JustHub 'Sherkin' Release ==================== I am pleased to announce the Sherkin release of the JustHub distribution of Haskell for Enterprise Linux and the release of the Hub source code on which the distribution is based to Hackage and GitHub. The JustHub distribution is distinctive in providing a comprehensive back-catalogue of GHC tool chains (back to 6.10.4) and major Haskell Platform releases (currently back to 2011.2.0.1) as well as the timely appearance of leading edge GHC releases (such as GHC 7.4.2) in addition to the Haskell Platform de jour (2012.2.0.0), all of which can be deployed simultaneously on the same system. Previous releases of the distribution have been confined to Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 5 and 6 (and of course CentOS and Scientific Linux); this release expands this coverage to Fedora Linux 16 and 17, which can deployed along side or integrated into Fedora Linux's excellent native Haskell distribution. The JustHub distribution is based on the Hub system for sandbox development that allows each work tree to work in its own sandboxed environment with a specific tool chain and a private user-package database. All of the standard Haskell tools inter-operate cleanly and transparently with the sandboxes and operate in the normal way outside of them. Sandboxed environments (hubs) can be shared between work trees as well as being (re)named, annotated, replicated, swapped, archived, locked and removed. Proper package deletion with the option of garbage collecting orphaned code and documentation is also supported. If anyone would like to incorporate the hub system into a Haskell distribution or port it to a non-Posix system then they are very welcome to contact me (though be warned: time is tight just now). Note that while the distro has had plenty of serious usage (funnily enough it is popular with build-bot admins) it has also been recently extended and revised the software remains in beta testing for now. For news, documentation, articles, download and installation instructions, links to the repositories and trackers etc., see http://justhub.org. Chris Dornan
Chris Dornan wrote:
The JustHub distribution is distinctive in providing a comprehensive back-catalogue of GHC tool chains (back to 6.10.4) and major Haskell Platform releases (currently back to 2011.2.0.1) as well as the timely appearance of leading edge GHC releases (such as GHC 7.4.2) in addition to the Haskell Platform de jour (2012.2.0.0), all of which can be deployed simultaneously on the same system.
it might be of interest to know that the Nix package manager [1] offers that functionality too, but it can install such Haskell environments on all Linux variants and on MacOS X without requiring superuser privileges. BSD Unices probably work as well, but aren't tested as much as Linux/Darwin platforms, because there seems to be little demand for those. Take care, Peter [1] http://nixos.org/
On 14/06/12 18:36, Peter Simons wrote:
it might be of interest to know that the Nix package manager [1] offers that functionality too, but it can install such Haskell environments on all Linux variants and on MacOS X without requiring superuser privileges.
Is this actually the case? When I tried this a year or so ago I had lots of problems with Redhat Enterprise Linux 5, due to issues with it's quite old libc and kernel in that distribution. Most of the documentation at the nix website seems to relate to the nixos distribution, rather than using the nix packages on other, mainstream distributions. I'd love it if there we clear instructions on getting nix+packages up and running on RHEL. Tim
Hi Tim.
Nix can install such Haskell environments on all Linux variants and on MacOS X without requiring superuser privileges.
Is this actually the case?
Yes.
When I tried this a year or so ago I had lots of problems with Redhat Enterprise Linux 5, due to issues with it's quite old libc and kernel in that distribution.
CentOS used to ship patched kernels that break modern versions of glibc. I'm not sure whether that problem still exists today, but if it does, then it can be worked around by having Nix build things with an sufficiently old glibc. I used to do that for quite a while, but fortunately I got rid of these ancient installations, so I haven't tried it recently. Anyway, if you're having trouble using Nix, you're welcome to contact me by e-mail (or the nix developers mailing list). Maybe we can sort these problems out. Take care, Peter
it might be of interest to know that the Nix package manager [1] offers that functionality too
I am sorry if I gave the impression that JustHub was unique in adopting a functional philosophy to distributing Haskell -- obviously it is not and that was poor phrasing on my part. The key feature is the way it integrates the multiple tool chains into a single virtual tool chain with a sandboxing mechanism provided by the hub hackage. I think the Nix distribution might be a natural fit for 'hub' integration -- I would be happy to work with the Nix people on that (though it can't be right now). Chris
Hi Chris.
The key feature is the way it integrates the multiple tool chains into a single virtual tool chain with a sandboxing mechanism provided by the hub hackage.
I think the Nix distribution might be a natural fit for 'hub' integration -- I would be happy to work with the Nix people on that (though it can't be right now).
If this adds anything in terms of functionality that Nix doesn't already provide, then I would be interested to know. From having a quick look at your announcements, it's not quite clear though if it does. Cheers, Andres
Hi Anders,
If this adds anything in terms of functionality that Nix doesn't already provide, then I would be interested to know. From having a quick look at your announcements, it's not quite clear though if it does.
I disagree Anders, but this is not the place to discuss it. I will reply properly on haskell-café. Chris
participants (4)
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Andres Löh -
Chris Dornan -
Peter Simons -
Tim Docker