I don't really understand getContents. (Does anyone?) I have some code here (far too large to submit). If I do (on Linux, ghc4.08.1, both with and without optimisation) ------------------ contents <- hGetContents handle seq (last contents) (hClose handle) ------------------ the code works. However I looked at the manual and it seems that hClose should force the whole of contents to be read anyway. So I changed it to ------------------ contents <- hGetContents handle hClose handle ------------------ and then the code doesn't work. If these are meant to be the same, then we have a GHC bug. If not, could someone explain in words of one syllable why not?

PS - if you want the source code you'll have to download and compile the whole of UniForM!!

Using hClose on a semi-closed handle is a Bad Thing. The Haskell Report says: "Once a semi-closed handle becomes closed, the contents of the associated stream becomes fixed, and is the list of those items which were succesfully read from that handle". So I take this to mean that when you hClose a semi-closed handle, you get a random amount of data in the handle which depends on how good your compiler's strictness analyser is. yesno? Cheers, Simon