[ghc-hetmet.git] / ghc / docs / users_guide / separate_compilation.sgml

  <sect1 id="separate-compilation">
    <title>Filenames and separate compilation</title>
    
    <indexterm><primary>separate compilation</primary></indexterm>
    <indexterm><primary>recompilation checker</primary></indexterm>
    <indexterm><primary>make and recompilation</primary></indexterm>
    
    <para>This section describes what files GHC expects to find, what
    files it creates, where these files are stored, and what options
    affect this behaviour.</para>

    <para>Note that this section is written with
    <firstterm>hierarchical modules</firstterm> in mind (see <xref
    linkend="hierarchical-modules">); hierarchical modules are an
    extension to Haskell 98 which extends the lexical syntax of
    module names to include a dot &lsquo;.&rsquo;.  Non-hierarchical
    modules are thus a special case in which none of the module names
    contain dots.</para>

    <para>Pathname conventions vary from system to system.  In
    particular, the directory separator is
    &lsquo;<literal>/</literal>&rsquo; on Unix systems and
    &lsquo;<literal>\</literal>&rsquo; on Windows systems.  In the
    sections that follow, we shall consistently use
    &lsquo;<literal>/</literal>&rsquo; as the directory separator;
    substitute this for the appropriate character for your
    system.</para>

    <sect2 id="source-files">
      <title>Haskell source files</title>
    
      <para>Each Haskell source module should be placed in a file on
      its own.</para>

      <para>The file should usually be named after the module name, by
      replacing dots in the module name by directory separators.  For
      example, on a Unix system, the module <literal>A.B.C</literal>
      should be placed in the file <literal>A/B/C.hs</literal>,
      relative to some base directory.  GHC's behaviour if this rule
      is not followed is fully defined by the following section (<xref
      linkend="output-files">).</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="output-files">
      <title>Output files</title>

      <indexterm><primary>interface files</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary><literal>.hi</literal> files</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary>object files</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary><literal>.o</literal> files</primary></indexterm>
      
      <para>When asked to compile a source file, GHC normally
      generates two files: an <firstterm>object file</firstterm>, and
      an <firstterm>interface file</firstterm>. </para>

      <para>The object file, which normally ends in a
      <literal>.o</literal> suffix (or <literal>.obj</literal> if
      you're on Windows), contains the compiled code for the module.</para>

      <para>The interface file,
      which normally ends in a <literal>.hi</literal> suffix, contains
      the information that GHC needs in order to compile further
      modules that depend on this module.  It contains things like the
      types of exported functions, definitions of data types, and so
      on.  It is stored in a binary format, so don't try to read one;
      use the <option>--show-iface</option> option instead (see <xref
      linkend="hi-options">).</para>

      <para>You should think of the object file and the interface file as a
      pair, since the interface file is in a sense a compiler-readable
      description of the contents of the object file.  If the
      interface file and object file get out of sync for any reason,
      then the compiler may end up making assumptions about the object
      file that aren't true; trouble will almost certainly follow.
      For this reason, we recommend keeping object files and interface
      files in the same place (GHC does this by default, but it is
      possible to override the defaults as we'll explain
      shortly).</para>

      <para>Every module has a <emphasis>module name</emphasis>
      defined in its source code (<literal>module A.B.C where
      ...</literal>).</para>

      <para>The name of the object file generated by GHC is derived
      according to the following rules, where
      <replaceable>osuf</replaceable> is the object-file suffix (this
      can be changed with the <option>-osuf</option> option).</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>If there is no <option>-odir</option> option (the
          default), then the object filename is derived from the
          source filename by replacing the suffix with
          <replaceable>osuf</replaceable>.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>If
          <option>-odir</option>&nbsp;<replaceable>dir</replaceable>
          has been specified, then the object filename is
          <replaceable>dir</replaceable>/<replaceable>mod</replaceable>.<replaceable>osuf</replaceable>,
          where <replaceable>mod</replaceable> is the module name with
          dots replaced by slashes.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para>The name of the interface file is derived using the same
      rules, except that the suffix is
      <replaceable>hisuf</replaceable> (<literal>.hi</literal> by
      default) instead of <replaceable>osuf</replaceable>, and the
      relevant options are <option>-hidir</option> and
      <option>-hisuf</option> instead of <option>-odir</option> and
      <option>-osuf</option> respectively.</para>

