[Hackage] #493: counterintuitive syntax of .cabal/config file

Hackage trac at galois.com
Mon Feb 9 13:57:26 EST 2009


#493: counterintuitive syntax of .cabal/config file
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  guest               |        Owner:         
      Type:  defect              |       Status:  new    
  Priority:  normal              |    Milestone:         
 Component:  cabal-install tool  |      Version:  1.6.0.1
  Severity:  normal              |   Resolution:         
  Keywords:                      |   Difficulty:  unknown
Ghcversion:                      |     Platform:         
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
Comment (by duncan):

 Right, `--` is a comment, but like `.cabal` files, the syntax uses layout,
 so indentation is significant. Indentation is used to indicate nested
 sections.

 Would having an explanation at the top be enough? We can say that `--`
 lines are comments, that indentation is significant and that the commented
 out fields give default values, if any.

 We may also be able to get the parser to produce more helpful messages in
 some cases. However in general there can be fields that have multi-line
 nested content.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/493#comment:1>
Hackage <http://haskell.org/cabal/>
Hackage: Cabal and related projects


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