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 at least need to run the
80 <literal>configure</literal><indexterm><primary>configure</primary></indexterm>
81 script by changing directory into the top-level directory for the
82 bundle and typing <literal>./configure</literal>. That should convert
83 <literal>Makefile-vars.in</literal> to <literal>Makefile-vars</literal>.
87 The <literal>configure</literal> script takes a number of flags. The most
89 <literal>--prefix=<replaceable>/path/to/install/in</replaceable></literal>
90 flag, which tells the bundle that you want it to be installed in
91 <replaceable>/path/to/install/in</replaceable> rather than the default
92 location (/usr/local).
93 To see all the flags that configure accepts, run
94 <literal>configure --help</literal>.
98 To install a package, you'll have to do the following:
107 Run <literal>make install</literal>. This <emphasis>
108 should</emphasis> work with ordinary Unix
109 <literal>make</literal>—no need for fancy stuff like GNU
110 <literal>make</literal>.
117 <literal>rehash</literal> (t?csh or zsh users), so your shell will see the new
118 stuff in your bin directory.
125 Once done, test your “installation” as suggested in
126 <xref linkend="GHC-test"/>. Be sure to use a <literal>-v</literal>
127 option, so you can see exactly what pathnames it's using.
129 If things don't work as expected, check the list of known pitfalls in
130 the <ulink url="http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Building">building guide</ulink>.
139 <indexterm><primary>link, installed as ghc</primary></indexterm>
140 When installing the user-invokable binaries, this installation
141 procedure will install GHC as <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> where <literal>x.xx</literal> is the version
142 number of GHC. It will also make a link (in the binary installation
143 directory) from <literal>ghc</literal> to <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal>. If you install multiple versions
144 of GHC then the last one “wins”, and “<literal>ghc</literal>” will invoke the last
145 one installed. You can change this manually if you want. But
146 regardless, <literal>ghc-x.xx</literal> should always invoke GHC version <literal>x.xx</literal>.
153 <title>What bundles there are</title>
156 <indexterm><primary>bundles, binary</primary></indexterm> There are
157 plenty of “non-basic” GHC bundles. The files for them are
159 <literal>ghc-x.xx-<replaceable>bundle</replaceable>-<replaceable>platform</replaceable>.tar.gz</literal>,
160 where the <replaceable>platform</replaceable> is as above, and
161 <replaceable>bundle</replaceable> is one of these:
168 <term><literal>prof</literal>:</term>
171 Profiling with cost-centres. You probably want this.
172 <indexterm><primary>profiling bundles</primary></indexterm>
173 <indexterm><primary>bundles, profiling</primary></indexterm>
175 </listitem></varlistentry>
177 <term><literal>par</literal>:</term>
180 Parallel Haskell features (sits on top of PVM).
181 You'll want this if you're into that kind of thing.
182 <indexterm><primary>parallel bundles</primary></indexterm>
183 <indexterm><primary>bundles, parallel</primary></indexterm>
185 </listitem></varlistentry>
187 <term><literal>gran</literal>:</term>
190 The “GranSim” parallel-Haskell simulator
191 (hmm… mainly for implementors).
192 <indexterm><primary>bundles, gransim</primary></indexterm>
193 <indexterm><primary>gransim bundles</primary></indexterm>
195 </listitem></varlistentry>
197 <term><literal>ticky</literal>:</term>
200 “Ticky-ticky” profiling; very detailed
201 information about “what happened when I ran this program”—really
203 <indexterm><primary>bundles, ticky-ticky</primary></indexterm>
204 <indexterm><primary>ticky-ticky bundles</primary></indexterm>
206 </listitem></varlistentry>
211 One likely scenario is that you will grab <emphasis>two</emphasis>
212 binary bundles—basic, and profiling. We don't usually make the
213 rest, although you can build them yourself from a source distribution.
216 <para>The various GHC bundles are designed to be unpacked into the
217 same directory; then installing as per the directions above will
218 install the whole lot in one go. Note: you <emphasis>must</emphasis>
219 at least have the basic GHC binary distribution bundle, these extra
220 bundles won't install on their own.</para>
224 <sect3 id="GHC-test">
225 <title>Testing that GHC seems to be working
229 <indexterm><primary>testing a new GHC</primary></indexterm>
233 The way to do this is, of course, to compile and run <emphasis>this</emphasis> program
234 (in a file <literal>Main.hs</literal>):
240 main = putStr "Hello, world!\n"
246 Compile the program, using the <literal>-v</literal> (verbose) flag to verify that
247 libraries, etc., are being found properly:
250 % ghc -v -o hello Main.hs</screen>
259 Hello, world!</screen>
264 Some simple-but-profitable tests are to compile and run the notorious
265 <literal>nfib</literal><indexterm><primary>nfib</primary></indexterm> program, using different numeric types. Start with
266 <literal>nfib :: Int -> Int</literal>, and then try <literal>Integer</literal>, <literal>Float</literal>, <literal>Double</literal>,
267 <literal>Rational</literal> and perhaps the overloaded version. Code for this is
268 distributed in <literal>ghc/misc/examples/nfib/</literal> in a source distribution.
