Colin Paul Adams wrote:

Achim> uh... because you're a mere user and don't have the rights Achim> to do so?

No, I own the machine.

Well, but it neither knows nor cares, unless you log in as root. "colin" isn't allowed to write to /usr/local/lib/ghc-6.11.20090319/ . root's and colin's home directories are distinct, as well, that's why both need to do cabal update to install stuff: Users can't read root (or any other user's) home directories; root could read colin's home directory, but musn't trust any data in it, as colin could use that trust to weasel root access.

I can't. It doesn't provide up-to-date ghc and things.

<insert snappy switch-to-gentoo comment here>

Achim> programs with your user account, inside your home Achim> directory, is perfectly acceptable (and traditional) under Achim> unix.

But it means I have to install everyhting twice - once as --user, once as --global.

No, you don't, the database ghc uses to compile stuff is a union of both databases, user installs overriding global installs. Assuming that you're the machine's only user, you only ever need to install stuff as that user: ksf@solaris ~ % ghc-pkg list /usr/lib64/ghc-6.10.1/./package.conf: Cabal-1.6.0.1, HTTP-3001.1.4, QuickCheck-1.2.0.0, QuickCheck-2.1.0.1, X11-1.4.4, X11-xft-0.3, array-0.2.0.0, base-3.0.3.0, base-4.0.0.0, binary-0.4.4, bytestring-0.9.1.4, cairo-0.10.0, containers-0.2.0.0, directory-1.0.0.2, editline-0.2.1.0, filepath-1.1.0.0, filepath-1.1.0.1, gconf-0.10.0, (ghc-6.10.1), ghc-paths-0.1.0.5, ghc-prim-0.1.0.0, glade-0.10.0, glib-0.10.0, gtk-0.10.0, gtkglext-0.10.0, gtksourceview2-0.10.0, haddock-2.4.1, haskell-src-1.0.1.3, haskell98-1.0.1.0, hpc-0.5.0.2, html-1.0.1.2, integer-0.1.0.0, mozembed-0.10.0, mtl-1.1.0.2, network-2.2.0.1, old-locale-1.0.0.1, old-time-1.0.0.1, packedstring-0.1.0.1, parsec-3.0.0, pretty-1.0.1.0, process-1.0.1.0, random-1.0.0.1, readline-1.0.1.0, regex-base-0.93.1, regex-compat-0.92, regex-posix-0.93.2, rts-1.0, soegtk-0.10.0, stm-2.1.1.2, svgcairo-0.10.0, syb-0.1.0.0, template-haskell-2.3.0.0, unix-2.3.1.0, utf8-string-0.3.3, zlib-0.5.0.0 /home/ksf/.ghc/x86_64-linux-6.10.1/package.conf: MemoTrie-0.4.3, bytestring-mmap-0.2.0, bytestring-trie-0.1.4, extensible-exceptions-0.1.1.0, ipprint-0.3, iteratee-0.1.1, mmap-0.2, regex-posix-0.72.0.3 I basically did emerge cabal-install to bootstrap my installation, then emerge gtk2hs as it's not available via hackage. Then, I install what I need to hack as user using cabal install. (I recently nuked my ~/.cabal and ~/.ghc, that's why the user database is that small). Installing ghc as user works equally well. -- (c) this sig last receiving data processing entity. Inspect headers for copyright history. All rights reserved. Copying, hiring, renting, performance and/or quoting of this signature prohibited.

Colin Paul Adams wrote:

So why doesn't it find packages then, when they are installed?

I've got no idea, what exactly are you trying to do, and how? -- (c) this sig last receiving data processing entity. Inspect headers for copyright history. All rights reserved. Copying, hiring, renting, performance and/or quoting of this signature prohibited.

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 12:51 PM, Colin Paul Adams wrote:

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"Achim" == Achim Schneider writes:

   Achim> Colin Paul Adams wrote:    >> So why doesn't it find packages then, when they are installed?    >>    Achim> I've got no idea, what exactly are you trying to do, and    Achim> how?

