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 a single directory,
71 <literal>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></literal>, with the
76 <indexterm><primary>binary distribution, layout</primary></indexterm>
77 <indexterm><primary>directory layout (binary distributions)</primary></indexterm>
81 <term><literal>Makefile.in</literal></term>
84 the raw material from which the <literal>Makefile</literal>
85 will be made (<xref linkend="install"/>).
87 </listitem></varlistentry>
89 <term><literal>configure</literal></term>
92 the configuration script (<xref linkend="install"/>).
94 </listitem></varlistentry>
96 <term><literal>README</literal></term>
99 Contains this file summary.
101 </listitem></varlistentry>
103 <term><literal>INSTALL</literal></term>
106 Contains this description of how to install
109 </listitem></varlistentry>
111 <term><literal>ANNOUNCE</literal></term>
114 The announcement message for the bundle.
116 </listitem></varlistentry>
118 <term><literal>NEWS</literal></term>
121 release notes for the bundle—a longer version
122 of <literal>ANNOUNCE</literal>. For GHC, the release notes are contained in the User
123 Guide and this file isn't present.
125 </listitem></varlistentry>
127 <term><literal>bin/<replaceable>platform</replaceable></literal></term>
130 contains platform-specific executable
131 files to be invoked directly by the user. These are the files that
132 must end up in your path.
134 </listitem></varlistentry>
136 <term><literal>lib/<replaceable>platform</replaceable>/</literal></term>
139 contains platform-specific support
140 files for the installation. Typically there is a subdirectory for
141 each <literal>fptools</literal> project, whose name is the name of the project with its
142 version number. For example, for GHC there would be a sub-directory
143 <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal>/ where <literal>x.xx</literal> is the version number of GHC in the bundle.
147 These sub-directories have the following general structure:
154 <term><literal>libHSstd.a</literal> etc:</term>
157 supporting library archives.
159 </listitem></varlistentry>
161 <term><literal>ghc-iface.prl</literal> etc:</term>
166 </listitem></varlistentry>
168 <term><literal>import/</literal></term>
171 <indexterm><primary>Interface files</primary></indexterm> (<literal>.hi</literal>) for the prelude.
173 </listitem></varlistentry>
175 <term><literal>include/</literal></term>
178 A few C <literal>#include</literal> files.
180 </listitem></varlistentry>
183 </listitem></varlistentry>
185 <term><literal>share/</literal></term>
188 contains platform-independent support files
189 for the installation. Again, there is a sub-directory for each
190 <literal>fptools</literal> project.
192 </listitem></varlistentry>
194 <term><literal>html/</literal></term>
197 contains HTML documentation files (one
198 sub-directory per project).
200 </listitem></varlistentry>
205 <title>Installing</title>
208 OK, so let's assume that you have unpacked your chosen bundles. What
209 next? Well, you will at least need to run the
210 <literal>configure</literal><indexterm><primary>configure</primary></indexterm>
211 script by changing directory into the top-level directory for the
212 bundle and typing <literal>./configure</literal>. That should convert
213 <literal>Makefile.in</literal> to <literal>Makefile</literal>.
217 <indexterm><primary>installing in-place</primary></indexterm>
218 <indexterm><primary>in-place installation</primary></indexterm>
219 You can now either start using the tools <emphasis>in-situ</emphasis> without going
220 through any installation process, just type <literal>make in-place</literal> to set the
221 tools up for this. You'll also want to add the path which <literal>make</literal> will
222 now echo to your <literal>PATH</literal> environment variable. This option is useful if
223 you simply want to try out the package and/or you don't have the
224 necessary privileges (or inclination) to properly install the tools
225 locally. Note that if you do decide to install the package `properly'
226 at a later date, you have to go through the installation steps that
231 To install a package, you'll have to do the following:
240 Edit the <literal>Makefile</literal> and check the settings of the following variables:
242 <indexterm><primary>directories, installation</primary></indexterm>
243 <indexterm><primary>installation directories</primary></indexterm>
248 <term><literal>platform</literal></term>
251 the platform you are going to install for.
253 </listitem></varlistentry>
255 <term><literal>bindir</literal></term>
258 the directory in which to install user-invokable
261 </listitem></varlistentry>
263 <term><literal>libdir</literal></term>
266 the directory in which to install
267 platform-dependent support files.
269 </listitem></varlistentry>
271 <term><literal>datadir</literal></term>
274 the directory in which to install
275 platform-independent support files.
