MacOS X (10.2.2) standalone ghc app

[Wolfgang Thaller]

Reto Kramer wrote:

> I'm trying to deliver a self contained app that I developed with ghc 
> 5.04.1 on Mac OS X (10.2.2). It all works well if ghc is installed on 
> the machine, but on a user-machine w/o ghc, the following file is 
> needed:
>
> HaskellSupport.framework/Versions/A/HaskellSupport

Yes. It's briefly mentioned in the README that you saw in the installer 
:-)

> Could someone explain why this is needed on OSX?  It seems OS 
> specific, for I don't have any of these issues on Windows and Linux.

The HaskellSupport.framework contains two required support libraries, 
libgmp and dlcompat. Libgmp is distributed under the GNU Lesser General 
Public License (LGPL), which means that statically linking to it places 
special requirements on your program. Therefore static linking is not 
really an option in this case. I've packaged the two required libraries 
as one "framework" because that's easier to install for end-users than 
unix-style dynamic libraries.

Programs compiled using GHC for Linux just expect libgmp to be 
installed (which is often the case on Linux). On Windows, libgmp is 
statically linked, which means that you should at least read the LGPL 
before distributing your program.

> Any hint about how to do the linking statically on OSX would be 
> greatly appreciated.

Just don't. Instead, read section 6 of the LGPL (somewhere at 
www.gnu.org) for the complete list of conditions you would have to 
fulfill, and then think about how easy and convenient dynamic linking 
is :-).


Happy New Year,


Wolfgang