I'm trying to re-compile ghc 6.11 and it doesn't find parsec.

when cabal is invoked by root, like in su -c "cabal ..." or su -c "runghc Setup ...", it won't see the user packagedb, but there's rarely a reason to do so. Usually only the install phase needs to be done as root, while building and configuring can be done as user. For ghc you'd want to run ./configure and make as user and make install as root. For normal packages, if you want to install them system wide, you'd use something like cabal install --global --root-cmd=sudo foo You can make those flags the default with user-install: False root-cmd: sudo in ~/.cabal/config If you still have problems it'd be interesting to see what are the initial commands that were failing in your attemt to build ghc-6.11.

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"Andrea" == Andrea Vezzosi writes:

Andrea> On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 12:51 PM, Colin Paul Adams Andrea> wrote: >>>>>>> "Achim" == Achim Schneider writes: >> >>    Achim> Colin Paul Adams wrote: >>    >> So why doesn't it find packages then, when they are >> installed?    >>    Achim> I've got no idea, what exactly are >> you trying to do, and    Achim> how? >> >> I'm trying to re-compile ghc 6.11 and it doesn't find parsec. Andrea> when cabal is invoked by root, like in su -c "cabal ..." Andrea> or su -c "runghc Setup ...", it won't see the user Andrea> packagedb, but there's rarely a reason to do so. Usually Andrea> only the install phase needs to be done as root, while Andrea> building and configuring can be done as user. For ghc Andrea> you'd want to run ./configure and make as user and make Andrea> install as root. For normal packages, if you want to Andrea> install them system wide, you'd use something like cabal Andrea> install --global --root-cmd=sudo foo OK. I did: cabal install parsec --global --root-cmd=sudo and now when I try to make ghc I get: verify/SimplIface.lhs:16:7: Could not find module `Text.ParserCombinators.Parsec.Language': it is a member of the hidden package `parsec-2.1.0.1' Use -v to see a list of the files searched for. so I've managed to get parsec installed. Now I think I have to add it to a .cabal file somewhere. verify is a directory I added as a sub-directory of compiler, so i tried adding the following line to compiler/ghc.cabal: Build-Depends: parsec >= 2 && < 3 but it made no difference. -- Colin Adams Preston Lancashire

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"Duncan" == Duncan Coutts writes:

Duncan> On Sun, 2009-03-22 at 11:51 +0000, Colin Paul Adams wrote: >> >>>>> "Achim" == Achim Schneider writes: >> Achim> Colin Paul Adams wrote:

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So why doesn't it find packages then, when they are installed? >> >> Achim> I've got no idea, what exactly are you trying to do, and Achim> how? >> >> I'm trying to re-compile ghc 6.11 and it doesn't find parsec.

Duncan> The ghc build system is fairly self contained. I'm not Duncan> sure if it cares if your bootstrapping compiler has parsec Duncan> or not. If the ghc build system is looking for the parsec Duncan> modules then I very much doubt it is going to be looking Duncan> in any parsec package that your bootstrapping compiler Duncan> might have registered (either globally or per-user). It'll Duncan> be looking for the sources that it comes bundled with. Duncan> A quick look in my ghc source tree reveals: Duncan> ghc/utils/ext-core/Language/Core/ParsecParser.hs Duncan> ghc/libraries/parsec/Text/ParserCombinators/Parsec.hs Duncan> The first one, utils/ext-core is importing parsec. Is that Duncan> what you're trying to build? The parsec package is an No. I assumed that would be built anyway. Duncan> extralib so wouldn't be present unless you did ./darcs-all Duncan> --extra get Duncan> If you can't get the ghc build going try asking on the ghc Duncan> users mailing list. Give as much detail as you can about Duncan> what you did so people can give you more helpful advice. -- Colin Adams Preston Lancashire