Hi there.
Ok, let's start with a possible API to the library I think you're asking for:
loadLibrary :: FilePath -> IO ()
"loadLibrary" is probably not a good choice as there is a Win32 function "LoadLibrary" which deals specifically with DLL's as opposed to object files which is the kind of file (or modifications thereof) that I understand this thread to be about. .....
Summary: extending GHC's dynamic linker to be able to slurp in the symbol table from the currently running binary would be useful, and is a good bite-sized GHC hacker task. I can't guarantee that we'll get around to it in a timely fashion, but contributions are, as always, entirely welcome...
By way of reference: I have been working recently on the Mingw32 version of Gnu Common Lisp which has a cross platform system of dynamically compiling and loading object modules (ie the Common Lisp "compile-file" and "compile" functions). There are two alternative pathways for this at present: 1. The old way (which I believe originally came from GNU Emacs) - During the early stages of building the GCL system, a program called "rsym" is run on the execuatable to produce a list of symbols and addresses. These data are then loaded into an appropriate data structure in the running system and the image is saved again. When "compile" is called on a function it is compiled to C, that C is in turn compiled to an object file by the local C compiler and then certain symbolic information needed by GCL is literally appended to the object file without further ado. Specially written linking code slurps up the modified object file and links it into the running GCL system. This works on a number of platforms. 2. The BFD way - Similar stuff is done but via the BFD library. This works on many Debian platforms (about 16 I believe) including 64 bits and non-intel architectures. The code is generic. It does not work on Windows as the BFD library seems to be missing functionality in that area. I believe that SGI might also be a problem too. We hope to make this the standard way of dynamically linking object files but I am caught by my own lack of interest in and ignorance of how BFD works. The source code (horrific stuff from many years of uncontrolled but undoubtedly clever hackery) is available from CVS at: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gcl/ I can refer you to the appropriate bits if you are interested. Naturally it is all GNU copylefted and therefore incompatible with GHC, but it could be used as a road map by interested parties. Cheers Mike Thomas.