[Haskell-cafe] Re: Ubuntu Haskell

[Ariel J. Birnbaum]

On Tuesday 14 October 2008 10:33:17 Titto Assini wrote:
> Can anyone explain why, now that we have cabal and therefore package
> installation is just a short "cabal install X" away do  we need
> distribution specific binary packages?

One reason I can think of is foreign (read "not Haskell") dependencies, e.g. 
the X development libraries for X11-extras. Right now AFAIK you have to hunt 
and install them manually, which as we know is a pain in the lambda =)
Even if they're included in the distro, you have to know what they're called 
there and make sure it's the right version.

In short, it's not a case for distribution specific binaries but for assisting 
system wide package management.

> I personally prefer my hackage packages freshly cooked ...

APT supports source packages as well, and one can build and install from them. 
Cook 'em, baste 'em, roast 'em =D

-- 
Ariel J. Birnbaum