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

Sat Apr 25 09:20:43 UTC 2020

Yes, this was changed recently as it provides a way to manage all 3 components individually.
As in should you want to you can have any number of versions of GHC installed at the same time.

By decoupling the components it allows for quicker updates and releases and for a better user experience.
Platform was for instance still using GHC 8.6.5 and cabal 3.0.

For the record these packages aren’t new, they’re only now being recommended.

Tamar

From: Irfon-Kim Ahmad
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2020 06:22
To: haskell-cafe at haskell.org
Subject: Re: [Haskell-cafe] When did it become so hard to install Haskell onWindows?

This must be a recent development, because I installed Haskell using the "self-contained, all-in-one installer" only a month or two ago. The page on haskell.org still talks about this: "The Haskell Platform is a self-contained, all-in-one installer. After download, you will have everything necessary to build Haskell programs against a core set of useful libraries." (That really should be edited to reflect the current state of affairs.)
On 2020-04-25 12:27 a.m., Richard O'Keefe wrote:
I ran into the same 403 with HaskellStack.org,
but using the "Cached" link that Google offered,
the page that *should* be there has a link to a
Windows 64-bit installer for stack, and stack is
currently installing ghc-8.8.3 for me, although it
warns that stack has not been tested with GHC
versions about 8.6.

The irony is that I ran stack.exe from an Ubuntu 18
shell.

On Sat, 25 Apr 2020 at 15:24, José Pedro Magalhães <dreixel at gmail.com> wrote:
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:

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:

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.

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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