The base library and GHC 6.10

[Ross Paterson]

On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 09:17:16AM +0100, Simon Marlow wrote:
> This raises the more general issue of instance-visibility.  Since 
> instances are automatically re-exported and therefore break abstraction 
> barriers, the only sensible way to think about instances is as global 
> properties.
>
> Attempting to limt the visibility of instances by putting them in 
> separate packages or modules is futile.  If an instance exists in a 
> library *anywhere*, it potentially exists *everywhere*, and we should 
> think of it as global.  The only way to limit the visibility of instances 
> is to not put them in a package.
>
> That means, for the particular case of the Data class, someone should  
> decide once and for all whether there is an instance for IO, or 
> functions, or whatever, and either define them along with the Data class 
> or not at all.

I agree with all that, but there may not be time to be confident of
making the right decision in all these cases in time for 6.10.