1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
2 <chapter id="installing-bin-distrib">
3 <title>Installing GHC</title>
4 <indexterm><primary>binary installations</primary></indexterm>
5 <indexterm><primary>installation, of binaries</primary></indexterm>
8 Installing from binary distributions is easiest, and recommended!
9 (Why binaries? Because GHC is a Haskell compiler written in Haskell,
10 so you've got to bootstrap it somehow. We provide machine-generated
11 C-files-from-Haskell for this purpose, but it's really quite a pain to
12 use them. If you must build GHC from its sources, using a
13 binary-distributed GHC to do so is a sensible way to proceed.)
16 <para>This guide is in several parts:</para>
20 <para> Installing on Unix-a-likes (<xref
21 linkend="unix-a-likes"/>). </para>
24 <para> Installing on Windows (<xref
25 linkend="install-windows"/>). </para>
28 <para> The layout of installed files (<xref
29 linkend="install-files"/>). You don't need to know this to
30 install GHC, but it's useful if you are changing the
31 implementation.</para>
35 <sect1 id="unix-a-likes"><title>Installing on Unix-a-likes</title>
38 <title>When a platform-specific package is available</title>
40 <para>Most common OSes provide GHC binaries packaged
41 using the native package format for the platform. This is
42 likely to be by far the best way to install GHC for your
43 platform if one of these packages is available, since
44 dependencies will automatically be handled and the package
45 system normally provides a way to uninstall the package at a
48 <para>Check the <ulink url="http://www.haskell.org/ghc/distribution_packages.html">distribution packages</ulink> page to see if there is a package available for your platform.</para>
52 <title>GHC binary distributions</title>
55 <indexterm><primary>bundles of binary stuff</primary></indexterm>
59 Binary distributions come in “bundles,” called
60 <literal>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable>-<replaceable>platform</replaceable>.tar.bz2</literal>. (See the <ulink url="http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Building">building guide</ulink> for the definition of a platform.) Suppose that you untar a binary-distribution bundle, thus:
65 % cd /your/scratch/space
66 % bunnzip2 < ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable>-<replaceable>platform</replaceable>.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -</screen>
70 Then you should find the bundle contents inside a single directory,
71 <literal>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></literal>.
75 <title>Installing</title>
78 OK, so let's assume that you have unpacked your chosen bundles. What
79 next? Well, you will first need to
80 <literal>configure</literal><indexterm><primary>configure</primary></indexterm>
82 changing to the bundle's top-level directory
83 and typing <literal>./configure</literal>. That should convert
84 <literal>Makefile-vars.in</literal> to <literal>Makefile-vars</literal>.
88 The <literal>configure</literal> script takes a number of flags. The most
90 <literal>--prefix=<replaceable>/path/to/install/in</replaceable></literal>
91 flag, which tells the bundle that you want it to be installed in
92 <replaceable>/path/to/install/in</replaceable> rather than the default
93 location (/usr/local).
94 To see all the flags that configure accepts, run
95 <literal>configure --help</literal>.
99 Then do the following:
108 Run <literal>make install</literal>. This <emphasis>
109 should</emphasis> work with ordinary Unix
110 <literal>make</literal>—no need for fancy stuff like GNU
111 <literal>make</literal>.
117 If appropriate, add the bin directory to your PATH, as instructed.
123 You may need to run <literal>rehash</literal> (t?csh or zsh users), in
124 order for your shell to see the new stuff in your bin directory.
130 Once done, test your “installation” as suggested in
131 <xref linkend="GHC-test"/>. Be sure to use a <literal>-v</literal>
132 option, so you can see exactly what pathnames it's using.
133 If things don't work as expected, check the list of known pitfalls in
134 the <ulink url="http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Building">building guide</ulink>.
