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

[Don Stewart]

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).

It's a different server that we have better physical access to (i.e. I
can check the logs).
  
> 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.
> 

Thanks! I'm about to hop on a plane, but here's the darcs repo for the
download website, if you want to address some of the issues -- e.g.
return navigation links.

    http://code.haskell.org/haskell-platform

I'd love patches and improvements to address the concerns above.

-- Don