So, the big question for the team is what versions of packages we
support and where.
1. Should Arch track the newest version of every Hackage
package, in [extra], [community] or AUR? (the current behaviour, mostly)
OR
2. Should Arch provide the binary Haskell Platform set in [extra] and
[community] (+ any other popular executables), and the newest version
of everything else that forms a coherent install plan, in AUR.
Most other distros are trying to support the first half of 2. That is,
they provide only what the Haskell Platform specifies (e.g. ghc 6.10.4 +
other things), in binary form.
Currently, we have a mixture of 6.12 + ad hoc set of packages in binary
form, plus AUR is the latest of everything that I can construct a
coherent install plan for [1].
This is a pressing issue, since the move to 6.12 has broken a lot of
things -- mostly since the HP isn't moving to 6.12.x until 6.12.1 is
out, and thus many libraries and tools aren't ready to support 6.12.
This will likely break many things for a few weeks at least.
I propose the following:
* Arch Linux supports precisely the Haskell Platform spec, in its
binary repos.
* AUR supports the latest version of a maximal install plan from
Hackage, separately.
The consequence of this policy will be that no binary packages are
upgraded until the HP is updated. This should make vegai's work easier.
** It would also mean downgrading ghc 6.12 back to 6.10.4 **
If there is consensus, we can adopt this as policy, refer to it on the
website. Users who wish newer versions of things (such as ghc 6.12) can
use AUR packages.
-- Don
[1]: A 'coherent install plan' is the largest set of hackage packages
that build together, depending only on one unique version for each
library. (That is no QC1 + QC2. Pick one!)
