#12042: Infinite loop with type synonyms and hs-boot -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Reporter: ezyang | Owner: Type: bug | Status: new Priority: low | Milestone: Component: Compiler | Version: 8.1 (Type checker) | Keywords: hs-boot | Operating System: Unknown/Multiple backpack | Architecture: | Type of failure: None/Unknown Unknown/Multiple | Test Case: | Blocked By: Blocking: | Related Tickets: Differential Rev(s): | Wiki Page: -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- This is a "known" bug, but the source code comment which mentioned this could happen didn't give a test case so I thought I'd supply one. {{{ -- A.hs-boot module A where data S type R = S -- B.hs module B (module A, module B) where import {-# SOURCE #-} A type U = S -- A.hs module A where import qualified B type S = B.R type R = B.U }}} When I try to build `A.hs` in one-shot I infinite loop: {{{ ezyang@sabre:~$ ghc-8.0 --make A.hs -fforce-recomp [1 of 3] Compiling A[boot] ( A.hs-boot, A.o-boot ) [2 of 3] Compiling B ( B.hs, B.o ) [3 of 3] Compiling A ( A.hs, A.o ) A.hs-boot:2:1: error: Type constructor ‘S’ has conflicting definitions in the module and its hs-boot file Main module: type S = R Boot file: abstract S ezyang@sabre:~$ ghc-8.0 -c A.hs -fforce-recomp ^C }}} The problem is that `-c` properly knot ties `data S` in the boot file to the local type synonym (`--make` is unaffected due to #12035), and then we have a type synonym loop which GHC doesn't catch early enough. `TcTyDecls.hs` has a nice comment which suggests that this is a known bug: {{{ Checking for class-decl loops is easy, because we don't allow class decls in interface files. We allow type synonyms in hi-boot files, but we *trust* hi-boot files, so we don't check for loops that involve them. So we only look for synonym loops in the module being compiled. We check for type synonym and class cycles on the *source* code. Main reasons: a) Otherwise we'd need a special function to extract type-synonym tycons from a type, whereas we already have the free vars pinned on the decl b) If we checked for type synonym loops after building the TyCon, we can't do a hoistForAllTys on the type synonym rhs, (else we fall into a black hole) which seems unclean. Apart from anything else, it'd mean that a type-synonym rhs could have for-alls to the right of an arrow, which means adding new cases to the validity checker Indeed, in general, checking for cycles beforehand means we need to be less careful about black holes through synonym cycles. The main disadvantage is that a cycle that goes via a type synonym in an .hi-boot file can lead the compiler into a loop, because it assumes that cycles only occur entirely within the source code of the module being compiled. But hi-boot files are trusted anyway, so this isn't much worse than (say) a kind error. }}} although the circumstances in this example are a little different. I take this bug as evidence that we should NOT attempt to knot-tie in this situation. -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/12042 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler