RFC: External library infrastructure

[Malcolm Wallace]

Alastair Reid <alastair@reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk> writes:

> [Of course, much of the above is true if you replace 'Hugs' with 'NHC'
> but I'm not certain of the exact status of NHC at the moment so I'll
> let them speak for themselves.]

I concur wholeheartedly with everything Alastair says.  Between the
three Haskell implementations, we have already puts lots of effort
into ensuring that the "standard" population of the hierarchical
library namespace is as portable as possible.  A mechanism to make
the packaging of third-party libraries as painless as possible is
highly desirable, and rather than target it solely at ghc, I think
we should similarly aim for the maximum portability.  This can only
help the exposure that new libraries get, and reduce the burden on
the independent developer.

Regards,
    Malcolm