On Sunday 17 June 2007 08:26:45 Michael T. Richter wrote:
I'm trying to build Yi (from the darcs repository) to take a look at it. The README that comes with it says "it's a standard Cabal project so do what you normally do" (paraphrased slightly).
GNU autotools comes with a standard boilerplate INSTALL file to include with your projects. There is some command you run in the process of autoconfiscation that inserts it automatically. Maybe there should be a standard boilerplate INSTALL file to be included with Cabal packages. Yesterday, I wrote and uploaded a simple Cabal package called csv (mostly as an exercise, since it's only a screenful of code, really, but it is actually a somewhat useful library because it saves you the trouble of reading an RFC). I included the following INSTALL file:
To install the package, use the standard Cabal incantations:
runhaskell Setup.hs configure runhaskell Setup.hs build runhaskell Setup.hs install
If you want to install into a nonstandard directory, do
runhaskell Setup.hs configure --prefix /bla/di/bla
If you want documentation, try
runhaskell Setup.hs haddock
I think that simply adding those instructions would probably lower the hurdle a bit. Maybe the Cabal could look into automatically inserting an instructions file like that if it doesn't exist yet. Another idea for making things more accessible is to include a shell script called configure and a Makefile called Makefile, both of which just print the above instructions when executed. /jaap