      <para>For example, if GHC compiles the module
      <literal>A.B.C</literal> in the file
      <filename>src/A/B/C.hs</filename>, with no
      <literal>-odir</literal> or <literal>-hidir</literal> flags, the
      interface file will be put in <literal>src/A/B/C.hi</literal>
      and the object file in <literal>src/A/B/C.o</literal>.</para>

      <para>Note that it is reasonable to have a module
      <literal>Main</literal> in a file named
      <filename>foo.hs</filename>, but this only works because GHC
      never needs to search for the interface for module
      <literal>Main</literal> (because it is never imported).  It is
      therefore possible to have several <literal>Main</literal>
      modules in separate source files in the same directory, and GHC
      will not get confused.  For modules other than
      <literal>Main</literal>, it is strongly recommended that you
      name the source file after the module name, replacing dots with
      slashes in hierarchical module names.</para>

      <para>In batch compilation mode, the name of the object file can
      also be overriden using the <option>-o</option> option, and the
      name of the interface file can be specified directly using the
      <option>-ohi</option> option.</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="search-path">
      <title>The search path</title>

      <indexterm><primary>search path</primary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary>interface files, finding them</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary>finding interface files</primary></indexterm>

      <para>In your program, you import a module
      <literal>Foo</literal> by saying <literal>import Foo</literal>.
      In <option>--make</option> mode or GHCi, GHC will look for a
      source file for <literal>Foo</literal> and arrange to compile it
      first.  Without <option>--make</option>, GHC will look for the
      interface file for <literal>Foo</literal>, which should have
      been created by an earlier compilation of
      <literal>Foo</literal>.  GHC uses the same strategy in each of
      these cases for finding the appropriate file.</para>

      <para>This strategy is as follows: GHC keeps a list of
      directories called the <firstterm>search path</firstterm>.  For
      each of these directories, it tries appending
      <replaceable>basename</replaceable><literal>.</literal><replaceable>extension</replaceable>
      to the directory, and checks whether the file exists.  The value
      of <replaceable>basename</replaceable> is the module name with
      dots replaced by the directory separator ('/' or '\', depending
      on the system), and <replaceable>extension</replaceable> is a
      source extension (<literal>hs</literal>, <literal>lhs</literal>)
      if we are in <option>--make</option> mode and GHCi, or
      <replaceable>hisuf</replaceable> otherwise.</para>

      <para>For example, suppose the search path contains directories
      <literal>d1</literal>, <literal>d2</literal>, and
      <literal>d3</literal>, and we are in <literal>--make</literal>
      mode looking for the source file for a module
      <literal>A.B.C</literal>.  GHC will look in
      <literal>d1/A/B/C.hs</literal>, <literal>d1/A/B/C.lhs</literal>,
      <literal>d2/A/B/C.hs</literal>, and so on.</para>

      <para>The search path by default contains a single directory:
      <quote>.</quote> (i.e. the current directory).  The following
      options can be used to add to or change the contents of the
      search path:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-i<replaceable>dirs</replaceable></option></term>
          <listitem>
            <para><indexterm><primary><option>-i<replaceable>dirs</replaceable></option>
            </primary></indexterm>This flag appends a colon-separated
            list of <filename>dirs</filename> to the search path.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-i</option></term>
          <listitem>
            <para>resets the search path back to nothing.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>This isn't the whole story: GHC also looks for modules in
      pre-compiled libraries, known as packages.  See the section on
      packages (<xref linkend="packages">), for details.</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="options-output">
      <title>Redirecting the compilation output(s)</title>

      <indexterm><primary>output-directing options</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary>redirecting compilation output</primary></indexterm>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-o</option> <replaceable>file</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-o</option></primary></indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>GHC's compiled output normally goes into a
            <filename>.hc</filename>, <filename>.o</filename>, etc.,
            file, depending on the last-run compilation phase.  The
            option <option>-o <replaceable>file</replaceable></option>
            re-directs the output of that last-run phase to
            <replaceable>file</replaceable>.</para>

            <para>Note: this &ldquo;feature&rdquo; can be
            counterintuitive: <command>ghc -C -o foo.o
            foo.hs</command> will put the intermediate C code in the
            file <filename>foo.o</filename>, name
            notwithstanding!</para>

