[Haskell-cafe] Bug in HTTP (bad internal error handling)

[Sigbjorn Finne]

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Sittampalam, Ganesh <
ganesh.sittampalam at credit-suisse.com> wrote:

> Bit Connor wrote:
> > On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Claus Reinke
> > <claus.reinke at talk21.com> wrote:
> >>> After it catches this error, the function returns (line 376):
> >>>
> >>> return (fail (show e))
> >>>
> >>> The "fail" is running in the Either monad (The Result type =
> >>> Either). This calls the default Monad implementation of fail, which
> >>> is just a call to plain old error. This basically causes the entire
> >>> program to crash.
> >>
> >>> Actually, it appears that simpleHTTP isn't actually supposed to
> >>> throw an IOException, and it is instead supposed to return a
> >>> ConnError result. So the real fix is to fix the code to make this
> >>> happen. But
> >>
> >> Sounds like a victim of
> >>   http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/4159
> >>
> >> For mtl clients, 'fail' for 'Either' used to call 'Left'. That was
> >> changed, though the ticket does not indicate the library versions
> >> affected.
> >
> > This looks like the problem. Any idea how to get the HTTP package
> > fixed? I could try making a patch myself, but I would prefer hearing
> > from the HTTP maintainer first, who doesn't seem to be around.
>
>
I've tried contacting him a few times about getting the base dependencies in
> HTTP bumped and an upload made, without success. This is a widely used
> package that's in the platform and that won't work with GHC 7.0 with the
> current dependencies, so it really needs to get fixed soon.


> libraries@, what's the right way to proceed? Can I make a Debian-style
> "non-maintainer upload" with minimal changes to fix urgent issues like
> these?
>

I'd be much obliged if you could, and I do apologise for leaving all of this
just hanging.

No time available for Haskell projects these days unfortunately, Opera
engine development taking up most of my waking hours. Getting someone to
take over HTTP would be best, or maybe rewrite it altogether..it is not the
prettiest thing around :)

--sigbjorn
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