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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>.
157 <sect3 id="GHC-test">
158 <title>Testing that GHC seems to be working
162 <indexterm><primary>testing a new GHC</primary></indexterm>
166 The way to do this is, of course, to compile and run <emphasis>this</emphasis> program
167 (in a file <literal>Main.hs</literal>):
173 main = putStr "Hello, world!\n"
179 Compile the program, using the <literal>-v</literal> (verbose) flag to verify that
180 libraries, etc., are being found properly:
183 % ghc -v -o hello Main.hs</screen>
192 Hello, world!</screen>
197 Some simple-but-profitable tests are to compile and run the notorious
198 <literal>nfib</literal><indexterm><primary>nfib</primary></indexterm> program, using different numeric types. Start with
199 <literal>nfib :: Int -> Int</literal>, and then try <literal>Integer</literal>, <literal>Float</literal>, <literal>Double</literal>,
200 <literal>Rational</literal> and perhaps the overloaded version. Code for this is
201 distributed in <literal>ghc/misc/examples/nfib/</literal> in a source distribution.
204 <para>For more information on how to “drive” GHC, read
214 <sect1 id="install-windows"><title>Installing on Windows</title>
217 Getting the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (post 5.02) to run on Windows platforms is
218 a snap: the installer does everything you need.
221 <sect2><title>Installing GHC on Windows</title>
224 To install GHC, use the following steps:
227 <listitem><para>Download the installer
230 url="http://www.haskell.org/ghc/download.html">GHC download page</ulink>.
233 <listitem><para>Run the installer.
234 On Windows, all of GHC's files are installed in a single directory.
235 You can override it, but by default this directory is
236 <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>.
237 The executable binary for GHC will be installed in the
238 <filename>bin/</filename> sub-directory of the installation directory.
239 If you want to invoke GHC from a command line, add this
240 to your PATH environment variable.
243 When installation is complete, you should find GHCi and the GHC
244 documentation are available in your Start menu under
245 "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>".
250 GHC needs a directory in which to create, and later delete, temporary files.
251 It uses the standard Windows procedure <literal>GetTempPath()</literal> to
252 find a suitable directory. This procedure returns:
254 <listitem><para>The path in environment variable TMP,
255 if TMP is set.</para></listitem>
256 <listitem><para>Otherwise, the path in environment variable TEMP,
257 if TEMP is set.</para></listitem>
258 <listitem><para>Otherwise, there is a per-user default which varies
259 between versions of Windows. On NT and XP-ish versions, it might
261 <filename>c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp</filename>
264 The main point is that if you don't do anything GHC will work fine;
265 but if you want to control where the directory is, you can do so by
271 To test the fruits of your labour, try now to compile a simple
277 module Main(main) where
279 main = putStrLn "Hello, world!"
280 bash$ ghc -o main main.hs
289 You do <emphasis>not</emphasis> need the Cygwin toolchain, or anything
290 else, to install and run GHC.
293 An installation of GHC requires about 340M of disk space.
294 To run GHC comfortably, your machine should have at least
299 <sect2><title>Moving GHC around</title>
301 Once GHC is installed, you can freely move the entire GHC tree just by copying
302 the <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>
303 directory. (You will need to fix up
304 the links in "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>"
308 It is OK to put GHC tree in a directory whose path involves spaces. However,
309 don't do this if you use want to use GHC with the Cygwin tools,
310 because Cygwin can get confused when this happens.
311 We havn't quite got to the bottom of this, but so far as we know it's not
312 a problem with GHC itself. Nevertheless, just to keep life simple we usually
313 put GHC in a place with a space-free path.
318 <title>Installing ghc-win32 FAQ</title>
322 <term>I'm having trouble with symlinks.</term>
324 <para>Symlinks only work under Cygwin (<xref linkend="install" />),
325 so binaries not linked to the Cygwin
326 DLL, in particular those built for Mingwin, will not work with
332 <term>I'm getting “permission denied” messages from the
333 <command>rm</command> or <command>mv</command>.</term>
335 <para>This can have various causes: trying to rename a directory
336 when an Explorer window is open on it tends to fail. Closing the
337 window generally cures the problem, but sometimes its cause is
338 more mysterious, and logging off and back on or rebooting may be
339 the quickest cure.</para>
348 <sect1 id="install-files"><title>The layout of installed files</title>
351 This section describes what files get installed where. You don't need to know it
352 if you are simply installing GHC, but it is vital information if you are changing
355 <para> GHC is installed in two directory trees:</para>
358 <term>Library directory,</term>
359 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>, holds all the
360 support files needed to run GHC. On Unix, this
361 directory is usually something like <filename>/usr/lib/ghc/ghc-5.02</filename>. </para>
365 <term>Binary directory</term>
366 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(bindir)</filename>, holds executables that
367 the user is expected to invoke.
