[Haskell-cafe] Re: [Haskell] GHC 6.10 and OpenGL

[Don Stewart]

simonpj:
> 
> | It's sad to see the OpenGL binding being dropped from GHC binary
> | installers starting from 6.10. Though this issue has been brought up
> | and discussed before, I'm sure a lot of people who based their work on
> | OpenGL would share the same sympathy.
> 
> The plan (which we have perhaps not articulated as clearly as we should) is this:
> 
> - We are trying to make the GHC release contain as few libraries as possible
> - Instead, you get the "batteries" for GHC (ie the libraries) from the Haskell Platform
>         http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_Platform
> 
> This lets GHC HQ get out of the library business, and makes it easier to upgrade libraries independently from GHC.  But it does mean that GHC without the batteries is a feeble thing.  You really want to wait until the HP comes out.
> 
> The HP will be released in source form, to be installed by cabal-install, of course. But I believe that the intention is that there should be a Windows installer for it too.
> 
> Things I am less clear about
>  - When will the first HP release compatible with GHC 6.10 appear?

Next few weeks.

>  - How do users get cabal-install in the first place?  Is there
>         a windows installer for it?

Via binaries for their platform (e.g. windows .exe's).

>  - Where can one find an up-to-date list of what packages are in HP?

The definitive version,

    http://code.haskell.org/haskell-platform/haskell-platform.cabal

There's also a bug tracker.

>  - Is there anyone who is actually planning to do the work of making
>         a windows installer for the HP?  The HP home page lists only
>         Duncan and Don.

We need a Windows platform champion, as we do for other distros, who's
in the business of making native packages for that key system.

Neil?

> I think it'd be good if it was easy to answer these questions from the HP home page.
> 

Yes!

-- Don