            <para>This option is most often used when creating an
            executable file, to set the filename of the executable.
            For example:
<screen>   ghc -o prog --make Main</screen>

            will compile the program starting with module
            <literal>Main</literal>  and put the executable in the
            file <literal>prog</literal>.</para>

            <para>Note: on Windows, if the result is an executable
            file, the extension "<filename>.exe</filename>" is added
            if the specified filename does not already have an
            extension.  Thus
<programlisting>
   ghc -o foo Main.hs
</programlisting>
          will compile and link the module
          <filename>Main.hs</filename>, and put the resulting
          executable in <filename>foo.exe</filename> (not
          <filename>foo</filename>).</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-odir</option> <replaceable>dir</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-odir</option></primary></indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Redirects object files to directory
            <replaceable>dir</replaceable>.  For example:</para>

<Screen>
$ ghc -c parse/Foo.hs parse/Bar.hs gurgle/Bumble.hs -odir `arch`
</Screen>

            <para>The object files, <filename>Foo.o</filename>,
            <filename>Bar.o</filename>, and
            <filename>Bumble.o</filename> would be put into a
            subdirectory named after the architecture of the executing
            machine (<filename>x86</filename>,
            <filename>mips</filename>, etc).</para>

            <para>Note that the <option>-odir</option> option does
            <emphasis>not</emphasis> affect where the interface files
            are put; use the <option>-hidir</option> option for that.
            In the above example, they would still be put in
            <filename>parse/Foo.hi</filename>,
            <filename>parse/Bar.hi</filename>, and
            <filename>gurgle/Bumble.hi</filename>.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-ohi</option>  <replaceable>file</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-ohi</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>The interface output may be directed to another file
            <filename>bar2/Wurble.iface</filename> with the option
            <option>-ohi bar2/Wurble.iface</option> (not
            recommended).</para>

            <para>WARNING: if you redirect the interface file
            somewhere that GHC can't find it, then the recompilation
            checker may get confused (at the least, you won't get any
            recompilation avoidance).  We recommend using a
            combination of <option>-hidir</option> and
            <option>-hisuf</option> options instead, if
            possible.</para>

            <para>To avoid generating an interface at all, you could
            use this option to redirect the interface into the bit
            bucket: <literal>-ohi /dev/null</literal>, for
            example.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-hidir</option>  <replaceable>dir</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-hidir</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Redirects all generated interface files into
            <replaceable>dir</replaceable>, instead of the
            default.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-osuf</option> <replaceable>suffix</replaceable></term>
          <term><option>-hisuf</option> <replaceable>suffix</replaceable></term>
          <term><option>-hcsuf</option> <replaceable>suffix</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-osuf</option></primary></indexterm>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-hisuf</option></primary></indexterm>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-hcsuf</option></primary></indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>EXOTICA: The <option>-osuf</option>
            <replaceable>suffix</replaceable> will change the
            <literal>.o</literal> file suffix for object files to
            whatever you specify.  We use this when compiling
            libraries, so that objects for the profiling versions of
            the libraries don't clobber the normal ones.</para>

            <para>Similarly, the <option>-hisuf</option>
            <replaceable>suffix</replaceable> will change the
            <literal>.hi</literal> file suffix for non-system
            interface files (see <XRef LinkEnd="hi-options">).</para>

            <para>Finally, the option <option>-hcsuf</option>
            <replaceable>suffix</replaceable> will change the
            <literal>.hc</literal> file suffix for compiler-generated
            intermediate C files.</para>

            <para>The <option>-hisuf</option>/<option>-osuf</option>
            game is particularly useful if you want to compile a
            program both with and without profiling, in the same
            directory.  You can say:
            <Screen>
              ghc ...</Screen>
            to get the ordinary version, and
            <Screen>
              ghc ... -osuf prof.o -hisuf prof.hi -prof -auto-all</Screen>
            to get the profiled version.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="keeping-intermediates">
      <title>Keeping Intermediate Files</title>
      <indexterm><primary>intermediate files, saving</primary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary><literal>.hc</literal> files, saving</primary>
      </indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary><literal>.s</literal> files, saving</primary>
      </indexterm>

