[GHC] #12388: Don't barf on failures in the RTS linker

[GHC]

#12388: Don't barf on failures in the RTS linker
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        Reporter:  dobenour          |                Owner:
            Type:  bug               |               Status:  new
        Priority:  normal            |            Milestone:  8.2.1
       Component:  Runtime System    |              Version:  8.0.1
  (Linker)                           |
      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:                    |
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Comment (by erikd):

 I would be the first to agree that the RTS Linker code is nowhere near as
 nice as it should be be. This code has been put together via accretion
 over a decade or more. I has had over a dozen people work on it and all of
 those people know C but would prefer to write Haskell. Another problem is
 that code has to support at least 6 CPU architecture about 5 different
 Unix variants and Windows.

 I personally think porting the linker to C++ is a really bad idea. The
 linker is already under-resourced (in terms of people working on it) and
 using C++ instead of C would make it significantly more difficult for
 newcomers to work on it.

 As for your other two suggestions I have no strong feelings for or
 against, but would happy to have anyone work on the linker to help improve
 it.

 One last thought, a system using or based on talloc
 (https://talloc.samba.org/talloc/doc/html/index.html) may help.

--
Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/12388#comment:2>
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