[core libraries] Re: List of core libraries

Edward Kmett ekmett at gmail.com
Mon Sep 29 04:32:11 UTC 2014


On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 11:43 PM, Brandon Allbery <allbery.b at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 11:35 PM, Gershom B <gershomb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Better perhaps to do something like the following:
>>
>> "The core libraries are a subset of the packages in the Haskell Platform.
>> Many core libraries define basic APIs that are expected to be available in
>> any Haskell implementation.
>>
>
Sadly this isn't true.

The core libraries are simply basic APIs that are parts of the Haskell
Platform that aren't maintained by another individual. The Haskell Platform
consists more or less of stuff we need to ship to be useful and/or is too
hard to expect an end user to figure out how to build but which deserves
broad distribution.


> A second set of core libraries are coupled tightly to the Glasgow Haskell
>> Compiler but nonetheless managed through the core libraries process, as
>> they are considered core functionality in the GHC Haskell ecosystem.”
>>
>> Additionally, the libraries committee may want to more explicitly
>> seperate the two lists? If we do ever have a new libraries section of a
>> Haskell report, I imagine, e.g. it may well mention directory and process,
>> but not ‘ghc-prim’.
>>
>
> I would argue that implementation specific libraries do not belong in the
> core libraries list. Instead, perhaps the libraries committee should state
> two functions: maintaining the core libraries list, and acting as the
> community interface/liaison for libraries specific to implementations.
>


> The implementations themselves should (and indeed must) maintain their
> implementation libraries lists;
>

The main thing the core libraries committee does right now is deal with
that uncomfortable buffer zone between what GHC HQ wants to deal with
(making GHC fast and nice to use) and what the rest of the ecosystem wants
to maintain (many of the individual maintainer packages in the platform).
There were a whole lot of packages left to this grey area, needed by the
rest of the platform, but where it was basically assumed that GHC HQ was
maintaining them but really nobody felt ownership.


> but to the extent that the community affects and is affected by these
> lists, the libraries committee is empowered to act on behalf of the
> community.
>

If there are other teams working on compilers that want to engage with the
core libraries committee to get better interoperability, we'd be happy to
engage, but thus far, GHC is the only party at the table actively talking
to us.

-Edward

-- 
> brandon s allbery kf8nh                               sine nomine
> associates
> allbery.b at gmail.com
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>
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