      <para>The following options are useful for keeping certain
      intermediate files around, when normally GHC would throw these
      away after compilation:</para>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-keep-hc-files</option></term>
          <indexterm>
            <primary><option>-keep-hc-files</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Keep intermediate <literal>.hc</literal> files when
            doing <literal>.hs</literal>-to-<literal>.o</literal>
            compilations via C (NOTE: <literal>.hc</literal> files
            aren't generated when using the native code generator, you
            may need to use <option>-fvia-C</option> to force them
            to be produced).</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-keep-s-files</option></term>
          <indexterm>
            <primary><option>-keep-s-files</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Keep intermediate <literal>.s</literal> files.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-keep-raw-s-files</option></term>
          <indexterm>
            <primary><option>-keep-raw-s-files</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Keep intermediate <literal>.raw-s</literal> files.
            These are the direct output from the C compiler, before
            GHC does &ldquo;assembly mangling&rdquo; to produce the
            <literal>.s</literal> file.  Again, these are not produced
            when using the native code generator.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-keep-tmp-files</option></term>
          <indexterm>
            <primary><option>-keep-tmp-files</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <indexterm>
            <primary>temporary files</primary>
            <secondary>keeping</secondary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Instructs the GHC driver not to delete any of its
            temporary files, which it normally keeps in
            <literal>/tmp</literal> (or possibly elsewhere; see <xref
            linkend="temp-files">).  Running GHC with
            <option>-v</option> will show you what temporary files
            were generated along the way.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="temp-files">
      <title>Redirecting temporary files</title>

      <indexterm>
        <primary>temporary files</primary>
        <secondary>redirecting</secondary>
      </indexterm>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-tmpdir</option></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-tmpdir</option></primary></indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>If you have trouble because of running out of space
            in <filename>/tmp</filename> (or wherever your
            installation thinks temporary files should go), you may
            use the <option>-tmpdir
            &lt;dir&gt;</option><IndexTerm><Primary>-tmpdir
            &lt;dir&gt; option</Primary></IndexTerm> option to specify
            an alternate directory.  For example, <option>-tmpdir
            .</option> says to put temporary files in the current
            working directory.</para>

            <para>Alternatively, use your <Constant>TMPDIR</Constant>
            environment variable.<IndexTerm><Primary>TMPDIR
            environment variable</Primary></IndexTerm> Set it to the
            name of the directory where temporary files should be put.
            GCC and other programs will honour the
            <Constant>TMPDIR</Constant> variable as well.</para>

            <para>Even better idea: Set the
            <Constant>DEFAULT_TMPDIR</Constant> make variable when
            building GHC, and never worry about
            <Constant>TMPDIR</Constant> again. (see the build
            documentation).</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>

    <Sect2 id="hi-options">
      <title>Other options related to interface files</title>
      <indexterm><primary>interface files, options</primary></indexterm>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-ddump-hi</option></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-ddump-hi</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Dumps the new interface to standard output.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-ddump-hi-diffs</option></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-ddump-hi-diffs</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>The compiler does not overwrite an existing
            <filename>.hi</filename> interface file if the new one is
            the same as the old one; this is friendly to
            <command>make</command>.  When an interface does change,
            it is often enlightening to be informed.  The
            <option>-ddump-hi-diffs</option> option will make GHC run
            <command>diff</command> on the old and new
            <filename>.hi</filename> files.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-ddump-minimal-imports</option></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-ddump-minimal-imports</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Dump to the file "M.imports" (where M is the module
            being compiled) a "minimal" set of import declarations.
            You can safely replace all the import declarations in
            "M.hs" with those found in "M.imports".  Why would you
            want to do that?  Because the "minimal" imports (a) import
            everything explicitly, by name, and (b) import nothing
            that is not required.  It can be quite painful to maintain
            this property by hand, so this flag is intended to reduce
            the labour.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>--show-iface</option>
          <replaceable>file</replaceable></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>--show-iface</option></primary>
          </indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Where <replaceable>file</replaceable> is the name of
            an interface file, dumps the contents of that interface in
            a human-readable (ish) format.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="recomp">
      <title>The recompilation checker</title>

