library infrastructure roundup

[Alastair Reid]

On Tuesday 17 June 2003 12:43 pm, Simon Marlow wrote:
> Actually I think this is not the right way to go.  It should be the
> package manager on the host system that tells the build system where it
> wants to keep stuff.

And then ghc (or whatever compiler) asks the package manager where stuff is 
installed?  [Seems like a fine distinction but I can just about see it.]

Actually, I think the right thing is to invoke ghc-pkg via the ghc driver.  
This would solve the recent problem (cvs commit by SimonPJ I think) about how 
specifying a particular ghc when invoking configure could leave you using an 
incompatible ghc and ghc-pkg.

Similarily, I think the best way to add gtk-config-like functionality is for 
ghc (hugs, nhc, etc.) to provide something like 

  $ ghc --print-config=libdir
  /usr/lib/ghc-5.04.2

rather than having a separate tool provide information about a potentially 
different installation of ghc.

Please note that all I'm saying is that the frontend driver for the compiler 
should invoke the gtk-config-like program for you - the values that program 
produces may well be generated by package maintainers/ platform/ etc.

--
Alastair