Why is there a cabal file at all?

[Ian Lynagh]

On Sat, Jan 13, 2007 at 12:57:33PM -0800, Conal Elliott wrote:
> 
> I also wonder: if you don't trust my package spec code, why would you trust
> my library code?

As an example, hackage can look at your .cabal file and extract the
meta-information to build a webpage about your library, add the info to
its searchable database so users can search for it, etc. (Assuming your
Setup.[l]hs isn't /too/ wacky).

We don't want hackage to be executing anything anyone uploads
automatically, though (although as pointed out elsewhere in this thread,
with a little effort we could attempt to make it safe to do so).


Thanks
Ian