What tool versions (MinGW, MSYS, automake, etc.) do I need to build GHC on Windows?

[Claus Reinke]

The last time I ran into that problem (May 2005), I did two things:

1. create a pseudo package for cygwin, to pin down the 
    cygwin dependencies for a ghc build
    http://www.mail-archive.com/cvs-all@haskell.org/msg18537.html

2. keep a primitive build log, to pin down the remaining
    dependencies and steps
    http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/building/winbuild.html#id2936091

both might be out of date after over a year, if only because mingw
and cygwin have marched on, and you need to check whether the
current versions of those dependencies still work. but you could
use them as a starting point, and update or replace them with 
your current findings. I don't remember the details, so I hope 
that those links are self-explanatory;-)

tracking dependencies (what is needed, which versions work,
where does one get them) was the main issue for me. automating
the process might have advantages in terms of keeping it up to 
date (whereas updates to external documentation might get
forgotten).

cheers,
claus

ps. two things I do remember:

    - it was tempting to put everything into a real cygwin package,
        but using those packages to install things outside the cygwin
        hierarchy is frowned upon for obvious reasons. and I didn't
        want my mingw install or mingw-haskell tools under the
        cygwin hierarchy

    - the whole thing takes only the shell tools from cygwin, while
        the gcc tools are taken from mingw, and the mingw-haskell
        tools from the ghc-stable snapshot

pps. there was a way to build the pdf docs as well (via fop), see
        http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/cvs-all/2005-May/041563.html
        oh, deja vu;-)
    
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Smith" <brianlsmith at gmail.com>
To: <cvs-ghc at haskell.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 11:28 PM
Subject: What tool versions (MinGW, MSYS, automake,etc.) do I need to build GHC on Windows?


> Is there some documentation available that lists the versions of tools that
> are used to build the official Windows distributions of GHC? In particular,
> what versions of MinGW, MSYSDTK, automake, autoconf, and binutils are used?
> 
> I would like to put together a package that Windows users can download to
> jump into GHC development easier. I am motivated to do so because I spent
> hours last year to configure my system to build GHC/Windows, and now I am
> about to repeat that tiresome process.
> 
> My goal is to produce a ZIP file that contains all the correct versions of
> all the tools needed, plus a script that sets up the build environment
> (unsets CYGWIN, sets the path, etc.) and leaves the user in the MSYS bash
> shell.
> 
> Basically, I want the process for building on GHC to become:
> 
> (1) Download ghc-build-tools.zip
> (2) Extract ghc-build-tools.zip to C:\ghc-build-tools\
> (3) Execute C:\ghc-build-tools\ghc-build-shell.bat
> 
> Inside the resultant shell, we would then do:
> 
> darcs get --partial http://darcs.haskell.org/ghc
> cd ghc
> chmod +x darcs-all
> ./darcs-all get
> autoreconf
> ./configure
> make
> 
> Furthermore, I would like to create a VMWare image that Windows users can
> use to test their changes on Linux.
> 
> Besides GHC, I would like to do the same thing for Darcs as well. Hopefully,
> Darcs and GHC can use the same versions of the same tools so that seperate
> packages aren't necessary.
> 
> Regards,
> Brian
>


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