277 </listitem></varlistentry>
279 <term><literal>infodir</literal></term>
282 the directory in which to install Emacs info
285 </listitem></varlistentry>
287 <term><literal>htmldir</literal></term>
290 the directory in which to install HTML
293 </listitem></varlistentry>
295 <term><literal>dvidir</literal></term>
298 the directory in which to install DVI
301 </listitem></varlistentry>
304 The values for these variables can be set through invocation of the
305 <command>configure</command><indexterm><primary>configure</primary></indexterm>
306 script that comes with the distribution, but doing an optical diff to
307 see if the values match your expectations is always a Good Idea.
311 <emphasis>Instead of running <command>configure</command>, it is
312 perfectly OK to copy <filename>Makefile.in</filename> to
313 <filename>Makefile</filename> and set all these variables directly
314 yourself. But do it right!</emphasis>
321 Run <literal>make install</literal>. This <emphasis>
322 should</emphasis> work with ordinary Unix
323 <literal>make</literal>—no need for fancy stuff like GNU
324 <literal>make</literal>.
331 <literal>rehash</literal> (t?csh or zsh users), so your shell will see the new
332 stuff in your bin directory.
339 Once done, test your “installation” as suggested in
340 <xref linkend="GHC-test"/>. Be sure to use a <literal>-v</literal>
341 option, so you can see exactly what pathnames it's using.
343 If things don't work as expected, check the list of known pitfalls in
344 the <ulink url="http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Building">building guide</ulink>.
353 <indexterm><primary>link, installed as ghc</primary></indexterm>
354 When installing the user-invokable binaries, this installation
355 procedure will install GHC as <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> where <literal>x.xx</literal> is the version
356 number of GHC. It will also make a link (in the binary installation
357 directory) from <literal>ghc</literal> to <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal>. If you install multiple versions
358 of GHC then the last one “wins”, and “<literal>ghc</literal>” will invoke the last
359 one installed. You can change this manually if you want. But
360 regardless, <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> should always invoke GHC version <literal>x.xx</literal>.
367 <title>What bundles there are</title>
370 <indexterm><primary>bundles, binary</primary></indexterm> There are
371 plenty of “non-basic” GHC bundles. The files for them are
373 <literal>ghc-x.xx-<replaceable>bundle</replaceable>-<replaceable>platform</replaceable>.tar.gz</literal>,
374 where the <replaceable>platform</replaceable> is as above, and
375 <replaceable>bundle</replaceable> is one of these:
382 <term><literal>prof</literal>:</term>
385 Profiling with cost-centres. You probably want this.
386 <indexterm><primary>profiling bundles</primary></indexterm>
387 <indexterm><primary>bundles, profiling</primary></indexterm>
389 </listitem></varlistentry>
391 <term><literal>par</literal>:</term>
394 Parallel Haskell features (sits on top of PVM).
395 You'll want this if you're into that kind of thing.
396 <indexterm><primary>parallel bundles</primary></indexterm>
397 <indexterm><primary>bundles, parallel</primary></indexterm>
399 </listitem></varlistentry>
401 <term><literal>gran</literal>:</term>
404 The “GranSim” parallel-Haskell simulator
405 (hmm… mainly for implementors).
406 <indexterm><primary>bundles, gransim</primary></indexterm>
407 <indexterm><primary>gransim bundles</primary></indexterm>
409 </listitem></varlistentry>
411 <term><literal>ticky</literal>:</term>
414 “Ticky-ticky” profiling; very detailed
415 information about “what happened when I ran this program”—really
417 <indexterm><primary>bundles, ticky-ticky</primary></indexterm>
418 <indexterm><primary>ticky-ticky bundles</primary></indexterm>
420 </listitem></varlistentry>
425 One likely scenario is that you will grab <emphasis>two</emphasis>
426 binary bundles—basic, and profiling. We don't usually make the
427 rest, although you can build them yourself from a source distribution.
