I just tried to install the cabal-install tool (version 0.6.0) (see http://www.haskell.org/cabal/download.html) on Windows XP, Service Pack 2, but when I followed the instructions on the download page and downloaded cabal-install-0.6.0.tar.gz, the gunzipped untarred cabal-install-0.6.0 directory did not include cabal.exe. Further, according to the bundled README file:

Quickstart on Windows systems -----------------------------

For Windows users we hope to provide a pre-compiled `cabal.exe` program shortly. In the mean time you have to build the three dependencies in [the standard way].

[the standard way]: http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Cabal/How_to_install_a_Cabal_package

Running the bundled bootstrap.sh file in Cygwin resulted in an installation error. However, when I then visited the above-mentioned HaskellWiki page, I discovered that cabal.exe, in fact, already existed:

... Windows users can download a binary (cabal.exe) from here.

("Here" currently references http://haskell.org/~duncan/cabal/.) Apparently, this cabal.exe file is in fact the complete cabal-install tool (version 0.6.0) itself: (After adding the cabal.exe installation directory to the path:)

C:\Documents and Settings\Benjamin>cabal --version cabal-install version 0.6.0 using version 1.6.0.1 of the Cabal library

To facilitate installation for Windows users, perhaps cabal.exe should be bundled with cabal-install-0.6.0.tar.gz, and the README file updated? -- Benjamin L. Russell -- Benjamin L. Russell / DekuDekuplex at Yahoo dot com http://dekudekuplex.wordpress.com/ Translator/Interpreter / Mobile: +011 81 80-3603-6725 "Furuike ya, kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto." -- Matsuo Basho^