144 <indexterm><primary>link, installed as ghc</primary></indexterm>
145 When installing the user-invokable binaries, this installation
146 procedure will install GHC as <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> where <literal>x.xx</literal> is the version
147 number of GHC. It will also make a link (in the binary installation
148 directory) from <literal>ghc</literal> to <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal>. If you install multiple versions
149 of GHC then the last one “wins”, and “<literal>ghc</literal>” will invoke the last
150 one installed. You can change this manually if you want. But
151 regardless, <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> should always invoke GHC version <literal>x.xx</literal>.
158 <title>What bundles there are</title>
161 <indexterm><primary>bundles, binary</primary></indexterm> There are
162 plenty of “non-basic” GHC bundles. The files for them are
164 <literal>ghc-x.xx-<replaceable>bundle</replaceable>-<replaceable>platform</replaceable>.tar.gz</literal>,
165 where the <replaceable>platform</replaceable> is as above, and
166 <replaceable>bundle</replaceable> is one of these:
173 <term><literal>prof</literal>:</term>
176 Profiling with cost-centres. You probably want this.
177 <indexterm><primary>profiling bundles</primary></indexterm>
178 <indexterm><primary>bundles, profiling</primary></indexterm>
180 </listitem></varlistentry>
182 <term><literal>par</literal>:</term>
185 Parallel Haskell features (sits on top of PVM).
186 You'll want this if you're into that kind of thing.
187 <indexterm><primary>parallel bundles</primary></indexterm>
188 <indexterm><primary>bundles, parallel</primary></indexterm>
190 </listitem></varlistentry>
192 <term><literal>gran</literal>:</term>
195 The “GranSim” parallel-Haskell simulator
196 (hmm… mainly for implementors).
197 <indexterm><primary>bundles, gransim</primary></indexterm>
198 <indexterm><primary>gransim bundles</primary></indexterm>
200 </listitem></varlistentry>
202 <term><literal>ticky</literal>:</term>
205 “Ticky-ticky” profiling; very detailed
206 information about “what happened when I ran this program”—really
208 <indexterm><primary>bundles, ticky-ticky</primary></indexterm>
209 <indexterm><primary>ticky-ticky bundles</primary></indexterm>
211 </listitem></varlistentry>
216 One likely scenario is that you will grab <emphasis>two</emphasis>
217 binary bundles—basic, and profiling. We don't usually make the
218 rest, although you can build them yourself from a source distribution.
221 <para>The various GHC bundles are designed to be unpacked into the
222 same directory; then installing as per the directions above will
223 install the whole lot in one go. Note: you <emphasis>must</emphasis>
224 at least have the basic GHC binary distribution bundle, these extra
225 bundles won't install on their own.</para>
229 <sect3 id="GHC-test">
230 <title>Testing that GHC seems to be working
234 <indexterm><primary>testing a new GHC</primary></indexterm>
238 The way to do this is, of course, to compile and run <emphasis>this</emphasis> program
239 (in a file <literal>Main.hs</literal>):
245 main = putStr "Hello, world!\n"
251 Compile the program, using the <literal>-v</literal> (verbose) flag to verify that
252 libraries, etc., are being found properly:
255 % ghc -v -o hello Main.hs</screen>
264 Hello, world!</screen>
269 Some simple-but-profitable tests are to compile and run the notorious
270 <literal>nfib</literal><indexterm><primary>nfib</primary></indexterm> program, using different numeric types. Start with
271 <literal>nfib :: Int -> Int</literal>, and then try <literal>Integer</literal>, <literal>Float</literal>, <literal>Double</literal>,
272 <literal>Rational</literal> and perhaps the overloaded version. Code for this is
273 distributed in <literal>ghc/misc/examples/nfib/</literal> in a source distribution.
276 <para>For more information on how to “drive” GHC, read
286 <sect1 id="install-windows"><title>Installing on Windows</title>
289 Getting the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (post 5.02) to run on Windows platforms is
290 a snap: the installer does everything you need.
293 <sect2><title>Installing GHC on Windows</title>
296 To install GHC, use the following steps:
299 <listitem><para>Download the installer
302 url="http://www.haskell.org/ghc/download.html">GHC download page</ulink>.
