[nightly] 10-Aug-2008 build of HEAD on i386-unknown-linux(cam-02-unx.europe.corp.microsoft.com)

[Malcolm Wallace]

>   1. whatever I check in, the _whole_ thing has to build ok
>   2. if _my_ changes break someone else's code, _I_ have to fix that
>
> I'd suggest to interpret GHC+corelibs as a unit, and to apply rules  
> 1 and 2.

To put it crudely, I don't see why the Hugs and nhc98 developers  
should be forced to run a ghc validate, when the ghc developers never  
run their changes through Hugs or nhc98 to check for breakage there.

Now there isn't really as big a divide as it sounds when I put it that  
way.  Fixing library breakage due to GHC changes is only a mild  
irritation, and I know it is ultimately in a good cause.  I'm not  
complaining about the current situation at all.

But I do wish to point out that you cannot achieve both goals: "make  
GHC and its dependencies into a single unit" and "share the libraries  
with other compilers".  At least, not without accepting some extra  
work on the GHC side to maintain both illusions.

Regards,
     Malcolm