[GHC] #2029: Add --with-libedit flag to the readline package

[GHC]

#2029: Add --with-libedit flag to the readline package
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 Reporter:  judah              |          Owner:          
     Type:  proposal           |         Status:  new     
 Priority:  normal             |      Milestone:  Not GHC 
Component:  libraries (other)  |        Version:          
 Severity:  normal             |     Resolution:          
 Keywords:                     |     Difficulty:  Unknown 
 Testcase:                     |   Architecture:  Multiple
       Os:  Multiple           |  
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Comment (by thorkilnaur):

 I would suggest creating an entirely new Haskell library (which rightly
 should be called "edit", but a better name should probably be found) for
 such Haskell bindings to the BSD edit library on Mac OS X. Apple's idea of
 pretending that "edit" is "readline" has caused quite some significant
 confusion over the years. I would not expect a Haskell readline library
 which is perhaps really the BSD edit library to be any less confusing.

 For example, I may wish to work specifically with both the BSD edit
 library and the GNU readline library though some Haskell binding, to
 compare them. Such a case would be difficult to handle with a Haskell
 readline library which is either BSD edit or GNU readline.

 I am aware that this loses the potential advantage that BSD edit
 functionality will be present for free, rather than no line editing
 capabilities, in some cases, such as GHCi. But I am convinced that this
 advantage will be outweighed heavily by the ensuing work needed to deal
 with these confusing scenarios.

 Any helpful magic, similar to your suggestions, for automatically
 selecting between BSD edit and GNU readline must then be implemented
 separately, perhaps as a library in itself.

 Best regards
 Thorkil

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/2029#comment:1>
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