[GHC] #9421: Problems and workarounds when installing and using a 32bit GHC on 64bit Linux machine

[GHC]

#9421: Problems and workarounds when installing and using a 32bit GHC on 64bit
Linux machine
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
              Reporter:              |            Owner:  MikolajKonarski
  MikolajKonarski                    |           Status:  new
                  Type:  bug         |        Milestone:
              Priority:  normal      |          Version:  7.8.3
             Component:  Compiler    |         Keywords:
            Resolution:              |     Architecture:  x86_64 (amd64)
      Operating System:  Linux       |       Difficulty:  Unknown
       Type of failure:  Installing  |       Blocked By:
  GHC failed                         |  Related Tickets:
             Test Case:              |
              Blocking:              |
Differential Revisions:              |
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------

Comment (by rwbarton):

 Well, `ld -melf_i386` is surely OS-dependent, as neither OS X nor Windows
 uses ELF binaries. So the options you listed are not always the correct
 ones. (Also, that is actually an option needed for Cabal, not for GHC.)

 But speaking more generally, I don't see any advantage to GHC (or Cabal)
 trying to determine the proper way to invoke the C compiler at runtime. We
 already have a configure script that's run during installation of the
 binary distribution whose exact purpose is to determine things like what
 flags need to be passed to the C toolchain. So that is the logical place
 to put this 32-bit-on-64-bit detection.

--
Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9421#comment:13>
GHC <http://www.haskell.org/ghc/>
The Glasgow Haskell Compiler