[Haskell-cafe] Distributing a program with support files

[Neil Mitchell]

Hi Duncan,

> list the support files in the "data-files:" stanza in the .cabal file.
> Then import the Paths_<pkg> module that Cabal generates for you. It
> exports a few functions including:
>
>   getDataDir :: IO FilePath

A few questions:

1) How do I test this? I'll need to develop in Hugs and GHC without
going through Cabal building. Should I fake up a Paths_<pkg> module?

2) Is there any reasonable limit on the number of data files? Is 1000 too many?

3) Can I create files in this DataDir directory?

It does seem that creating a new Paths_<pkg> module and include it is
not very pleasant. It requires everyone to compile from source to get
the paths working, which doesn't make much sense.

Thanks

Neil