Roman Cheplyaka-2 wrote
It solves a problem few people seem to have.
Most people want a compiler (ghc), a package manager (cabal), and libraries they can install (hackage/stackage).
Instead, they are being sold HP which has its own versioning, releases on its own irregular schedule, and brings a small arbitrary set of packages frozen at an arbitrary point in time. These packages often interfere with users' desire to install their own packages.
+100 I've avoided HP for just these reasons, only using it on Windows for the installer, and will probably use MinGHC for future installs. The platform's primary goal was to mimic the comprehensive standard libraries shipped with other languages (aka batteries included). This seemed like a good idea at the time, but a fundamental difference between picking "approved" libraries off hackage and "real" standard libraries has made it unusable for real work. New versions of Python's batteries are released with a new version of the interpreter (i.e. the Python platform). New releases of the Java standard libraries are released with new versions of the JDK. New releases of the .NET framework are tied to a new version of the .NET platform. New libraries are uploaded to Hackage whenever the authors feel like it, with whatever dependencies they want. While HP was trying to treat a blessed, very small subset of Hackage (at specific versions) as if it was part of a co-ordinated GHC platform release, Microsoft have been moving in the opposite direction, moving non-essential .NET libraries into out-of-band NuGet packages. In summary, we should stop making installers that fossilize a handful of packages into the global package database, and concentrate on how we can help users identify the best packages for what they want to do. (Task-oriented wiki pages and adding reviews to Hackage may help here.) If we want to help them avoid cabal-hell, this is a problem better solved by sandboxes and/or Stackage. -- View this message in context: http://haskell.1045720.n5.nabble.com/wither-the-Platform-tp5767291p5767530.h... Sent from the Haskell - Libraries mailing list archive at Nabble.com.