305 <listitem><para>Run the installer.
306 On Windows, all of GHC's files are installed in a single directory.
307 You can override it, but by default this directory is
308 <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>.
309 The executable binary for GHC will be installed in the
310 <filename>bin/</filename> sub-directory of the installation directory.
311 If you want to invoke GHC from a command line, add this
312 to your PATH environment variable.
315 When installation is complete, you should find GHCi and the GHC
316 documentation are available in your Start menu under
317 "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>".
322 GHC needs a directory in which to create, and later delete, temporary files.
323 It uses the standard Windows procedure <literal>GetTempPath()</literal> to
324 find a suitable directory. This procedure returns:
326 <listitem><para>The path in environment variable TMP,
327 if TMP is set.</para></listitem>
328 <listitem><para>Otherwise, the path in environment variable TEMP,
329 if TEMP is set.</para></listitem>
330 <listitem><para>Otherwise, there is a per-user default which varies
331 between versions of Windows. On NT and XP-ish versions, it might
333 <filename>c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp</filename>
336 The main point is that if you don't do anything GHC will work fine;
337 but if you want to control where the directory is, you can do so by
343 To test the fruits of your labour, try now to compile a simple
349 module Main(main) where
351 main = putStrLn "Hello, world!"
352 bash$ ghc -o main main.hs
361 You do <emphasis>not</emphasis> need the Cygwin toolchain, or anything
362 else, to install and run GHC.
365 An installation of GHC requires about 340M of disk space.
366 To run GHC comfortably, your machine should have at least
371 <sect2><title>Moving GHC around</title>
373 Once GHC is installed, you can freely move the entire GHC tree just by copying
374 the <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>
375 directory. (You will need to fix up
376 the links in "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>"
380 It is OK to put GHC tree in a directory whose path involves spaces. However,
381 don't do this if you use want to use GHC with the Cygwin tools,
382 because Cygwin can get confused when this happens.
383 We havn't quite got to the bottom of this, but so far as we know it's not
384 a problem with GHC itself. Nevertheless, just to keep life simple we usually
385 put GHC in a place with a space-free path.
390 <title>Installing ghc-win32 FAQ</title>
394 <term>I'm having trouble with symlinks.</term>
396 <para>Symlinks only work under Cygwin (<xref linkend="install" />),
397 so binaries not linked to the Cygwin
398 DLL, in particular those built for Mingwin, will not work with
404 <term>I'm getting “permission denied” messages from the
405 <command>rm</command> or <command>mv</command>.</term>
407 <para>This can have various causes: trying to rename a directory
408 when an Explorer window is open on it tends to fail. Closing the
409 window generally cures the problem, but sometimes its cause is
410 more mysterious, and logging off and back on or rebooting may be
411 the quickest cure.</para>
420 <sect1 id="install-files"><title>The layout of installed files</title>
423 This section describes what files get installed where. You don't need to know it
424 if you are simply installing GHC, but it is vital information if you are changing
427 <para> GHC is installed in two directory trees:</para>
430 <term>Library directory,</term>
431 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>, holds all the
432 support files needed to run GHC. On Unix, this
433 directory is usually something like <filename>/usr/lib/ghc/ghc-5.02</filename>. </para>
437 <term>Binary directory</term>
438 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(bindir)</filename>, holds executables that
439 the user is expected to invoke.
441 <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>. On Unix, this directory
442 can be anywhere, but is typically something like <filename>/usr/local/bin</filename>. On Windows,
443 however, this directory <emphasis>must be</emphasis> <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
450 When GHC runs, it must know where its library directory is.
451 It finds this out in one of two ways:
456 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is passed to GHC using the <option>-B</option> flag.
457 On Unix (but not Windows), the installed <filename>ghc</filename> is just a one-line
458 shell script that invokes the real GHC, passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag.
