On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 1:58 AM, Jason Dagit
2) Compile GHC yourself. You can even compile and install GHC (and most Haskell software) on a dedicated user account. In this way you avoid messing up you Debian installation if something goes wrong.
I find with Debian this is the way to go. Install your system and use Debian's packages for everything, and then install your own copy of anything for which you care what version you're running.
Not everyone will like this option, but I find it's a decent balance between using what Debian provides and getting the satisfaction of using the versions of things I care about.
I've always used the version of ghc that comes with debian. Part of creating decent software is making sure that it compiles with a stable non-bleeding-edge compiler that is readily available to users. But that's probably because I'm lazy, and would rather write software that just works than play with the latest bells and whistles. I have had to compile ghc myself on a few occasions to help the ghc folks track down compiler bugs (i.e. to check behavior under a different compiler), but for normal use, I would say the sane thing is to stick with the debian version of ghc. David