271 <para>For more information on how to “drive” GHC, read
281 <sect1 id="install-windows"><title>Installing on Windows</title>
284 Getting the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (post 5.02) to run on Windows platforms is
285 a snap: the installer does everything you need.
288 <sect2><title>Installing GHC on Windows</title>
291 To install GHC, use the following steps:
294 <listitem><para>Download the installer
297 url="http://www.haskell.org/ghc/download.html">GHC download page</ulink>.
300 <listitem><para>Run the installer.
301 On Windows, all of GHC's files are installed in a single directory.
302 You can override it, but by default this directory is
303 <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>.
304 The executable binary for GHC will be installed in the
305 <filename>bin/</filename> sub-directory of the installation directory.
306 If you want to invoke GHC from a command line, add this
307 to your PATH environment variable.
310 When installation is complete, you should find GHCi and the GHC
311 documentation are available in your Start menu under
312 "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>".
317 GHC needs a directory in which to create, and later delete, temporary files.
318 It uses the standard Windows procedure <literal>GetTempPath()</literal> to
319 find a suitable directory. This procedure returns:
321 <listitem><para>The path in environment variable TMP,
322 if TMP is set.</para></listitem>
323 <listitem><para>Otherwise, the path in environment variable TEMP,
324 if TEMP is set.</para></listitem>
325 <listitem><para>Otherwise, there is a per-user default which varies
326 between versions of Windows. On NT and XP-ish versions, it might
328 <filename>c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp</filename>
331 The main point is that if you don't do anything GHC will work fine;
332 but if you want to control where the directory is, you can do so by
338 To test the fruits of your labour, try now to compile a simple
344 module Main(main) where
346 main = putStrLn "Hello, world!"
347 bash$ ghc -o main main.hs
356 You do <emphasis>not</emphasis> need the Cygwin toolchain, or anything
357 else, to install and run GHC.
360 An installation of GHC requires about 340M of disk space.
361 To run GHC comfortably, your machine should have at least
366 <sect2><title>Moving GHC around</title>
368 Once GHC is installed, you can freely move the entire GHC tree just by copying
369 the <filename>c:/ghc/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable></filename>
370 directory. (You will need to fix up
371 the links in "Start/All Programs/GHC/<replaceable>ghc-version</replaceable>"
375 It is OK to put GHC tree in a directory whose path involves spaces. However,
376 don't do this if you use want to use GHC with the Cygwin tools,
377 because Cygwin can get confused when this happens.
378 We havn't quite got to the bottom of this, but so far as we know it's not
379 a problem with GHC itself. Nevertheless, just to keep life simple we usually
380 put GHC in a place with a space-free path.
385 <title>Installing ghc-win32 FAQ</title>
389 <term>I'm having trouble with symlinks.</term>
391 <para>Symlinks only work under Cygwin (<xref linkend="install" />),
392 so binaries not linked to the Cygwin
393 DLL, in particular those built for Mingwin, will not work with
399 <term>I'm getting “permission denied” messages from the
400 <command>rm</command> or <command>mv</command>.</term>
402 <para>This can have various causes: trying to rename a directory
403 when an Explorer window is open on it tends to fail. Closing the
404 window generally cures the problem, but sometimes its cause is
405 more mysterious, and logging off and back on or rebooting may be
406 the quickest cure.</para>
415 <sect1 id="install-files"><title>The layout of installed files</title>
418 This section describes what files get installed where. You don't need to know it
419 if you are simply installing GHC, but it is vital information if you are changing
422 <para> GHC is installed in two directory trees:</para>
425 <term>Library directory,</term>
426 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>, holds all the
427 support files needed to run GHC. On Unix, this
428 directory is usually something like <filename>/usr/lib/ghc/ghc-5.02</filename>. </para>
432 <term>Binary directory</term>
433 <listitem> <para> known as <filename>$(bindir)</filename>, holds executables that
434 the user is expected to invoke.