369 <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>. On Unix, this directory
370 can be anywhere, but is typically something like <filename>/usr/local/bin</filename>. On Windows,
371 however, this directory <emphasis>must be</emphasis> <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
378 When GHC runs, it must know where its library directory is.
379 It finds this out in one of two ways:
384 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is passed to GHC using the <option>-B</option> flag.
385 On Unix (but not Windows), the installed <filename>ghc</filename> is just a one-line
386 shell script that invokes the real GHC, passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag.
387 [All the user-supplied flags
388 follow, and a later <option>-B</option> flag overrides an earlier one, so a user-supplied
393 <para> On Windows (but not Unix), if no <option>-B</option> flag is given, GHC uses a system
394 call to find the directory in which the running GHC executable lives, and derives
395 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> from that. [Unix lacks such a system call.]
396 That is why <filename>$(bindir)</filename> must be <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
401 <sect2> <title>The binary directory</title>
403 <para>The binary directory, <filename>$(bindir)</filename> contains user-visible
404 executables, notably <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>.
405 You should add it to your <literal>$PATH</literal>
408 <para>On Unix, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> invokes <filename>$(libdir)/ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename>,
409 passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag to tell <filename>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename> where
410 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is.
411 Similarly <filename>ghci</filename>, except the extra flag <literal>--interactive</literal> is passed.
414 <para>On Win32, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> binary
415 is the Real Thing (no intervening
416 shell scripts or <filename>.bat</filename> files).
417 Reason: we sometimes invoke GHC with very long command lines,
418 and <filename>cmd.exe</filename> (which executes <filename>.bat</filename> files)
419 truncates them. Similarly <filename>ghci</filename> is a C wrapper program that invokes <filename>ghc --interactive</filename>
420 (passing on all other arguments), not a <filename>.bat</filename> file.
426 <sect2> <title>The library directory</title>
428 <para>The layout of the library directory, <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is almost identical on
429 Windows and Unix, as follows. Differences between Windows and Unix
430 are noted thus <literal>[Win32 only]</literal> and are commented below.</para>
434 package.conf GHC package configuration
435 ghc-usage.txt Message displayed by ghc ––help
437 bin/ [Win32 only] User-visible binaries
441 unlit Remove literate markup
443 touchy.exe [Win32 only]
444 perl.exe [Win32 only]
447 ghc-x.xx GHC executable [Unix only]
449 ghc-split Asm code splitter
450 ghc-asm Asm code mangler
452 gcc-lib/ [Win32 only] Support files for gcc
453 specs gcc configuration
455 cpp0.exe gcc support binaries
462 libmingw32.a Standard
467 imports/ GHC interface files
468 std/*.hi 'std' library
469 lang/*.hi 'lang' library
472 include/ C header files
473 StgMacros.h GHC-specific
474 ..etc... header files
476 mingw/*.h [Win32 only] Mingwin header files
478 libHSrts.a GHC library archives
483 HSstd1.o GHC library linkables
484 HSstd2.o (used by ghci, which does
485 HSlang.o not grok .a files yet)
492 <para><filename>$(libdir)</filename> also contains support
493 binaries. These are <emphasis>not</emphasis> expected to be
494 on the user's <filename>PATH</filename>, but and are invoked
495 directly by GHC. In the Makefile system, this directory is
496 also called <filename>$(libexecdir)</filename>, but
497 <emphasis>you are not free to change it</emphasis>. It must
498 be the same as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>.</para>
502 <para>We distribute <filename>gcc</filename> with the Win32 distribution of GHC, so that users
503 don't need to install <filename>gcc</filename>, nor need to care about which version it is.
504 All <filename>gcc</filename>'s support files are kept in <filename>$(libdir)/gcc-lib/</filename>.
509 <para>Similarly, we distribute <filename>perl</filename> and a <filename>touch</filename>
510 replacement (<filename>touchy.exe</filename>)
511 with the Win32 distribution of GHC. </para>
515 <para>The support programs <filename>ghc-split</filename>
516 and <filename>ghc-asm</filename> are Perl scripts. The
517 first line says <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal>; on Unix, the
518 script is indeed invoked as a shell script, which invokes
519 Perl; on Windows, GHC invokes
520 <filename>$(libdir)/perl.exe</filename> directly, which
521 treats the <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal> as a comment.
522 Reason: on Windows we want to invoke the Perl distributed
523 with GHC, rather than assume some installed one. </para>
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