[GHC] #13009: Hierarchical Module Structure for GHC

[GHC]

#13009: Hierarchical Module Structure for GHC
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        Reporter:  hsyl20            |                Owner:  hsyl20
            Type:  task              |               Status:  patch
        Priority:  low               |            Milestone:
       Component:  GHC API           |              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):  Phab:D3647
       Wiki Page:                    |
  ModuleDependencies/Hierarchical    |
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Comment (by hsyl20):

 I have tried Cabal's feature to rename modules (thanks @hvr):
 https://github.com/hsyl20/ghc-api-compat
 With a package of this kind, the transition should be smoother for package
 maintainers.

 The benefits may seem small because it's only module renaming for now. But
 it's a preliminary step to help fixing other issues.

 > but it is already hard to use haddock with GHC as not that many
 functions have haddock comments and you need to read the Notes in order to
 understand everything.

 I would say that we should fix haddock comments in GHC. In addition maybe
 we could make haddock export Notes in the generated documentation.

 > Long standing patches and branches need to be re-based and imports
 renamed. While I appreciate that it's a one time cost, it's a very painful
 one.

 Agreed. However it may not be that painful. I've already rebased the patch
 (e.g., on "Trees that grow" and on the patch introducing the FileCleanup
 module) and it was easy.

 > the split between ghc/ghci and compiler/GHC.Interactive seems weird.

 It's just the split between ghc-the-program and ghc-the-library.

 (I have generated some graphs: http://hsyl20.fr/ghc_module_deps/).

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/13009#comment:14>
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