Arch Linux

quyk

Member

Registered: 2020-04-22

Posts: 11

Is there a release schedule/policy for haskell packages?

Recently, I've had trouble with some haskell toolchain packages like ghc and stack being too far behind their upstream versions. Are these packages following a specific release schedule on Arch?

I did some research and I understand the lack of a stable binary interface for shared objects makes packaging haskell programs very difficult. I'm guessing that plays a role here, but I couldn't find any information about the version gap specifically.

icar

Member

Registered: 2020-07-31

Posts: 554

Re: Is there a release schedule/policy for haskell packages?

All packages in Arch are updated when the maintainer decides to do so. You can always edit the PKGBUILD and build it yourself, as it's very easy and one of the strengths of this distribution.

quyk

Member

Registered: 2020-04-22

Posts: 11

Re: Is there a release schedule/policy for haskell packages?

All packages in Arch are updated when the maintainer decides to do so. You can always edit the PKGBUILD and build it yourself, as it's very easy and one of the strengths of this distribution.

Yes, normally I would do that. However, I think rebuilding GHC would essentially require rebuilding every haskell package because GHC's dynamic linking is too fragile to handle any updates to shared objects or different GHC versions. Maybe that's why the packages aren't updated for every new version - I'm not sure.

I guess I'm mostly seeking up-to-date information on the packaging strategy. If there exists some alternative update schedule to simplify packaging, then I can plan around that. If there's technical issues or not enough manpower, then maybe I can help somehow. I couldn't find much information either way, so I figured I'd ask.

icar

Member

Registered: 2020-07-31

Posts: 554

Re: Is there a release schedule/policy for haskell packages?

Haskell is definitely a hard one to manage - that's why packages like https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pandoc-bin exist.
If I was developing with Haskell, I would try to use packages from somewhere else, similarly to what a virtual environment of Python does, instead of relying on system packages.

dogknowsnx

Guest

Re: Is there a release schedule/policy for haskell packages?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Haskell