      <indexterm><primary>recompilation checker</primary></indexterm>

      <variablelist>
        <varlistentry>
          <term><option>-no-recomp</option></term>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-recomp</option></primary></indexterm>
          <indexterm><primary><option>-no-recomp</option></primary></indexterm>
          <listitem>
            <para>Turn off recompilation checking (which is on by
            default).  Recompilation checking normally stops
            compilation early, leaving an existing
            <filename>.o</filename> file in place, if it can be
            determined that the module does not need to be
            recompiled.</para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
      
      <para>In the olden days, GHC compared the newly-generated
      <filename>.hi</filename> file with the previous version; if they
      were identical, it left the old one alone and didn't change its
      modification date.  In consequence, importers of a module with
      an unchanged output <filename>.hi</filename> file were not
      recompiled.</para>

      <para>This doesn't work any more.  Suppose module
      <literal>C</literal> imports module <literal>B</literal>, and
      <literal>B</literal> imports module <literal>A</literal>.  So
      changes to module <literal>A</literal> might require module
      <literal>C</literal> to be recompiled, and hence when
      <filename>A.hi</filename> changes we should check whether
      <literal>C</literal> should be recompiled.  However, the
      dependencies of <literal>C</literal> will only list
      <literal>B.hi</literal>, not <literal>A.hi</literal>, and some
      changes to <literal>A</literal> (changing the definition of a
      function that appears in an inlining of a function exported by
      <literal>B</literal>, say) may conceivably not change
      <filename>B.hi</filename> one jot.  So now&hellip;</para>

      <para>GHC keeps a version number on each interface file, and on
      each type signature within the interface file.  It also keeps in
      every interface file a list of the version numbers of everything
      it used when it last compiled the file.  If the source file's
      modification date is earlier than the <filename>.o</filename>
      file's date (i.e. the source hasn't changed since the file was
      last compiled), and the reompilation checking is on, GHC will be
      clever.  It compares the version numbers on the things it needs
      this time with the version numbers on the things it needed last
      time (gleaned from the interface file of the module being
      compiled); if they are all the same it stops compiling rather
      early in the process saying &ldquo;Compilation IS NOT
      required&rdquo;.  What a beautiful sight!</para>

      <para>Patrick Sansom had a workshop paper about how all this is
      done (though the details have changed quite a bit). <ULink
      URL="mailto:sansom@dcs.gla.ac.uk">Ask him</ULink> if you want a
      copy.</para>

    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="using-make">
      <title>Using <command>make</command></title>

      <indexterm><primary><literal>make</literal></primary></indexterm>

      <para>It is reasonably straightforward to set up a
      <filename>Makefile</filename> to use with GHC, assuming you name
      your source files the same as your modules.  Thus:</para>

<ProgramListing>
HC      = ghc
HC_OPTS = -cpp $(EXTRA_HC_OPTS)

SRCS = Main.lhs Foo.lhs Bar.lhs
OBJS = Main.o   Foo.o   Bar.o

.SUFFIXES : .o .hs .hi .lhs .hc .s

cool_pgm : $(OBJS)
        rm -f $@
        $(HC) -o $@ $(HC_OPTS) $(OBJS)

# Standard suffix rules
.o.hi:
        @:

.lhs.o:
        $(HC) -c $&#60; $(HC_OPTS)

.hs.o:
        $(HC) -c $&#60; $(HC_OPTS)

# Inter-module dependencies
Foo.o Foo.hc Foo.s    : Baz.hi          # Foo imports Baz
Main.o Main.hc Main.s : Foo.hi Baz.hi   # Main imports Foo and Baz
</ProgramListing>

      <para>(Sophisticated <command>make</command> variants may
      achieve some of the above more elegantly.  Notably,
      <command>gmake</command>'s pattern rules let you write the more
      comprehensible:</para>

<ProgramListing>
%.o : %.lhs
        $(HC) -c $&#60; $(HC_OPTS)
</ProgramListing>

      <para>What we've shown should work with any
      <command>make</command>.)</para>

      <para>Note the cheesy <literal>.o.hi</literal> rule: It records
      the dependency of the interface (<filename>.hi</filename>) file
      on the source.  The rule says a <filename>.hi</filename> file
      can be made from a <filename>.o</filename> file by
      doing&hellip;nothing.  Which is true.</para>

      <para>Note the inter-module dependencies at the end of the
      Makefile, which take the form</para>

