#543: ghc global package db should live in /var not /usr ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Reporter: nr | Owner: Type: defect | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Component: Cabal library | Version: 1.6.0.1 Severity: normal | Keywords: Difficulty: unknown | Ghcversion: 6.8.2 Platform: Linux | ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Comment(by Syzygies): The real problem is accepting the dubious, ancient custom of scattering an installation across multiple bin, lib, share, doc directories rather than localizing everything in say /usr/local/ghc-7.0.4a. Giving the installing user write permission for this directory avoids the need for root permissions, and can insure that the install actually takes place exclusively within this directory. I'm baffled how others do side-by-side installs of different versions of GHC without following such a scheme. I'm opposed to this /var proposal. The convention of spraying files across hell and high water is what's broken, and we should do nothing to make matters worse. Adding /var to the spray list would be making matters worse. A number of modern projects similar to GHC default to localized installs in the style of /usr/local/ghc-7.0.4a; we should do the same. GHC is important enough to warrant a separate PATH entry, or aliases in /usr/local/bin. "This is one reason we do per-user installs by default." Cabal should check for a global config file parallel to `which ghc` according to the current path, defaulting to global installs and ignoring ~/.cabal/config if possible. The existence of ~/.cabal/config is like a global variable, and interferes with multiple side-by-side installations of GHC. -- Ticket URL: http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/543#comment:3 Hackage http://haskell.org/cabal/ Hackage: Cabal and related projects