430 <para>The various GHC bundles are designed to be unpacked into the
431 same directory; then installing as per the directions above will
432 install the whole lot in one go. Note: you <emphasis>must</emphasis>
433 at least have the basic GHC binary distribution bundle, these extra
434 bundles won't install on their own.</para>
438 <sect3 id="GHC-test">
439 <title>Testing that GHC seems to be working
443 <indexterm><primary>testing a new GHC</primary></indexterm>
447 The way to do this is, of course, to compile and run <emphasis>this</emphasis> program
448 (in a file <literal>Main.hs</literal>):
454 main = putStr "Hello, world!\n"
460 Compile the program, using the <literal>-v</literal> (verbose) flag to verify that
461 libraries, etc., are being found properly:
464 % ghc -v -o hello Main.hs</screen>
473 Hello, world!</screen>
478 Some simple-but-profitable tests are to compile and run the notorious
479 <literal>nfib</literal><indexterm><primary>nfib</primary></indexterm> program, using different numeric types. Start with
480 <literal>nfib :: Int -> Int</literal>, and then try <literal>Integer</literal>, <literal>Float</literal>, <literal>Double</literal>,
481 <literal>Rational</literal> and perhaps the overloaded version. Code for this is
482 distributed in <literal>ghc/misc/examples/nfib/</literal> in a source distribution.
485 <para>For more information on how to “drive” GHC, read
495 <sect1 id="install-windows"><title>Installing on Windows</title>
498 Getting the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (post 5.02) to run on Windows platforms is
499 a snap: the installer does everything you need.
502 <sect2><title>Installing GHC on Windows</title>
505 To install GHC, use the following steps:
508 <listitem><para>Download the installer
511 url="http://www.haskell.org/ghc/download.html">GHC download page</ulink>.
514 <listitem><para>Run the installer.
515 On Windows, all of GHC's files are installed in a single directory.
516 You can override it, but by default this directory is
517 <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>.
518 The executable binary for GHC will be installed in the
519 <filename>bin/</filename> sub-directory of the installation directory.
520 If you want to invoke GHC from a command line, add this
521 to your PATH environment variable.
524 When installation is complete, you should find GHCi and the GHC
525 documentation are available in your Start menu under
526 "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>".
531 GHC needs a directory in which to create, and later delete, temporary files.
532 It uses the standard Windows procedure <literal>GetTempPath()</literal> to
533 find a suitable directory. This procedure returns:
535 <listitem><para>The path in environment variable TMP,
536 if TMP is set.</para></listitem>
537 <listitem><para>Otherwise, the path in environment variable TEMP,
538 if TEMP is set.</para></listitem>
539 <listitem><para>Otherwise, there is a per-user default which varies
540 between versions of Windows. On NT and XP-ish versions, it might
542 <filename>c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp</filename>
545 The main point is that if you don't do anything GHC will work fine;
546 but if you want to control where the directory is, you can do so by
552 To test the fruits of your labour, try now to compile a simple
558 module Main(main) where
560 main = putStrLn "Hello, world!"
561 bash$ ghc -o main main.hs
570 You do <emphasis>not</emphasis> need the Cygwin toolchain, or anything
571 else, to install and run GHC.
574 An installation of GHC requires about 340M of disk space.
575 To run GHC comfortably, your machine should have at least
580 <sect2><title>Moving GHC around</title>
582 Once GHC is installed, you can freely move the entire GHC tree just by copying
583 the <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>
584 directory. (You will need to fix up
585 the links in "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>"
589 It is OK to put GHC tree in a directory whose path involves spaces. However,
590 don't do this if you use want to use GHC with the Cygwin tools,
591 because Cygwin can get confused when this happens.
592 We havn't quite got to the bottom of this, but so far as we know it's not
593 a problem with GHC itself. Nevertheless, just to keep life simple we usually
594 put GHC in a place with a space-free path.
599 <title>Installing ghc-win32 FAQ</title>
603 <term>I'm having trouble with symlinks.</term>
605 <para>Symlinks only work under Cygwin (<xref linkend="install" />),
606 so binaries not linked to the Cygwin
607 DLL, in particular those built for Mingwin, will not work with
613 <term>I'm getting “permission denied” messages from the
614 <command>rm</command> or <command>mv</command>.</term>
616 <para>This can have various causes: trying to rename a directory
617 when an Explorer window is open on it tends to fail. Closing the
618 window generally cures the problem, but sometimes its cause is
619 more mysterious, and logging off and back on or rebooting may be
620 the quickest cure.</para>
629 <sect1 id="install-files"><title>The layout of installed files</title>
632 This section describes what files get installed where. You don't need to know it
633 if you are simply installing GHC, but it is vital information if you are changing
636 <para> GHC is installed in two directory trees:</para>
639 <term>Library directory,</term>
640 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>, holds all the
641 support files needed to run GHC. On Unix, this
642 directory is usually something like <filename>/usr/lib/ghc/ghc-5.02</filename>. </para>
646 <term>Binary directory</term>
647 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(bindir)</filename>, holds executables that
648 the user is expected to invoke.