<ProgramListing>
Foo.o Foo.hc Foo.s    : Baz.hi          # Foo imports Baz
</ProgramListing>

      <para>They tell <command>make</command> that if any of
      <literal>Foo.o</literal>, <literal>Foo.hc</literal> or
      <literal>Foo.s</literal> have an earlier modification date than
      <literal>Baz.hi</literal>, then the out-of-date file must be
      brought up to date.  To bring it up to date,
      <literal>make</literal> looks for a rule to do so; one of the
      preceding suffix rules does the job nicely.</para>

      <sect3 id="sec-makefile-dependencies">
        <title>Dependency generation</title>
        <indexterm><primary>dependencies in Makefiles</primary></indexterm>
        <indexterm><primary>Makefile dependencies</primary></indexterm>

        <para>Putting inter-dependencies of the form <literal>Foo.o :
        Bar.hi</literal> into your <filename>Makefile</filename> by
        hand is rather error-prone.  Don't worry, GHC has support for
        automatically generating the required dependencies.  Add the
        following to your <filename>Makefile</filename>:</para>

<ProgramListing>
depend :
        ghc -M $(HC_OPTS) $(SRCS)
</ProgramListing>

        <para>Now, before you start compiling, and any time you change
        the <literal>imports</literal> in your program, do
        <command>make depend</command> before you do <command>make
        cool&lowbar;pgm</command>.  <command>ghc -M</command> will
        append the needed dependencies to your
        <filename>Makefile</filename>.</para>

        <para>In general, if module <literal>A</literal> contains the
        line

<programlisting>
import B ...blah...
</programlisting>

        then <command>ghc -M</command> will generate a dependency line
        of the form:

<programlisting>
A.o : B.hi
</programlisting>

        If module <literal>A</literal> contains the line

<programlisting>
import {-# SOURCE #-} B ...blah...
</programlisting>

        then <command>ghc -M</command> will generate a dependency
        line of the form:

<programlisting>
A.o : B.hi-boot
</programlisting>

       (See <xref linkend="mutual-recursion"> for details of
       <literal>hi-boot</literal> style interface files.)  If
       <literal>A</literal> imports multiple modules, then there will
       be multiple lines with <filename>A.o</filename> as the
       target.</para>

        <para>By default, <command>ghc -M</command> generates all the
        dependencies, and then concatenates them onto the end of
        <filename>makefile</filename> (or
        <filename>Makefile</filename> if <filename>makefile</filename>
        doesn't exist) bracketed by the lines "<literal>&num; DO NOT
        DELETE: Beginning of Haskell dependencies</literal>" and
        "<literal>&num; DO NOT DELETE: End of Haskell
        dependencies</literal>".  If these lines already exist in the
        <filename>makefile</filename>, then the old dependencies are
        deleted first.</para>

        <para>Don't forget to use the same <option>-package</option>
        options on the <literal>ghc -M</literal> command line as you
        would when compiling; this enables the dependency generator to
        locate any imported modules that come from packages.  The
        package modules won't be included in the dependencies
        generated, though (but see the
        <option>&ndash;&ndash;include-prelude</option> option below).</para>

        <para>The dependency generation phase of GHC can take some
        additional options, which you may find useful.  For historical
        reasons, each option passed to the dependency generator from
        the GHC command line must be preceded by
        <literal>-optdep</literal>.  For example, to pass <literal>-f
        .depend</literal> to the dependency generator, you say

