#13: Cabal won't track tool dependencies
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
Reporter: dons | Owner: SvenPanne
Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: major | Milestone: Release 2: 2009.1.0
Component: GLUT | Resolution:
Keywords: |
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
Changes (by claus):
* owner: => SvenPanne
* component: => GLUT
Comment:
All of [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/haddock
haddock], [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-
scripts/package/happy happy], and [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin
/hackage-scripts/package/alex alex] are on hackage.
Though the peculiarities of GHC Api clients mean that haddock isn't much
use standalone anymore (it needs to be built with the exact GHC you want
to use it with, and it needs to be run over all the packages you want to
include in the platform, in advance).
I'm not sure why cabal treats applications differently than libraries in
terms of registering their package info, but as a workaround, one could
imagine a convention by which every application also provides a library
with meta-information (the path to the installed executable, as a
minimum). Similar to the `ghc-paths` package (though ghc itself isn't on
hackage).
Something like:
{{{
module Application.Haddock where
path = "<where cabal installed haddock executable>"
module Application.Happy where
path = "<where cabal installed happy executable>"
module Application.Alex where
path = "<where cabal installed alex executable>"
}}}
That would enable tracking by Cabal, as well as support haddock,alex,happy
clients in figuring out where those executables are. This, in turn, would
allow to simplify Cabal, which currently has a hardwired list of
`builtinPrograms` for this purpose.
I am sure this has been discussed before, but I can't find either thread
or ticket:-(
--
Ticket URL: <http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/ticket/13#comment:1>
haskell-platform <http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform>
The Haskell Platform: a comprehensive and robust collection of Haskell libraries
_______________________________________________
Haskell-platform mailing list
Haskell-platform@projects.haskell.org
http://projects.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haskell-platform
