ANNOUNCE: GHC version 6.8.2

[Claus Reinke]

>> I suppose that is a fix for some people; it is a regression for me...
> 
> In fact, it'd be better if GHC/GHCi would do what Emacs on Windows
> does: use HOME if defined, else use ShGetFolderPath to find the
> Windows-defined "home directory".

in the interest of backwards-compatibility, perhaps.
but as the links i gave should demonstrate, there is no
%HOME% on windows, unless you invent it. 

most users who define %HOME% probably mean it to 
override the system standard %HOMEPATH%, at least 
in those programs that look for %HOME%. but that is
a guess that would need to be documented for each of
those programs, and makes them different from the 
majority of code on that platform. and not looking for 
%HOMEPATH% if there's no %HOME% is always a bug.

if you absolutely want to define a %HOME%, and you
also absolutely want to keep it different from %HOMEPATH%
(which means you have two homes to take care of!), then
you could try a simple workaround:

%HOMEPATH%\.ghci:

    :cmd System.Environment.getEnv "HOME" >>= \h->readFile (h++"/.ghci")

%HOME\.ghci

    -- as before

claus