[GHC] #15868: Standard deriving should be less conservative when `UndecidableInstances` is enabled

7 Nov 2018

      #15868: Standard deriving should be less conservative when `UndecidableInstances`
is enabled
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
           Reporter:  edsko          |             Owner:  (none)
               Type:  feature        |            Status:  new
  request                            |
           Priority:  normal         |         Milestone:
          Component:  Compiler       |           Version:  8.6.1
           Keywords:                 |  Operating System:  Unknown/Multiple
       Architecture:                 |   Type of failure:  None/Unknown
  Unknown/Multiple                   |
          Test Case:                 |        Blocked By:
           Blocking:                 |   Related Tickets:
Differential Rev(s):                 |         Wiki Page:
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 The following program

 {{{#!hs
 {-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts     #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances    #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE StandaloneDeriving   #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies         #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE UndecidableInstances #-}

 module Exp where

 type family F a

 data T a = MkT (F a)

 deriving instance Eq (F a) => Eq (T a)

 data T2 a = T2 (T a)
   deriving (Eq)
 }}}

 results in a type error

 {{{
     • No instance for (Eq (F a))
         arising from the first field of ‘T2’ (type ‘T a’)
 }}}

 According the manual this is expected behaviour
 (https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/latest/docs/html/users_guide/glasgow_exts...
 #inferred-context-for-deriving-clauses), but it is unfortunate; it seems
 to me that there is no deep reason that this instance should be rejected,
 other than an overly conservative check in the deriving machinery; I
 propose that this check is relaxed when the `UndecidableInstances`
 extension is enabled. Mind that I'm ''not'' proposing that it should also
 be able to infer the right constraints for `T` itself; but once I write
 such an explicit context myself once (for `T`), it seems to me that
 deriving the ''same'' constraints also for `T2` should be easy.

 Note that right now we can work-around this problem using

 {{{#!hs
 class Eq (F a) => EqF a

 deriving instance EqF a => Eq (T a)

 data T2 a = T2 (T a)
   deriving (Eq)
 }}}

 Normally however for such a class synonym we would then provide a single
 "authoritative" instance:

 {{{#!hs
 class Eq (F a) => EqF a
 instance Eq (F a) => EqF a
 }}}

 but if we do that then we are back at the same error for `T2`, because ghc
 will go from the `EqF a` constraint to the `Eq (F a)` constraint, and then
 refuse to add that constraint.

-- 
Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/15868
GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
The Glasgow Haskell Compiler