[Haskell-cafe] Re: binding to C libraries on Windoww

[Maurí­cio CA]

 > To reply to an earlier point of Andrew's (I can't find the quote
 > now, sorry), one of the biggest difficulties developers face
 > on Windows is the lack of common install locations/practices.
 > Windows software is usually distributed as a binary, which may
 > or may not include header files. These files may be installed
 > in any of numerous locations, such as C:\Program Files\, the
 > user's home directory, the system directory, or directly off the
 > drive root. Defaults are not common among different programs or
 > even versions of programs, and install locations are frequently
 > changed by users anyway. Libraries and headers are usually
 > not located on the PATH environment variable, and there's no
 > standard INCDIR or LIBDIR variable either.

If Windows lacks a sane environment, why not to provide one? I
don't know how much of it mingw already provides. If it doesn't,
that would be a nice Haskell project :) It could be called Windows
SaneEnvironment, and include a few basic policies for packages and
a package manager.

When I needed Windows myself I would certainly help maintaining.
It would not be hard to find others who still will.

Maurício