[Hackage] #225: allow installing just specific bits, like just docs

[Hackage]

#225: allow installing just specific bits, like just docs
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  duncan         |        Owner:         
      Type:  enhancement    |       Status:  new    
  Priority:  normal         |    Milestone:         
 Component:  Cabal library  |      Version:  1.2.3.0
  Severity:  normal         |     Keywords:         
Difficulty:  normal         |   Ghcversion:  6.8.2  
  Platform:                 |  
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
 Sometimes people would like to build and install just part of a cabal
 project, e.g. the documentation or one of the libraries or binaries.
 Specific use-cases are packaging for OS distro's and generating Haddock
 docs for code that was installed without it (cf the current state of
 Debian-stable).

 Igloo proposes the following user interface:

 -----

 As long as docs, license and binaries can be (de)selected individually I
 don't really mind.

 If you want a concrete suggestion, we could have `--foo` and `--no-foo`
 for each thing, with the default being `--all` and the command line being
 processed left-to-right, e.g.

 {{{
 cabal install --no-haddock-interfaces --docs --no-html
 }}}

 would install

  * all (which wouldn't actually contain anything)
  * docs (which wouldn't actually contain anything)
  * haddock-interfaces
  * license
  * everything under binaries

 -----

 I broadly agree, but am slightly concerned there are dependencies amongst
 the various things that his syntax does not respect (e.g. one may need to
 install the libraries - e.g. one depending on a foreign library - in order
 to get a binary working). So either we have to vet the command lines or
 coarsen the flags. I hope Duncan and Igloo can draw on their packaging
 experience and determine what is actually useful.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/225>
Hackage <http://haskell.org/cabal/>
Hackage: Cabal and related projects