[Hackage] #866: Making sure external C library DLLs are available at runtime is too easy to get wrong (was: Problem linking to dll's)

[Hackage]

#866: Making sure external C library DLLs are available at runtime is too easy to
get wrong
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  guest          |        Owner:         
      Type:  defect         |       Status:  new    
  Priority:  normal         |    Milestone:         
 Component:  Cabal library  |      Version:  1.8.0.6
  Severity:  normal         |     Keywords:         
Difficulty:  unknown        |   Ghcversion:         
  Platform:                 |  
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------

Comment(by duncan):

 > Why is lapack.dll inaccessible at runtime despite successful
 installation of the package?

 Because unfortunately, finding libraries at link time and at runtime are
 just totally different (on Windows, Linux and OSX).

 To find the .dll at runtime on Windows, the .dll has to be in one of:

  * the same dir as your .exe
  * a windows system dir (not recommended)
  * in a directory that is on the %PATH% (works ok but is a bit fragile)

 This problem is not unique to Haskell, but we could perhaps have the tools
 check and explain it better. I'm open to suggestions.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/866#comment:1>
Hackage <http://haskell.org/cabal/>
Hackage: Cabal and related projects