Haskell Platform web page could be more informative
Since the Haskell Platform is (or will become) the recommended way to
install Haskell for inexperienced users, I am concerned about how
difficult it is to find information about the Platform from its
primary web page at http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/.
For example, it's not obvious how a non-expert user would find answers
to these questions:
1. Where should I send questions about the Haskell Platform? The only
contact information provided is the bug tracker.
2. When was the last release of the Haskell Platform? A new user,
seeing the version number 2009.2.0.2, is more likely to think
"February" than "August".
3. When is the next release of the Haskell Platform?
4. How often are releases scheduled?
5. What is new in the current release?
6. What will be included in the next release? If that isn't known yet,
when will it be known?
7. Are there any outstanding issues I should know about? (For example,
do I need to manually edit /usr/bin/ghc after installation on any
particular platforms?)
Note: I am not looking for answers to these questions (except maybe 3
and 5). My concern is that this information is not readily available.
--
Dave Menendez
dave:
Since the Haskell Platform is (or will become) the recommended way to install Haskell for inexperienced users, I am concerned about how difficult it is to find information about the Platform from its primary web page at http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/.
For example, it's not obvious how a non-expert user would find answers to these questions:
1. Where should I send questions about the Haskell Platform? The only contact information provided is the bug tracker.
2. When was the last release of the Haskell Platform? A new user, seeing the version number 2009.2.0.2, is more likely to think "February" than "August".
3. When is the next release of the Haskell Platform?
4. How often are releases scheduled?
5. What is new in the current release?
6. What will be included in the next release? If that isn't known yet, when will it be known?
7. Are there any outstanding issues I should know about? (For example, do I need to manually edit /usr/bin/ghc after installation on any particular platforms?)
Note: I am not looking for answers to these questions (except maybe 3 and 5). My concern is that this information is not readily available.
Answers to many of these things are here, http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/ Including release schedules: http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/wiki/ReleaseTimetable We have a new page planned: http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/ticket/20 Suggestions on how best to encorporate more detailed info like this into a user page would be welcome. -- Don
On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 12:57 AM, Don Stewart
Answers to many of these things are here,
The only way to reach this page from the main Platform page is to follow one of the links labeled "Platform Bug Tracker". I suggest that non-expert users are unlikely to do this when attempting to find information about upcoming releases. Also, the information here is frequently outdated or incomplete.
Including release schedules:
http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/wiki/ReleaseTimetable
This page states that major releases happen every six months, and then later states that major releases happen every four months. It also states that the 2009.4 release is scheduled for September 2009 and, since it hasn't been updated since August, says that the content hasn't yet been decided.
We have a new page planned:
http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/ticket/20
Suggestions on how best to encorporate more detailed info like this into a user page would be welcome.
There should be a page, linked from the main page, which lists both
the general schedule (i.e., major release every X months, minor
release every Y months) and lists the known upcoming releases with
their scheduled release dates. Once information is known about what
packages will be included in the release, it should be available here
or reachable from here.
Each page for past releases should indicate when the release was
published and what has changed since the previous release. E.g., the
2009.2.0.2 release would say that GHC was bumped to 6.10.4 from 6.10.3
and that the network package was upgraded to 2.2.1.4 from 2.2.1.1 and
provide links to the release notes for GHC 6.10.4 and network-2.2.1.4.
The contacts section should mention either the libraries,
haskell-cafe, or haskell-platform mailing lists, whichever is the best
for user-level queries (i.e., not questions from Platform developers).
--
Dave Menendez
Hello David, Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 11:02:03 AM, you wrote:
The contacts section should mention either the libraries, haskell-cafe, or haskell-platform mailing lists, whichever is the best for user-level queries (i.e., not questions from Platform developers).
i think it's the cafe, since HP is our all-in-one haskell installer with very broad audience that may have questions of any kind. other lists should be listed as places for very specific questions -- Best regards, Bulat mailto:Bulat.Ziganshin@gmail.com
Bulat Ziganshin
Hello David,
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 11:02:03 AM, you wrote:
The contacts section should mention either the libraries, haskell-cafe, or haskell-platform mailing lists, whichever is the best for user-level queries (i.e., not questions from Platform developers).
i think it's the cafe, since HP is our all-in-one haskell installer with very broad audience that may have questions of any kind. other lists should be listed as places for very specific questions
I for one would rather see questions and discussions related to the
platform (for user-level queries or otherwise) on the haskell-platform
list, being lower-traffic makes it easier to monitor closely.
G.
--
Gregory Collins
Hello Gregory, Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 6:08:30 PM, you wrote:
i think it's the cafe, since HP is our all-in-one haskell installer with very broad audience that may have questions of any kind. other lists should be listed as places for very specific questions
I for one would rather see questions and discussions related to the platform (for user-level queries or otherwise) on the haskell-platform list, being lower-traffic makes it easier to monitor closely.
well, what i mean: most questions of HP users would be about haskell itself. typical HP user just don't know what part of his problem is language, what part is library, what part is compiler and what part is HP itself. so we will see there all sorts of questions -- Best regards, Bulat mailto:Bulat.Ziganshin@gmail.com
participants (4)
-
Bulat Ziganshin -
David Menendez -
Don Stewart -
Gregory Collins