Malcolm Wallace wrote:

[...] there was considerable sympathy for using new names for the C-finaliser-only functions, preferably incorporating the word "unsafe" [...]

I'd really prefer that, too. Simon Marlow wrote:

GHC 5.04.2 won't adopt any library changes, as it's only a patchlevel release (we don't make API changes between patchlevels, only major releases).

That's what I expected. Would it be possible to include the new functions in 5.04.2? OK, that's an API change, too, but simple additions are rather harmless. If we don't include this stuff now, there is no useful common ForeignObj API for GHC/Hugs/NHC in the near future.

[...] Also still unresolved is what to do about atomicModifyIORef and friends, BTW.

I remember atomicModifyIORef, but what are its "friends" exactly? PVars have died, IIRC, and some cunning constraints on the execution order of finalizers were rejected, too. Cheers, S.