interaction of GADTs and data families: a bug?

[Sebastian Fischer]

Dear GHC experts,

Certain behaviour when using

     {-# LANGUAGE GADTs, TypeFamilies #-}

surprises me. The following is accepted by GHC 6.12.1:

     data GADT a where
       BoolGADT :: GADT Bool

     foo :: GADT a -> a -> Int
     foo BoolGADT True = 42

But the following is not:

     data family DataFam a
     data instance DataFam Bool where
       BoolDataFam :: DataFam Bool

     fffuuuu :: DataFam a -> a -> Int
     fffuuuu BoolDataFam True = 42

GHC 6.12.1 throws the following error (GHC 6.10.4 panics):

      Couldn't match expected type `a' against inferred type `Bool'
        `a' is a rigid type variable bound by
            the type signature for `fffuuuu' at gadtDataFam.hs:13:19
      In the pattern: BoolDataFam
      In the definition of `fffuuuu': fffuuuu BoolDataFam True = 42

I expect that `fffuuuu` should be accepted just like `foo`. Do I  
expect too much?

Cheers,
Sebastian

-- 
Underestimating the novelty of the future is a time-honored tradition.
(D.G.)