[Haskell-cafe] Building Yi (and wider Cabal stuff)

[Jaap Weel]

On Sunday 17 June 2007 08:26:45 Michael T. Richter wrote:
> I'm trying to build Yi (from the darcs repository) to take a look at it.
> The README that comes with it says "it's a standard Cabal project so do
> what you normally do" (paraphrased slightly).

GNU autotools comes with a standard boilerplate INSTALL file to
include with your projects. There is some command you run in the
process of autoconfiscation that inserts it automatically. Maybe there
should be a standard boilerplate INSTALL file to be included with
Cabal packages.

Yesterday, I wrote and uploaded a simple Cabal package called csv
(mostly as an exercise, since it's only a screenful of code, really,
but it is actually a somewhat useful library because it saves you the
trouble of reading an RFC). I included the following INSTALL file:

> To install the package, use the standard Cabal incantations:
> 
>     runhaskell Setup.hs configure
>     runhaskell Setup.hs build
>     runhaskell Setup.hs install
> 
> If you want to install into a nonstandard directory, do
> 
>     runhaskell Setup.hs configure --prefix /bla/di/bla
> 
> If you want documentation, try
> 
>     runhaskell Setup.hs haddock

I think that simply adding those instructions would probably lower the
hurdle a bit. Maybe the Cabal could look into automatically inserting
an instructions file like that if it doesn't exist yet. Another idea
for making things more accessible is to include a shell script called
configure and a Makefile called Makefile, both of which just print the
above instructions when executed.

             /jaap