<screen>
ghc -M -optdep-f -optdep.depend ...
</screen>
      
        The options which affect dependency generation are:</para>
        
        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>-w</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Turn off warnings about interface file shadowing.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          
          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>-f</option> <replaceable>file</replaceable></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Use <replaceable>file</replaceable> as the makefile,
              rather than <filename>makefile</filename> or
              <filename>Makefile</filename>.  If
              <replaceable>file</replaceable> doesn't exist,
              <command>mkdependHS</command> creates it.  We often use
              <option>-f .depend</option> to put the dependencies in
              <filename>.depend</filename> and then
              <command>include</command> the file
              <filename>.depend</filename> into
              <filename>Makefile</filename>.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>-o &lt;osuf&gt;</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Use <filename>.&lt;osuf&gt;</filename> as the
              "target file" suffix ( default: <literal>o</literal>).
              Multiple <option>-o</option> flags are permitted
              (GHC2.05 onwards).  Thus "<option>-o hc -o o</option>"
              will generate dependencies for <filename>.hc</filename>
              and <filename>.o</filename> files.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>-s &lt;suf&gt;</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Make extra dependencies that declare that files
              with suffix
              <filename>.&lt;suf&gt;&lowbar;&lt;osuf&gt;</filename>
              depend on interface files with suffix
              <filename>.&lt;suf&gt;&lowbar;hi</filename>, or (for
              <literal>&lcub;-&num; SOURCE &num;-&rcub;</literal>
              imports) on <filename>.hi-boot</filename>.  Multiple
              <option>-s</option> flags are permitted.  For example,
              <option>-o hc -s a -s b</option> will make dependencies
              for <filename>.hc</filename> on
              <filename>.hi</filename>,
              <filename>.a&lowbar;hc</filename> on
              <filename>.a&lowbar;hi</filename>, and
              <filename>.b&lowbar;hc</filename> on
              <filename>.b&lowbar;hi</filename>.  (Useful in
              conjunction with NoFib "ways".)</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>&ndash;&ndash;exclude-module=&lt;file&gt;</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Regard <filename>&lt;file&gt;</filename> as
              "stable"; i.e., exclude it from having dependencies on
              it.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>-x</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>same as <option>&ndash;&ndash;exclude-module</option></para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>&ndash;&ndash;exclude-directory=&lt;dirs&gt;</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Regard the colon-separated list of directories
              <filename>&lt;dirs&gt;</filename> as containing stable,
              don't generate any dependencies on modules
              therein.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>&ndash;&ndash;include-module=&lt;file&gt;</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Regard <filename>&lt;file&gt;</filename> as not
              "stable"; i.e., generate dependencies on it (if
              any). This option is normally used in conjunction with
              the <option>&ndash;&ndash;exclude-directory</option> option.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

          <varlistentry>
            <term><option>&ndash;&ndash;include-prelude</option></term>
            <listitem>
              <para>Regard modules imported from packages as unstable,
              i.e., generate dependencies on the package modules used
              (including <literal>Prelude</literal>, and all other
              standard Haskell libraries).  This option is normally
              only used by the various system libraries.</para>
            </listitem>
          </varlistentry>
        </variablelist>

      </sect3>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="mutual-recursion">
      <title>How to compile mutually recursive modules</title>

      <indexterm><primary>module system, recursion</primary></indexterm>
      <indexterm><primary>recursion, between modules</primary></indexterm>

      <para>Currently, the compiler does not have proper support for
      dealing with mutually recursive modules:</para>

<ProgramListing>
module A where

import B

newtype TA = MkTA Int

f :: TB -&#62; TA
f (MkTB x) = MkTA x
--------
module B where

import A

data TB = MkTB !Int

g :: TA -&#62; TB
g (MkTA x) = MkTB x
</ProgramListing>

      <para>When compiling either module A and B, the compiler will
      try (in vain) to look for the interface file of the other. So,
      to get mutually recursive modules off the ground, you need to
      hand write an interface file for A or B, so as to break the
      loop.  These hand-written interface files are called
      <literal>hi-boot</literal> files, and are placed in a file
      called <filename>&lt;module&gt;.hi-boot</filename>.  To import
      from an <literal>hi-boot</literal> file instead of the standard
      <filename>.hi</filename> file, use the following syntax in the
      importing module: <indexterm><primary><literal>hi-boot</literal>
      files</primary></indexterm> <indexterm><primary>importing,
      <literal>hi-boot</literal> files</primary></indexterm></para>

<ProgramListing>
import {-# SOURCE #-} A
</ProgramListing>

      <para>The hand-written interface need only contain the bare
      minimum of information needed to get the bootstrapping process
      started.  For example, it doesn't need to contain declarations
      for <emphasis>everything</emphasis> that module
      <literal>A</literal> exports, only the things required by the
      module that imports <literal>A</literal> recursively.</para>

      <para>For the example at hand, the boot interface file for A
      would look like the following:</para>

