Cabal: A framework for packaging Haskell software

The Cabal library package
=========================

[Cabal home page](http://www.haskell.org/cabal/)

If you also want the `cabal` command line program then you need
the `cabal-install` package in addition to this library.


Installation instructions for the Cabal library
===============================================

If you have the `cabal` program already
---------------------------------------

In this case it's simple, just

    cabal install

Of course, if you don't have an existing version of the `cabal` program
then to get one you'd first need to install the Cabal library! To avoid
this bootstrapping problem, you can install the Cabal library directly:

Installing as a user (no root or administrator access)
------------------------------------------------------

    ghc --make Setup
    ./Setup configure --user
    ./Setup build
    ./Setup install

Note the use of the `--user` flag at the configure step.

Compiling Setup rather than using `runghc Setup` is much faster and works on
Windows. For all packages other than Cabal itself it is fine to use `runghc`.

This will install into `$HOME/.cabal/` on unix and into
`$Documents and Settings\$User\Application Data\cabal\` on Windows
If you want to install elsewhere use the `--prefix=` flag at the
configure step.


Installing as root / Administrator
----------------------------------

    ghc --make Setup
    ./Setup configure
    ./Setup build
    sudo ./Setup install

Compiling Setup rather than using `runghc Setup` is much faster and works on
Windows. For all packages other than Cabal itself it is fine to use `runghc`.

This will install into `/usr/local` on unix and on Windows it will
install into `$ProgramFiles/Haskell`. If you want to install
elsewhere use the `--prefix=` flag at the configure step.


Working with older versions of GHC and Cabal
============================================

It is recommended just to leave any pre-existing version of Cabal
installed. In particular it is *essential* to keep the version that
came with GHC itself since other installed packages need it (eg the
"ghc" api package).

Prior to GHC 6.4.2 however, GHC didn't deal particularly well with
having multiple versions of packages installed at once. So if you
are using GHC 6.4.1 or older and you have an older version of Cabal
installed, you probably just want to remove it:

    ghc-pkg unregister Cabal

or if you had Cabal installed just for your user account then:

    ghc-pkg unregister Cabal --user


The `filepath` dependency
=========================

Cabal now uses the `filepath` package so that must be installed first.
GHC-6.6.1 and later come with `filepath` however earlier versions do not by
default. If you do not already have `filepath` then you need to install it. You
can use any existing version of Cabal to do that. If you have neither Cabal or
filepath then it is slightly harder but still possible.

Unpack Cabal and filepath into separate directories. For example:

    tar -xzf filepath-1.1.0.0.tar.gz
    tar -xzf Cabal-1.6.0.0.tar.gz

    # rename to make the following instructions simpler:
    mv filepath-1.1.0.0/ filepath/
    mv Cabal-1.6.0.0/ Cabal/

    cd Cabal
    ghc -i../filepath -cpp --make Setup.hs -o ../filepath/setup
    cd ../filepath/
    ./setup configure --user
    ./setup build
    ./setup install

This installs filepath so you are then in a position to install Cabal by the
normal method.


More Information
================

Please see the web site for the [user guide] and API documentation.
There is some more information available on the [development wiki].

[user guide]:       http://www.haskell.org/cabal/
[development wiki]: http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/


Bugs
=======

Please report bugs and wish-list items in our [bug tracker].

[bug tracker]: https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues


Your Help
---------

To help us in the next round of development work it would be
enormously helpful to know from our users what their most pressing
problems are with Cabal and Hackage. You probably have a favourite
Cabal bug or limitation. Take a look at our [bug tracker]. Make sure
the problem is reported there and properly described. Comment on the
ticket to tell us how much of a problem the bug is for you. Add
yourself to the ticket's cc list so we can discuss requirements and
keep you informed on progress. For feature requests it is very
helpful if there is a description of how you would expect to
interact with the new feature.


Code
=======

You can get the code from the web page; the version control system we
use is very open and welcoming to new developers.

You can get the main development branch:

> darcs get --partial http://darcs.haskell.org/cabal

and you can get the stable 1.6 branch:

> darcs get --partial http://darcs.haskell.org/cabal-branches/cabal-1.6


Credits
=======

Cabal Coders (in alphabetical order):

- Krasimir Angelov
- Bjorn Bringert
- Duncan Coutts
- Isaac Jones
- David Himmelstrup (Lemmih)
- Simon Marlow
- Ross Patterson
- Thomas Schilling
- Martin Sjögren
- Malcolm Wallace
- and nearly 30 other people have contributed occasional patches

Cabal spec:

- Isaac Jones
- Simon Marlow
- Ross Patterson
- Simon Peyton Jones
- Malcolm Wallace