ANNOUNCE: GHC version 6.10.1 - MacOS installer

[Manuel M T Chakravarty]

Jason Dagit:
> On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 5:36 PM, Manuel M T Chakravarty <chak at cse.unsw.edu.au 
> > wrote:
> Ian Lynagh:
>
> On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 09:02:12PM -0500, Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH  
> wrote:
> On 2008 Nov 4, at 20:26, Jason Dagit wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 4:26 PM, Manuel M T Chakravarty
> <chak at cse.unsw.edu.au> wrote:
>
> Are you sure it does deinstall the 6.8 compiler?
>
> After installing 6.10, there should be a 608/ and a 610/
> directory.  This
> certainly happens on my Mac and I am not aware of an option to
> change that
> behaviour.
>
> I expect if you used the OSX installer then /Library/Receipts is
> screwing you (it wipes the old files listed in the .bom file).  Try
> finding and removing the receipt directory and bom file before
> installing.
>
> The only file I can see that looks relevant is
>   /Library/Receipts/boms/ 
> org.haskell.glasgowHaskellCompiler.ghc.pkg.bom
>
> Wouldn't removing it make uninstall impossible?
>
> In fact, if you did manage to get 2 versions installed, how would
>   /Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework/Tools/Uninstaller
> know which version to uninstall? Wouldn't it only know how to  
> uninstall
> the version it came with? I'd suggest that the overlapping file
> "Uninstaller" could be why the older version gets removed, but that
> wouldn't explain why Manuel can install both at once.
>
> A current limitation of the MacOS package system is that it does not  
> support uninstalling of packages; cf
>
>  http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution/Managed_Installs/chapter_5_section_7.html#/ 
> /apple_ref/doc/uid/10000145i-CH6-DontLinkElementID_29
>
> This is not a big drama on MacOS, as MacOS encourages the  
> distribution of software packages as "bundles":
>
>  http://developer.apple.com/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFBundles/CFBundles.html
>
> This essentially means that instead of sprinkling files all over the  
> file system (as is common in other OSes), MacOS applications and  
> frameworks (Mac-speak for libraries) are kept in a single  
> directory.  Uninstalling then means doing an rm -rf on that directory.
>
> Unfortunately, some applications (including GHC and Apple's Xcode  
> IDE) can't be entirely contained in a single directory.  In the case  
> of GHC, we want symlinks in /usr/bin.  The established way of  
> uninstalling such applications is by supplying an Uninstaller  
> script, just as I did for GHC.  (Apple does the same for Xcode.)
>
> The purpose of the Uninstaller script is too completely remove  
> GHC.framework from a machine - not just to remove one version.  In  
> fact, if more than one version of GHC is installed, the Uninstaller  
> will refuse to run and require the manual removal of all versions,  
> but the current (easily achieved by a "rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/ 
> GHC.framework/Versions/<version>").  The main feature of the  
> Uninstaller script is to get rid of all symlinks pointing into  
> GHC.framework.  The framework itself is just deleted by a "rm -rf"  
> as expected.  (It also removes the above mentioned receipt file.)
>
> So, to directly answer the above questions:
> * The package manger (which uses the receipts) can't uninstall and  
> the uninstaller script doesn't need the receipt.  So, even after  
> deleteing the receibt, you can still uninstall.
> * The Uninstaller can uninstall any version (at least as long as no  
> symlinks are put into new directories outside of the bundle that the  
> Uninstaller doesn't know about).
>
> Is there an update on this thread?  I would still like to have my  
> cake and eat it too, meaning ghc 6.8.3 and ghc 6.10.1.  As far as I  
> know the installer hasn't been updated and if I try again I will  
> lose my copy of 6.8.3.

Sorry, but for the moment, my (rather limited knowledge) of the MacOS  
packaging system is exhausted, and currently I don't have the time to  
search the web or experiment to try to learn more.  It would be  
helpful to have the input of somebody who has more experience with  
MacOS packages.

Manuel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/glasgow-haskell-users/attachments/20081119/3c5e6659/attachment.htm