Here is the essential part of the patch:

- GHCDIR=`grep '^libdir' ${whichGHC} | head -1 | sed 's/^libdir=.\(.*\)./\1/'` + GHCDIR=`grep '^TOPDIROPT' ${whichGHC} | head -1 | sed 's/^TOPDIROPT="*-B\([^";]*\).*/\1/'`

However, this does not work on my (Slackware Linux) machine. In the driver script for ghc-5.02, I see the following two lines:

libdir='/usr/malcolm/local/lib/ghc-5.02' TOPDIROPT="-B$libdir";

which means that the original confhc gives the correct path (/usr/malcolm/local/lib/ghc-5.02), but the patched confhc gives an incorrect path symbol ($libdir).

Can someone at ghc central confirm whether this part of the ghc-5.02 driver script differs, depending on package and platform? And if so, what is the best way to detect which variation applies?

It differs depending on whether you installed GHC from a binary distribution, via make install, or from an RPM. I've just added the --print-libdir option to GHC, and I'll try to sneak it into 5.02.1. Cheers, Simon