Hi Xyne,
The idea was to provide a consistent set of PKGBUILDs with topological rebuilds and updates.
yes, that was my understanding, too. In [1], I put together a build process that automates this procedure to some degree. The heart of the system is the file "PKGLIST", which specifies the exact set of packages that we provide. The file is translated automtically into a Makefile, and that Makefile automatically builds an "habs" repository that contains exactly those packages. The build process guarantees that there are no version conflicts within PKGLIST, i.e. we know that the package list is consistent. There is also a make target "updates" that lists all version updates that are available on Hackage. Furthermore, the make target "world" will automatically compile the generated "habs" tree into a binary repository (using chroot builds via 'devtools'). The following problem, however, remains unsolved as of now: If a member of PKGLIST is updated, all other packages that depend on it must have their $pkgrel value bumped to trigger a re-build. There is some experimental code in the git repository that figures out reverse dependencies, but PKGLIST isn't updated automatically in any way; it has to be edited manually.
The idea that I originally proposed was to "abandon" the AUR in favor of our own repository of PKGBUILDs and local source files (alongside a binary repo).
I like that idea. At the same time, it feels like there is no effort involved in mirroring a git repository full of PKGBUILD files to AUR.
Our goals right now seem to be to provide the latest official version of the Haskell Platform and in parallel provide the latest working set of all packages.
Right. Haskell Platform is almost there; the only packages missing in [extra] right now are: GLUT 2.1.2.1 OpenGL 2.2.3.0 fgl 5.4.2.3 If those could be added, then ArchLinux would comply with HP out of the box. Would someone be willing to do that? PKGBUILD files for those packages are already available in habs [2] and on AUR. Take care, Peter [1] http://github.com/peti/arch-haskell [2] http://github.com/archhaskell/habs