459 [All the user-supplied flags
460 follow, and a later <option>-B</option> flag overrides an earlier one, so a user-supplied
465 <para> On Windows (but not Unix), if no <option>-B</option> flag is given, GHC uses a system
466 call to find the directory in which the running GHC executable lives, and derives
467 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> from that. [Unix lacks such a system call.]
468 That is why <filename>$(bindir)</filename> must be <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
473 <sect2> <title>The binary directory</title>
475 <para>The binary directory, <filename>$(bindir)</filename> contains user-visible
476 executables, notably <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>.
477 You should add it to your <literal>$PATH</literal>
480 <para>On Unix, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> invokes <filename>$(libdir)/ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename>,
481 passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag to tell <filename>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename> where
482 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is.
483 Similarly <filename>ghci</filename>, except the extra flag <literal>--interactive</literal> is passed.
486 <para>On Win32, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> binary
487 is the Real Thing (no intervening
488 shell scripts or <filename>.bat</filename> files).
489 Reason: we sometimes invoke GHC with very long command lines,
490 and <filename>cmd.exe</filename> (which executes <filename>.bat</filename> files)
491 truncates them. Similarly <filename>ghci</filename> is a C wrapper program that invokes <filename>ghc --interactive</filename>
492 (passing on all other arguments), not a <filename>.bat</filename> file.
498 <sect2> <title>The library directory</title>
500 <para>The layout of the library directory, <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is almost identical on
501 Windows and Unix, as follows. Differences between Windows and Unix
502 are noted thus <literal>[Win32 only]</literal> and are commented below.</para>
506 package.conf GHC package configuration
507 ghc-usage.txt Message displayed by ghc ––help
509 bin/ [Win32 only] User-visible binaries
513 unlit Remove literate markup
515 touchy.exe [Win32 only]
516 perl.exe [Win32 only]
519 ghc-x.xx GHC executable [Unix only]
521 ghc-split Asm code splitter
522 ghc-asm Asm code mangler
524 gcc-lib/ [Win32 only] Support files for gcc
525 specs gcc configuration
527 cpp0.exe gcc support binaries
534 libmingw32.a Standard
539 imports/ GHC interface files
540 std/*.hi 'std' library
541 lang/*.hi 'lang' library
544 include/ C header files
545 StgMacros.h GHC-specific
546 ..etc... header files
548 mingw/*.h [Win32 only] Mingwin header files
550 libHSrts.a GHC library archives
555 HSstd1.o GHC library linkables
556 HSstd2.o (used by ghci, which does
557 HSlang.o not grok .a files yet)
564 <para><filename>$(libdir)</filename> also contains support
565 binaries. These are <emphasis>not</emphasis> expected to be
566 on the user's <filename>PATH</filename>, but and are invoked
567 directly by GHC. In the Makefile system, this directory is
568 also called <filename>$(libexecdir)</filename>, but
569 <emphasis>you are not free to change it</emphasis>. It must
570 be the same as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>.</para>
574 <para>We distribute <filename>gcc</filename> with the Win32 distribution of GHC, so that users
575 don't need to install <filename>gcc</filename>, nor need to care about which version it is.
576 All <filename>gcc</filename>'s support files are kept in <filename>$(libdir)/gcc-lib/</filename>.
581 <para>Similarly, we distribute <filename>perl</filename> and a <filename>touch</filename>
582 replacement (<filename>touchy.exe</filename>)
583 with the Win32 distribution of GHC. </para>
587 <para>The support programs <filename>ghc-split</filename>
588 and <filename>ghc-asm</filename> are Perl scripts. The
589 first line says <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal>; on Unix, the
590 script is indeed invoked as a shell script, which invokes
591 Perl; on Windows, GHC invokes
592 <filename>$(libdir)/perl.exe</filename> directly, which
593 treats the <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal> as a comment.
594 Reason: on Windows we want to invoke the Perl distributed
595 with GHC, rather than assume some installed one. </para>
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