I am currently trying to create a Haskell interface to a C++ library and cannot get it to work completely. The problem seems to be that the linker must be able to find the code for basic C++ constructs like new and throw. Apparently it is able to do so when compiling an executable, but when I try to do the same with ghci it fails. Anybody have an idea why this happens and what to do about it?

I don't know the gory details, but it might be that we would have to link GHCi with the C++ linker for this to work. Would anyone with a clue about C++ linking like to comment?

The feature to install local packages is currently a bit awkward. I would like to be able to simply use a local package the same way I use a normal package, and my first try was to set the package-conf file in my .ghci file. But this doesn't work very well for two reasons: (1) it only works for the interpreter, but not for the compiler (2) it isn't read until *after* the command line is read, so any packages given there is not recognized. Is it possible to have a common (.ghc) file that is used for both the compiler and the interpreter, and that is read *before* the command line is interpreted?

Hmm, I must admit I'm a bit averse to adding features like this unless they are really necessary. One problem is that when someone submits a bug report, we'll have to start asking "do you have a .ghc file? what does it contain?". The current situation has the advantage of being simple. Can't you just alias ghc to 'ghc -package-conf ...'? Cheers, Simon