I decided this could usefully be a feature, rather than a bug: https://mail.haskell.org/pipermail/hugs-bugs/2022-September/001929.html So I meshed it with work-in-progress on overlaps; and on allowing instances inconsistent with FunDeps providing an overlap is strictly more specific; and in looking to FunDep's determining positions only for detecting overlap. So this now is accepted (`trexRemv` returns its first argument, removing any fields whose labels are common with its second arg):

import Hugs.Trex

class TrexRemv r1 r2 rr | r1 r2 -> rr where trexRemv :: Rec r1 -> Rec r2 -> Rec rr

instance TrexRemv EmptyRow r2 EmptyRow where trexRemv _empty _r2 = emptyRec

instance (r1'\x, r2'\x, TrexRemv r1' ( x :: _b | r2') rr', rr'\x ) => TrexRemv ( x :: a | r1') ( x :: _b | r2') rr' where trexRemv ( x = x | r1') r2 = trexRemv r1' r2

instance (r1'\x, r2\x, TrexRemv r1' r2 rr', rr'\x ) => TrexRemv ( x :: a | r1') r2 ( x :: a | rr' ) where trexRemv ( x = x | r1') r2 = ( x = x | trexRemv r1' r2 )

instance (r1'\y, r2'\y, TrexRemv r1' ( y :: _b | r2') rr', rr'\y ) => TrexRemv ( y :: a | r1') ( y :: _b | r2') rr' where trexRemv ( y = y | r1') r2 = trexRemv r1' r2

instance (r1'\y, r2\y, TrexRemv r1' r2 rr', rr'\y ) => TrexRemv ( y :: a | r1') r2 ( y :: a | rr' ) where trexRemv ( y = y | r1') r2 = ( y = y | trexRemv r1' r2 )

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it's Trex where records are considered isomorphic up to permutation of

labels;

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and because each instance has an `EqRecRow b` constraint for the rest of

For each specific label, the instance heads overall are in no substitution ordering -- because the label appears in the result just in case it _doesn't_ appear in the second arg. The new rule is to consider only the argument (first two) positions. For each distinct label, the heads unify: the common instance has both labels. The new rule is that if heads differ in having distinct labels in corresponding positions, treat them as apart. (Or equivalently treat them as overlapping in strict alphabetic order of labels. So you can write instances in any sequence; they'll get loaded to alpha seq.) As I said in that maybe-bug report the row;

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it doesn't matter how Hugs resolves the wanted to the instances

[s/EqRecRow/TrexRemv/] Similar to `remv` there's classes for `proj`(ect) and `app`(end) of rows with distinct labels, needing these overlap rules. So along with the Trex syntax for rows, I now have an expressively complete set of operations. Nice-to-have would be generating these instances on-the-fly -- as Hugs does for `Eq, Show`. That looks hard. AntC