[Haskell-cafe] Where to install cabal

[Richard O'Keefe]

On 23 Apr 2009, at 5:17 pm, Edward Middleton wrote:

> Richard O'Keefe wrote:
>>
>>
>> The clear impression I've received on this mailing list
>> is that cabal is _also_ for people who are using Haskell
>> and find that there's a new package reported in HWN that
>> they'd like to have.  If you are now telling me that I
>> should ignore it because I'm not making distribution
>> packages or Windows installers, fine, just tell me what
>> to use instead.
>
> distribution packages.

OK, please tell me where I can get a distribution
package with GHC 6.10 and a *full* set of what's in
Hackage for
	intel Mac OS X 10.5.5
	SPARC (Ultra II) Solaris 2.10
that I can use without superuser access.

Oh look,
http://haskell.org/ghc/distribution_packages.html
Mac OS X is there, but not for 10.5.  It requires
MacPorts, which I've had no luck with.
Solaris isn't there at all.

At http://haskell.org/ghc/download_ghc_6_10_2.html
we find that the .tar.bz2 binary for Mac OS X 10.5
"needs libedit.2.dylib, libncurses.5.dylib and
libgmp.3.dylib under /opt/local/lib/."

Sadly, my /opt/local/lib is empty, and there is
nothing I can do about it.  (libncurses.5.dylib
and libedit.2.dylib are in /usr/lib, which is
apparently the place that Apple put them.  Why
expect to find them in /opt/local/lib?  Unpack,
try it, nope, it only complains about libgmp.)
I'm glad it lets me install ghc wherever I want,
if only it let me install the prequisites the
same way.

I have a colleague who argues against free software
every chance he gets.  The high cost of installing
and maintaining it is one of his main arguments.

where