[Haskell-cafe] Confusions about the Haskell Platform (for Mac)

[Sean Leather]

1. Why can't the platform download site be hosted on www.haskell.org instead
of hackage.haskell.org? I see that there's a redirect, but (imho) it would
be ideal to have www.haskell.org/platform be the standard URL in my browser.
It is easier to remember (for typing) and more obvious (for appearances).

2. What is the difference between "Haskell" and the "Haskell Platform"? I
see one or the other in various places. To get from www.haskell.org to
downloading the Mac software, I go through "Download Haskell," "Get the
Haskell Platform > Mac," and "Download Haskell for Mac OS X (intel)."

3. By looking at http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/mac.html , I have no
idea what I'm going to get when I click the "Download Haskell for Mac OS X
(intel)" link. It would be nice to know what I'm getting myself into before
I commit to waiting for this 137.9 MB file. Thanks to the wonder of deep
links, one can also not be expected to traverse the path that I did in #2.
Similarly, if I come to this link directly, I have no easy way of navigating
to try to figure out what "Haskell" or "GHC" is.

4. The current link for the Mac image points to
http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/2010.1.0.0/haskell-platform-2010.1.0.1-i386.dmg.
Note the inconsistency between the version in the directory and file
names.

5. The directions on http://hackage.haskell.org/platform/mac.html say:

  After downloading:
    * Open the .dmg file
    * Follow the install instructions

  I see no "install instructions" in the .dmg file. I only see the following
files:
    * GHC-6.12.1-i386.pkg
    * Haskell Platform 2010.1.0.1.pkg
    * Uninstall GHC

6. Since there are no "install instructions," I am not sure which .pkg to
install first. Of course, fix #3 and you hopefully fix this one.

7. Why can't I have a single .pkg file? Why do I have an "Uninstall GHC" and
not an "Uninstall Haskell Platform"?

--

I don't expect all of the above to necessarily have a direct solution. They
are just my observations to share. Some of them are from the point of view
of a newcomer, and some are from a perfectionist.

Regards,
Sean
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