- cabal-devel - Haskell.org

The case for tweaking .cabal files of existing uploaded packages
by Duncan Coutts 25 May '10

25 May '10

So here's an example where despite our best efforts to get backwards compatibility, a package has been uploaded which breaks the parser of cabal-install-0.6.x. That's the stable series which goes along with ghc-6.10, which many users are still using. We only just recently marked version 0.8.x as recommended. The hellage package has the following highlights: Name: hellage ... Cabal-version: >= 1.4 ... Executable hellage-genmeta Build-Depends: base (>= 4.2) The problem is that the version range syntax uses a feature from Cabal-1.8, but since the cabal-version is marked as 1.4, then this breaks for Cabal 1.4 and 1.6. In Cabal-1.8 we generalised the version range syntax to allow arbitrary && || clauses with ()'s. We added a check so that packages using the extended syntax would be detected and required to declare that they need 1.8 or later. The above example slipped past our check because we do the check at the AST level and the parser strips off the ()'s. Currently anyone doing "cabal list" or any install command that depends on this package will fail: http://twitter.com/ranha/status/13954962378 It's in Japanese, but you get the idea. So the suggestion is that in addition to improving the check, we simply alter the .cabal file in the archive (but not the tarball) to have the corrected syntax. When the index is next updated this should unbreak old clients. Of course they will still not be able to install this specific package, but at least they'll get a sensible error message. (As an orthogonal issue, it would obviously be good to make cabal-install more robust in the way in which it handles unparsable packages in the index.) Note that this is the thin edge of the wedge, and I would like to go further in future. In the new hackage server I would like to make it possible to edit -- to a highly limited degree -- the .cabal files of existing packages. This would mainly be for meta-data (descriptions, URLs, etc) but more interestingly to adjust version constraints if they are found to be too lax or too tight. It would also mean adjusting cabal-install so that it uses the .cabal file from the index in preference to the one in the tarball when building a package. Duncan

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Re: [Hackage] #276: Add support for convenience libraries
by Hackage 25 May '10

25 May '10

#276: Add support for convenience libraries ------------------------------+--------------------------------------------- Reporter: rl | Owner: Type: enhancement | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Cabal-1.8 Component: Cabal library | Version: 1.2.3.0 Severity: normal | Keywords: Difficulty: project(> week) | Ghcversion: 6.8.2 Platform: | ------------------------------+--------------------------------------------- Changes (by tibbe): * cc: johan.tibell@… (added) -- Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/276#comment:3> Hackage <http://haskell.org/cabal/> Hackage: Cabal and related projects

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patch applied (cabal-branches/cabal-1.8): MERGED: Fix register --global/--user
by Ian Lynagh 21 May '10

21 May '10

Fri May 21 07:01:28 PDT 2010 Ian Lynagh <igloo(a)earth.li> * MERGED: Fix register --global/--user Duncan Coutts <duncan(a)haskell.org>**20100515213204 It is a rather silly feature and is not guaranteed to work. Having configured and built using one set of dbs, there's no guarantee you can register into another set. We should probably just remove it. M ./Distribution/Simple/Register.hs -3 +6 View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal-branches/cabal-1.8;a=…

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patch applied (cabal-branches/cabal-1.8): TAG GHC 6.12.2 release
by Ian Lynagh 21 May '10

21 May '10

Thu Apr 22 05:36:23 PDT 2010 Ian Lynagh <igloo(a)earth.li> tagged GHC 6.12.2 release View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal-branches/cabal-1.8;a=…

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[Fwd: Re: cabal installation failure]
by Duncan Coutts 21 May '10

