[Haskell-cafe] When did it become so hard to install Haskell on Windows?

[José Pedro Magalhães]

Hi,

I haven't used Haskell in my personal computer in a while. I decided to
install it again. I used the Haskell Platform in the past, so I went for
that again - and a quick Google search on "install haskell windows" brings
up the HP page, so I thought I was on the right track.

At the HP page for Windows, I'm greeted with this:
[image: image.png]

In the past I'd just download an installer which would take care of things
- now it seems to be more complicated. But fine, I followed the link to
configure Chocolatey. That's where it starts getting really scary:
[image: image.png]

First, I have to subscribe to a newsletter? Really? I guess this is
entirely optional, but the instructions don't make it sound so. Then I have
to know what powershell.exe is, use an administrative prompt, and enter
scary commands in it.

I gave up at this stage. But going back to the HP page, it appears that
even this wouldn't be enough, because I would still need to follow "the
instructions at haskellstack.org to install stack". The link to
haskellstack.org takes me to a 403 Forbidden
<https://docs.haskellstack.org/en/stable/README/>.

I honestly don't want this to sound like a rant. I genuinely would like
to understand why this multi-step, multi-tool, multi-website process was
introduced, how it is superior to a single installer, and whether this is
really the process we want newcomers to the language have to follow.


Thanks,
Pedro
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