[GHC] #9744: Make program name and project version configurable

[GHC]

#9744: Make program name and project version configurable
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       Reporter:  luite              |                   Owner:  luite
           Type:  feature request    |                  Status:  new
       Priority:  normal             |               Milestone:  7.10.1
      Component:  Compiler           |                 Version:  7.9
       Keywords:                     |        Operating System:
   Architecture:  Unknown/Multiple   |  Unknown/Multiple
     Difficulty:  Unknown            |         Type of failure:
     Blocked By:                     |  None/Unknown
Related Tickets:                     |               Test Case:
                                     |                Blocking:
                                     |  Differential Revisions:
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 GHC uses `cProjectVersion` in a few places and `ghc` is hardcoded as the
 program name. This is used for example for determining the location of the
 user package database (`getAppUserDataDirectory "ghc"`) and the names of
 dynamic libraries.

 I've been working around this for GHCJS, but it requires copying quite a
 bit of code. I have a patch that adds the program name and version to
 `Settings` that I'll submit once I've tested GHCJS with HEAD.

 My patch just allows these settings to be changed by GHC API clients.
 However, we could also make GHC itself read its own values from the
 `settings` file. This way we could add a version tag to a GHC installation
 without recompiling, keeping its packages and package databases separate
 from existing ones.

 Let me know if there's any interest in this and I'll add it to the patch.

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9744>
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