<ProgramListing>
module A where
newtype TA = MkTA GHC.Base.Int
</ProgramListing>

      <para>The syntax is similar to a normal Haskell source file, but
      with some important differences:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>Non-local entities must be qualified with their
          <emphasis>original</emphasis> defining module.  Qualifying
          by a module which just re-exports the entity won't do.  In
          particular, most <literal>Prelude</literal> entities aren't
          actually defined in the <literal>Prelude</literal> (see for
          example <literal>GHC.Base.Int</literal> in the above
          example).  HINT: to find out the fully-qualified name for
          entities in the <literal>Prelude</literal> (or anywhere for
          that matter), try using GHCi's
          <literal>:info</literal> command, eg.</para>
<programlisting>Prelude> :m -Prelude
> :i IO.IO
-- GHC.IOBase.IO is a type constructor
newtype GHC.IOBase.IO a
...</programlisting>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Only <literal>data</literal>, <literal>type</literal>,
          <literal>newtype</literal>, <literal>class</literal>, and
          type signature declarations may be included. You cannot declare
          <literal>instances</literal> or derive them automatically.
</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para>Notice that we only put the declaration for the newtype
      <literal>TA</literal> in the <literal>hi-boot</literal> file,
      not the signature for <Function>f</Function>, since
      <Function>f</Function> isn't used by <literal>B</literal>.</para>

      <para>If you want an <literal>hi-boot</literal> file to export a
      data type, but you don't want to give its constructors (because
      the constructors aren't used by the SOURCE-importing module),
      you can write simply:</para>

<ProgramListing>
module A where
data TA
</ProgramListing>

      <para>(You must write all the type parameters, but leave out the
      '=' and everything that follows it.)</para>
    </sect2>


    <sect2 id="orphan-modules">
      <title>Orphan modules and instance declarations</title>

<para> Haskell specifies that when compiling module M, any instance
declaration in any module "below" M is visible.  (Module A is "below"
M if A is imported directly by M, or if A is below a module that M imports directly.)
In principle, GHC must therefore read the interface files of every module below M,
just in case they contain an instance declaration that matters to M.  This would
be a disaster in practice, so GHC tries to be clever. </para>

<para>In particular, if an instance declaration is in the same module as the definition
of any type or class mentioned in the head of the instance declaration, then
GHC has to visit that interface file anyway.  Example:</para>
<ProgramListing>
  module A where
    instance C a =&gt; D (T a) where ...
    data T a = ...
</ProgramListing>
<para> The instance declaration is only relevant if the type T is in use, and if
so, GHC will have visited A's interface file to find T's definition. </para>

<para> The only problem comes when a module contains an instance declaration
and GHC has no other reason for visiting the module.  Example:
<ProgramListing>
  module Orphan where
    instance C a =&gt; D (T a) where ...
    class C a where ...
</ProgramListing>
Here, neither D nor T is declared in module Orphan.
We call such modules ``orphan modules'',
defined thus:</para>
<itemizedlist>
  <listitem> <para> An <emphasis>orphan module</emphasis> 
  <indexterm><primary>orphan module</primary></indexterm>
  contains at least one <emphasis>orphan instance</emphasis> or at 
  least one <emphasis>orphan rule</emphasis>.</para> </listitem>

  <listitem><para> An instance declaration in a module M is an <emphasis>orphan instance</emphasis> if
  <indexterm><primary>orphan instance</primary></indexterm>
  none of the type constructors
  or classes mentioned in the instance head (the part after the ``<literal>=&gt;</literal>'') are declared
  in M.</para> 

  <para> Only the instance head counts.  In the example above, it is not good enough for C's declaration 
  to be in module A; it must be the declaration of D or T.</para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem><para> A rewrite rule in a module M is an <emphasis>orphan rule</emphasis>
  <indexterm><primary>orphan rule</primary></indexterm>
  if none of the variables, type constructors,
  or classes that are free in the left hand side of the rule are declared in M.
  </para> </listitem>
 </itemizedlist>


<para> GHC identifies orphan modules, and visits the interface file of
every orphan module below the module being compiled.  This is usually
wasted work, but there is no avoiding it.  You should therefore do
your best to have as few orphan modules as possible.

</para>

<para> You can identify an orphan module by looking in its interface
file, <filename>M.hi</filename>, using the
<option>--show-iface</option>.  If there is a ``!'' on the first line,
GHC considers it an orphan module.
</para>
</sect2>

  </sect1>

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