[Haskell-cafe] Unix emulation

[Andrew Coppin]

Stephen Tetley wrote:
> Andrew, I was going to chastise you for being the only Windows
> developer who has problems with MinGW / MSYS and spreading that
> unpleasant internet commodity "FUD". However, I've just gone back to
> mingw.org and its gone from "somewhat confusing" circa the last time I
> installed (Christmas 2009) to "frankly abysmal". So while is was easy
> to install MinGW / MSys a year ago I'll willing concede that it is
> difficult now.
>
> [A side issue - anyone who thinks socializing Hackage is a good idea
> should pay mingw.org a visit...]
>
> I followed this guide the last time I installed:
>
> http://www.mingw.org/faq/How_do_I_install_MSYS
>
> Having a slightly out-of-date installation shouldn't be a problem for
> Haskell development.
>   

Well, part of the issue is that it just annoys me as a matter of 
principle that I have to install a *Unix* emulator in order to write 
*Windows* software. What's up with that?

But anyway, as I say, I figured I could just install the emulator on a 
VM, build the libraries once, and then use the binaries anywhere. 
Unfortunately, I was eventually forced to give up after trying to 
install MSYS / MinGW. You'd think you could just download a file and 
unzip it, or maybe run an installer... but no. That would be far too easy.