[Haskell-cafe] install-dirs on Mac OS X

[Yitzchak Gale]

Mark Lentczner wrote:
> I have been thinking about the location of installed Haskell package
> files on Mac OS X.

Thanks, we've really needed that for a while now.

> The choice of location affects:
>        GHC & other Haskell implementations
>        Haskell Platform
>        Cabal & cabal-install
>        Haddock
> ...Since cabal already by default interposes the compiler version
> into the lib dir, path, there doesn't appear to be a need to put a
> <version> dir level near the top.

There is more than just the version. There are (or have been in the
past) a number of different "standard" methods of installing GHC on
Mac OS X, each serving its own purpose, including:

o Haskell Platform
o GHC-HQ binary installation tarballs
o Manuel's app bundles
o Builds from source
o MacPorts
o Fink

At times, I have needed several of them to exist independantly
on my machine at once at the same GHC version.
Even for those who never need more than one of those
at once, it could wreak havoc if one installs on top of the other.
In your plan, how do we distinguish those methods?

Thanks,
Yitz