(followups to libraries@haskell.org) Hail Haskellers! A commonly-identified obstacle to the spread of Haskell libraries is that there is no standard way a) for authors to package a library or other tool for distribution to others b) for customers to install such a package Platforms vary. Haskell compilers vary. Packages have dependencies. Etc. Isaac Jones has coordinated an effort to address this problem. We've had a lot of discussion between him and (at least some of) the folk involved in the GHC, Hugs, and nhc implementations. This discussion has led to a new concrete proposed specification[1]. Here it is: http://www.haskell.org/libraryInfrastructure/proposal See also the project home page: http://www.haskell.org/libraryInfrastructure/ We would welcome your feedback, either as a potential library or tool author, or as a potential consumer, or both. The specification isn't complete in every detail, but it seems better to post it before investing in details that may be rendered void by subsequent discussion. We hope this will be an important spec, and will be with us for a long time. So now's the time to look at it. Send feedback to libraries@haskell.org. (You can subscribe to this list at: http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries .) Sincerely, Isaac Jones, Simon Marlow, Ross Paterson, Malcolm Wallace, Simon Peyton Jones [1] This specification differs from the previous proposal both in technical details, and in that it is the combined efforts of the undersigned. Those familiar with the previous proposal will not find large high-level differences, but some details have been made more concrete and some details have changed.