21 May '10

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Mats Ahlgren <mats.ahlgren(a)gmail.com> > To: cabal-devel(a)haskell.org > Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 01:34:01 -0400 > Subject: cabal installation failure > Hello, > > I've installed Cabal once in the past with no trouble. However I can > no longer do so. > > I tried to install Cabal on a new computer: > - I visited http://www.haskell.org/cabal/download.html and got the > latest version > - I followed the directions in the README file > - No error messages were thrown, the process was "successful" and I > now have a ~/.cabal directory --but-- it doesn't seem as if I have a > 'cabal' command in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin or even anywhere in the > ~/.cabal directory. > - There was no extra information in the README file; no examples of > how to proceed or sample usage > - I then followed the directions to view the user docs online. After > locating them, it seems there are no instructions for end-users, just > for people who wish to submit packages. > - I then looked at > http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/wiki/CabalInstall and noticed > there was another way to do this -- with a ./bootstrap.sh -- but this > file is missing in the latest version. > > The end result is that even after 2 hours, I am unable to figure out > why Cabal is not working. If I was a new user, I wouldn't even know > what Cabal does. > > I attempted to file a bug, but then saw I was unable to because the > Trac installation is protected with basic http authentication. > > I write this out of concern, because these issues with documentation > (and what may be a critical bug) may make people shy away from Haskell > as a platform. > Also if anyone might have insight into how to fix this, it would be > much appreciated; thank you. > > Sincerely, > Mats > > platform: > Linux, Ubuntu "Karmic", GHC version 6.10.4; further information > available upon request

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darcs patch: Pass additional parameters in generated shell scripts
by Matthias Kilian 17 May '10

17 May '10

1 patch for repository http://darcs.volkswurst.de/packages/Cabal: Sun May 16 18:12:30 CEST 2010 Matthias Kilian <kili(a)outback.escape.de> * Pass additional parameters in generated shell scripts While here, simplify the argument list construction in invocationAsShellScript a little bit.

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patch applied (cabal): Fix register --global/--user
by Duncan Coutts 15 May '10

15 May '10

Sat May 15 14:32:04 PDT 2010 Duncan Coutts <duncan(a)haskell.org> * Fix register --global/--user It is a rather silly feature and is not guaranteed to work. Having configured and built using one set of dbs, there's no guarantee you can register into another set. We should probably just remove it. M ./Distribution/Simple/Register.hs -3 +7 View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal;a=darcs_commitdiff;h=…

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patch applied (cabal): Add some diagnostic info to some internal errors
by Ian Lynagh 15 May '10

15 May '10

Sat May 15 12:38:10 PDT 2010 Ian Lynagh <igloo(a)earth.li> * Add some diagnostic info to some internal errors When giving an "internal error: unexpected package db stack" error, say what the stack is. M ./Distribution/Simple/GHC.hs -1 +1 M ./Distribution/Simple/LHC.hs -1 +1 M ./Distribution/Simple/Program/HcPkg.hs -1 +1 View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal;a=darcs_commitdiff;h=…

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patch applied (cabal-install): Add initial internal support for more kinds of available package
by Duncan Coutts 11 May '10

11 May '10

Mon May 10 20:09:41 PDT 2010 Duncan Coutts <duncan(a)haskell.org> * Add initial internal support for more kinds of available package Previously only named packages from a remote package archive, or the unpacked package in the current directory. Now also add unpacked packages in particular directories, local tarballs and remote tarballs. No support in the user interface or dep planning yet. M ./Distribution/Client/Configure.hs -2 +2 M ./Distribution/Client/Fetch.hs -1 +3 M ./Distribution/Client/Install.hs -19 +50 M ./Distribution/Client/Types.hs -4 +8 M ./Distribution/Client/Unpack.hs -13 +32 View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal-install;a=darcs_commi…

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patch applied (cabal-install): Use non-Char8 ByteString.readFile for reading 00-index.tar.gz
by Duncan Coutts 11 May '10

11 May '10

Sun Jan 17 03:38:49 PST 2010 Duncan Coutts <duncan(a)haskell.org> * Use non-Char8 ByteString.readFile for reading 00-index.tar.gz Was showing up on windows as an error decompressing after cabal update. Thanks to Tamar Christina for reporting and helping track down the bug. M ./Distribution/Client/Update.hs -2 +3 View patch online: http://darcs.haskell.org/cgi-bin/darcsweb.cgi?r=cabal-install;a=darcs_commi…

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