[GHC] #3041: Arch independent binary representations

[GHC]

#3041: Arch independent binary representations
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    Reporter:  nomeata           |        Owner:         
        Type:  feature request   |       Status:  new    
    Priority:  normal            |    Milestone:         
   Component:  Compiler          |      Version:  6.10.1 
    Severity:  normal            |   Resolution:         
    Keywords:                    |   Difficulty:  Unknown
    Testcase:                    |           Os:  Linux  
Architecture:  Unknown/Multiple  |  
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Comment (by igloo):

 Replying to [comment:6 simonmar]:
 > The problem here is not that GHC's Binary library has an instance for
 `Int`, it is that Haddock uses GHC's `Binary` library at all.  GHC's
 `Binary` library is for serialising interface files, and since interface
 files can be platform-specific it doesn't matter that we have a platform-
 specific instance for `Int`.
 >
 > I think Haddock should either use a local copy of Binary with a
 platform-independent serialisation format (like it used to! :-) or it
 should use `Data.Binary`.  The latter adds a new dependency to GHC, but in
 the long run that's not a disaster.  For a quick fix, the former solution
 will do fine.

 Is there a reason for GHC not to use `Data.Binary` too? The only reason I
 can think of would be to avoid the extra dependency, but if haddock uses
 it then the GHC build depends on it anyway. Personally, I don't think it's
 a strong enough reason to maintain our own Binary anyway.

 So if GHC switches to `Data.Binary`, then all haddock needs to do is wait.
 In the mean time (i.e. for 6.10.2), we can fix the immediate problem by
 changing the `Int` instance to to serialise as `Int32` or `Int64`
 consistently.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/3041#comment:7>
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