650 <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>. On Unix, this directory
651 can be anywhere, but is typically something like <filename>/usr/local/bin</filename>. On Windows,
652 however, this directory <emphasis>must be</emphasis> <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
659 When GHC runs, it must know where its library directory is.
660 It finds this out in one of two ways:
665 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is passed to GHC using the <option>-B</option> flag.
666 On Unix (but not Windows), the installed <filename>ghc</filename> is just a one-line
667 shell script that invokes the real GHC, passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag.
668 [All the user-supplied flags
669 follow, and a later <option>-B</option> flag overrides an earlier one, so a user-supplied
674 <para> On Windows (but not Unix), if no <option>-B</option> flag is given, GHC uses a system
675 call to find the directory in which the running GHC executable lives, and derives
676 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> from that. [Unix lacks such a system call.]
677 That is why <filename>$(bindir)</filename> must be <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
682 <sect2> <title>The binary directory</title>
684 <para>The binary directory, <filename>$(bindir)</filename> contains user-visible
685 executables, notably <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>.
686 You should add it to your <literal>$PATH</literal>
689 <para>On Unix, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> invokes <filename>$(libdir)/ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename>,
690 passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag to tell <filename>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename> where
691 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is.
692 Similarly <filename>ghci</filename>, except the extra flag <literal>--interactive</literal> is passed.
695 <para>On Win32, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> binary
696 is the Real Thing (no intervening
697 shell scripts or <filename>.bat</filename> files).
698 Reason: we sometimes invoke GHC with very long command lines,
699 and <filename>cmd.exe</filename> (which executes <filename>.bat</filename> files)
700 truncates them. Similarly <filename>ghci</filename> is a C wrapper program that invokes <filename>ghc --interactive</filename>
701 (passing on all other arguments), not a <filename>.bat</filename> file.
707 <sect2> <title>The library directory</title>
709 <para>The layout of the library directory, <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is almost identical on
710 Windows and Unix, as follows. Differences between Windows and Unix
711 are noted thus <literal>[Win32 only]</literal> and are commented below.</para>
715 package.conf GHC package configuration
716 ghc-usage.txt Message displayed by ghc ––help
718 bin/ [Win32 only] User-visible binaries
722 unlit Remove literate markup
724 touchy.exe [Win32 only]
725 perl.exe [Win32 only]
728 ghc-x.xx GHC executable [Unix only]
730 ghc-split Asm code splitter
731 ghc-asm Asm code mangler
733 gcc-lib/ [Win32 only] Support files for gcc
734 specs gcc configuration
736 cpp0.exe gcc support binaries
743 libmingw32.a Standard
748 imports/ GHC interface files
749 std/*.hi 'std' library
750 lang/*.hi 'lang' library
753 include/ C header files
754 StgMacros.h GHC-specific
755 ..etc... header files
757 mingw/*.h [Win32 only] Mingwin header files
759 libHSrts.a GHC library archives
764 HSstd1.o GHC library linkables
765 HSstd2.o (used by ghci, which does
766 HSlang.o not grok .a files yet)
773 <para><filename>$(libdir)</filename> also contains support
774 binaries. These are <emphasis>not</emphasis> expected to be
775 on the user's <filename>PATH</filename>, but and are invoked
776 directly by GHC. In the Makefile system, this directory is
777 also called <filename>$(libexecdir)</filename>, but
778 <emphasis>you are not free to change it</emphasis>. It must
779 be the same as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>.</para>
783 <para>We distribute <filename>gcc</filename> with the Win32 distribution of GHC, so that users
784 don't need to install <filename>gcc</filename>, nor need to care about which version it is.
785 All <filename>gcc</filename>'s support files are kept in <filename>$(libdir)/gcc-lib/</filename>.
790 <para>Similarly, we distribute <filename>perl</filename> and a <filename>touch</filename>
791 replacement (<filename>touchy.exe</filename>)
792 with the Win32 distribution of GHC. </para>
796 <para>The support programs <filename>ghc-split</filename>
797 and <filename>ghc-asm</filename> are Perl scripts. The
798 first line says <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal>; on Unix, the
799 script is indeed invoked as a shell script, which invokes
800 Perl; on Windows, GHC invokes
801 <filename>$(libdir)/perl.exe</filename> directly, which
802 treats the <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal> as a comment.
803 Reason: on Windows we want to invoke the Perl distributed
804 with GHC, rather than assume some installed one. </para>
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