Keean Schupke writes:

I find that debian/gentoo etc do not have all the packages available for say perl, and it is nice to have a consistant interface on any platform...

In such cases I think it's better to provide a way to make native packages. E.g. if you want to install some obscure perl module under gentoo, you can just type in g-cpan.pl Some::Obscure::Module, and after a few minutes a bunch of proper native packages will have been installed. The best thing about g-cpan.pl is that it uses existing packages if possible. So if e.g. dev-perl/LibXML has been patched to work with gcc-3.4 and the package you want to install depends on LibXML, you couldn't install it using CPAN but you could using g-cpan.pl. Gabriel.

Keean Schupke wrote:

But I see what you are saying too, a program to convert a cabal-package into say an ebuild for gentoo.

And a what for Windows? and MacOS X? and Sun Solaris? and ... ;-) -- Daan.

But of course writing a generic Haskell installer (for Hackage/Cabal) may well turn out to be simpler - and would be more useful to more people, and has the advantage that only one set of installation instructions are required as well. If I were to write it I would do it as a pure Haskell thing, then it doesn't need to be ported to each different distribution. Of course people are free to write distro versions as well. I don't think there need only be one way of doing things... Regards, Keean Gabriel Ebner wrote:

g-cpan.pl just generates multiple ebuilds. g-cabal/cabal

emerge/... could do the same.

Keean Schupke wrote:

Simon Marlow wrote:

...

If you're on a system with a good package manager (i.e. *BSD, Debian, Gentoo) then the plan is that this is all handled by the system package manager. We don't want to duplicate that work, and we want to coexist with the system's package tools as much as possible. Cabal will make it easy to generate package skeletons for these systems.

Hi all, I just wanted to say that I do agree with Keean here: A *simple* install manager for Haskell modules with a central repository would be great! Having said that, there are strong reasons for not doing this. The most important one is that a good package manager is not trivial and there already exist good package manager for many systems. Still, for 90% of all potential Haskell libraries, we can get away with a fraction of the effort of building a real package manager. This can really work, as long as we stick with a *simple* solution that is clearly described and whose limits are well defined. If someone requests something beyond the limits, we redirect to the OS package manager. With a clear and simple design, an implementation should not require too much effort or resources. (Actually, as I said before, a clear design with well defined limits is probably essential or otherwise the implementor will never be done :-) Now, I do not propose to do this myself :-), but I surely think that if there is anyone interested on this list on doing this, it would make a great project. I really feel that a simple installation system for Haskell would help to move the language forward. All the best, Daan.

...

I find that even on package managed systems I use CPAN to install perl modules... I would have thought a nice central repository on haskell.org (with mirrors of course) where users can contibute their packages, that would be built into a Haskell package tool would be useful even for systems where there is package management.

I find that debian/gentoo etc do not have all the packages available for say perl, and it is nice to have a consistant interface on any platform...

I think the ability to do (something like)

...

cabal install <package-name>

and have everything done automatically would be a real advantage for beginners, ie:

- download mirror list from haskell.org - find closest mirror using DNS tld - download package - resolve dependancies (ie call "cabal install" for each required package not on the system) - configure package - compile package - install package (globally if root, locally if normal user)

also the ability to do queries like:

...

cabal list-packages -- lists all packages available from central archive

...

cabal find someRandomFunction -- returns name of package which exports given function

To do some of the cleverer queries would require a custom server (perhaps darcs can do some/all of this)...

Keean. _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries