[GHC] #12218: Implement -fexternal-interpreter via static linking

[GHC]

#12218: Implement -fexternal-interpreter via static linking
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
        Reporter:  simonmar          |                Owner:
            Type:  task              |               Status:  new
        Priority:  normal            |            Milestone:  8.4.1
       Component:  Compiler          |              Version:  8.0.1
      Resolution:                    |             Keywords:
Operating System:  Unknown/Multiple  |         Architecture:
                                     |  Unknown/Multiple
 Type of failure:  None/Unknown      |            Test Case:
      Blocked By:                    |             Blocking:
 Related Tickets:                    |  Differential Rev(s):
       Wiki Page:                    |
-------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
Changes (by bgamari):

 * milestone:  8.2.1 => 8.4.1


@@ -3,1 +3,1 @@
- iconv binary, and use that as our external interpreter.
+ `iserv` binary, and use that as our external interpreter.

New description:

 An interesting idea from @hvr.  When using `-fexternal-interpreter`, we
 can statically link the required packages and object files into a new
 `iserv` binary, and use that as our external interpreter.

 This would mean we could support TH and even limited GHCi without needing
 a dynamic linker of any kind, which is extremely cool.  Apparently this
 would be useful for AIX where doing dynamic linking is hard.

--

Comment:

 It doesn't look like this will happen for 8.2.

--
Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/12218#comment:1>
GHC <http://www.haskell.org/ghc/>
The Glasgow Haskell Compiler