#189: Handle framework paths (-F) in Cabal ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Reporter: guest | Owner: Type: enhancement | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Component: Cabal library | Version: 1.2.2.0 Severity: normal | Resolution: Keywords: | Difficulty: normal Ghcversion: 6.8.2 | Platform: Mac OS ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Comment (by guest): Replying to [comment:3 duncan]:
I don't know much about frameworks, could someone tell me:
Briefly: A framework is a directory ending in `.framework` which stores the header and object files associated with a library. Saying `"-framework GNUreadline"` is like saying `"-lreadline"`. Saying `"-F$HOME/Library/Frameworks"` is like saying `"-I$HOME/includes -L$HOME/lib"` .
1. How are framework paths supposed to be found generally? 1. Are their locations fixed or do their location vary from one machine to the next?
The frameworks themselves are found automatically by `gcc` and `ld`, as long as they're stored in either `/System/Library/Frameworks` (for Apple's use only) or `/Library/Frameworks` (for user-installed frameworks). Sometimes they are stored in other standard locations: - $HOME/Library/Frameworks (if you don't have administrator access) - /Network/Library/Frameworks (if the framework should be shared by several users on a network) The problem is that the compiler and linker don't search those folders by default (although the runtime dynamic loader does). So calling `gcc` with `-F$HOME/Library/Frameworks` tells it to search that folder for any required frameworks. Another reason to use a nonstandard location is testing a build against a new version of a framework.
1. Are frameworks versioned? Yes, and you can distribute one framework which contains multiple versions. The technical details are at http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPFrameworks/Conc...
1. Can we find frameworks at configure time rather than failing at link time? If framework paths vary from one machine to another then putting "framework-dirs:" in the .cabal file would not make a lot of sense. If they cannot be found automatically and require extra information from the user then perhaps it should be a configure option.
As I said above, the `-F` flag is the equivalent of the `-I` and `-L` flags. So I think that `framework-dirs` should be in the `cabal` file just like `include-dirs` and `extra-lib-dirs` are. -Judah -- Ticket URL: http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/189#comment:4 Hackage http://haskell.org/cabal/ Hackage: Cabal and related projects