Note: this post is available (with full hyperlinks) at
https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/blog/weekly20141024

 - This past week, a discussion sort of organically started on the
`#ghc` IRC channel about the future of the LLVM backend. GHC's backend
is buggy, has no control over LLVM versions, and breaks frequently
with new versions. This all significantly impacts users, and relegates
the backend to a second class citizen. After some discussion, Austin
wrote up a proposal for a improved backend, and wrangled several other
people to help. The current plan is to try an execute this by GHC
7.12, with the goal of making the LLVM backend Tier 1 for major
supported platforms.