12:53:32PM +1100, Manuel M T Chakravarty
wrote:
It seems to be a matter of the precise ld call parameters whether the
gmp/ in the ghc repo is used or the external one. In using the
stage1
compiler to link the stage2 compiler, the external one wins, but in
linking other programs with the stage1 compiler, the internal gmp
wins.
Hmm, that's interesting. The internal GMP should only be built if
HaveLibGmp != YES and HaveFrameworkGMP != YES, in which case it should
always use the internal one, and there shouldn't be an external one to
use anyway.
At least on Mac OS (and also on Windows) and probably any other
platform, except Linux, this is IMHO the wrong policy.
FWIW, the current build system uses the internal GMP even if another
one is installed (at least a non-framework one). However, the
behaviour is a bit flacky (eg, if package readline is also used, it
uses the external GMP due to some difference between the Darwin linker
and other Unix linkers). It also needs to recompile installPackage
and ifBuildable with the stage1 compiler (like the stuff below utils/)
as both go into a binary distribution. I have fixed this all and am
currently validating a patch.
Actually, I think, we should use the gmp/ in the ghc repo by default
If you want to use it when building a bindist that might be used on
other computers you shold be able to set
HaveLibGmp = NO
HaveFrameworkGMP = NO
in mk/build.mk, although I'm not sure I've ever tried it.
The disadvantages of using it are it might be out of date (we had some
Windows segfaults a while ago that were fixed by updating the in-tree
gmp) and wasted space.
Sure we waste some space, but the alternative is worse. Programs
compiled with GHC will essentially not run on any computer, but the
one where they were compiled. For example, the number of Macs with
gmp installed is minuscule. The default should be to build programs
that run everywhere with minimal hassle (not programs that save some
space, but are unusable on most computers).
Manuel
PS: Readline is a different matter. It is used by ghci, so needs to
be installed with ghc, but this dependency does not propagate into
compiled programs, unless a program explicitly uses package readline
(at which point I believe it is on this program's developer to make
sure their users have readline available).
_______________________________________________
Glasgow-haskell-users mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users