436 <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>. On Unix, this directory
437 can be anywhere, but is typically something like <filename>/usr/local/bin</filename>. On Windows,
438 however, this directory <emphasis>must be</emphasis> <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
445 When GHC runs, it must know where its library directory is.
446 It finds this out in one of two ways:
451 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is passed to GHC using the <option>-B</option> flag.
452 On Unix (but not Windows), the installed <filename>ghc</filename> is just a one-line
453 shell script that invokes the real GHC, passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag.
454 [All the user-supplied flags
455 follow, and a later <option>-B</option> flag overrides an earlier one, so a user-supplied
460 <para> On Windows (but not Unix), if no <option>-B</option> flag is given, GHC uses a system
461 call to find the directory in which the running GHC executable lives, and derives
462 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> from that. [Unix lacks such a system call.]
463 That is why <filename>$(bindir)</filename> must be <filename>$(libdir)/bin</filename>.
468 <sect2> <title>The binary directory</title>
470 <para>The binary directory, <filename>$(bindir)</filename> contains user-visible
471 executables, notably <filename>ghc</filename> and <filename>ghci</filename>.
472 You should add it to your <literal>$PATH</literal>
475 <para>On Unix, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> invokes <filename>$(libdir)/ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename>,
476 passing a suitable <option>-B</option> flag to tell <filename>ghc-<replaceable>version</replaceable></filename> where
477 <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is.
478 Similarly <filename>ghci</filename>, except the extra flag <literal>--interactive</literal> is passed.
481 <para>On Win32, the user-invokable <filename>ghc</filename> binary
482 is the Real Thing (no intervening
483 shell scripts or <filename>.bat</filename> files).
484 Reason: we sometimes invoke GHC with very long command lines,
485 and <filename>cmd.exe</filename> (which executes <filename>.bat</filename> files)
486 truncates them. Similarly <filename>ghci</filename> is a C wrapper program that invokes <filename>ghc --interactive</filename>
487 (passing on all other arguments), not a <filename>.bat</filename> file.
493 <sect2> <title>The library directory</title>
495 <para>The layout of the library directory, <filename>$(libdir)</filename> is almost identical on
496 Windows and Unix, as follows. Differences between Windows and Unix
497 are noted thus <literal>[Win32 only]</literal> and are commented below.</para>
501 package.conf GHC package configuration
502 ghc-usage.txt Message displayed by ghc ––help
504 bin/ [Win32 only] User-visible binaries
508 unlit Remove literate markup
510 touchy.exe [Win32 only]
511 perl.exe [Win32 only]
514 ghc-x.xx GHC executable [Unix only]
516 ghc-split Asm code splitter
517 ghc-asm Asm code mangler
519 gcc-lib/ [Win32 only] Support files for gcc
520 specs gcc configuration
522 cpp0.exe gcc support binaries
529 libmingw32.a Standard
534 imports/ GHC interface files
535 std/*.hi 'std' library
536 lang/*.hi 'lang' library
539 include/ C header files
540 StgMacros.h GHC-specific
541 ..etc... header files
543 mingw/*.h [Win32 only] Mingwin header files
545 libHSrts.a GHC library archives
550 HSstd1.o GHC library linkables
551 HSstd2.o (used by ghci, which does
552 HSlang.o not grok .a files yet)
559 <para><filename>$(libdir)</filename> also contains support
560 binaries. These are <emphasis>not</emphasis> expected to be
561 on the user's <filename>PATH</filename>, but and are invoked
562 directly by GHC. In the Makefile system, this directory is
563 also called <filename>$(libexecdir)</filename>, but
564 <emphasis>you are not free to change it</emphasis>. It must
565 be the same as <filename>$(libdir)</filename>.</para>
569 <para>We distribute <filename>gcc</filename> with the Win32 distribution of GHC, so that users
570 don't need to install <filename>gcc</filename>, nor need to care about which version it is.
571 All <filename>gcc</filename>'s support files are kept in <filename>$(libdir)/gcc-lib/</filename>.
576 <para>Similarly, we distribute <filename>perl</filename> and a <filename>touch</filename>
577 replacement (<filename>touchy.exe</filename>)
578 with the Win32 distribution of GHC. </para>
582 <para>The support programs <filename>ghc-split</filename>
583 and <filename>ghc-asm</filename> are Perl scripts. The
584 first line says <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal>; on Unix, the
585 script is indeed invoked as a shell script, which invokes
586 Perl; on Windows, GHC invokes
587 <filename>$(libdir)/perl.exe</filename> directly, which
588 treats the <literal>#!/bin/perl</literal> as a comment.
589 Reason: on Windows we want to invoke the Perl distributed
590 with GHC, rather than assume some installed one. </para>
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