X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?p=ghc-hetmet.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=docs%2Fusers_guide%2Fghci.xml;fp=docs%2Fusers_guide%2Fghci.xml;h=402c7cb58c99394357bc5842f076708aa5f6ca0f;hp=1f20df4aab682abf69bc5151e09f53700abfb003;hb=3d73e45b0909b9669d4679cbda29fa2b17b98d2e;hpb=50c50170891e91e1961ef67e2677e61c4d8f76e2
diff --git a/docs/users_guide/ghci.xml b/docs/users_guide/ghci.xml
index 1f20df4..402c7cb 100644
--- a/docs/users_guide/ghci.xml
+++ b/docs/users_guide/ghci.xml
@@ -302,12 +302,29 @@ Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
confusion, because non-exported top-level definitions of a module
are only available for use in expressions at the prompt when the
module is interpreted (see ). For
- this reason, if you ask GHCi to load a filename rather than a
- module name (e.g. :load Main.hs rather than
- :load Main) then any existing object file will
- be ignored and the module will be interpreted rather than
- compiled. Using -fobject-code disables this
- behaviour (see ).
+ this reason, you might sometimes want to force GHCi to load a
+ module using the interpreter. This can be done by prefixing
+ a * to the module name or filename when
+ using :load, for example
+
+
+Prelude> :load *A
+Compiling A ( A.hs, interpreted )
+*A>
+
+
+When the * is used, GHCi ignores any
+ pre-compiled object code and interprets the module. If you have
+ already loaded a number of modules as object code and decide that
+ you wanted to interpret one of them, instead of re-loading the whole
+ set you can use :add *M to specify that you want
+ M to be interpreted (note that this might cause
+ other modules to be interpreted too, because compiled modules cannot
+ depend on interpreted ones).
+
+To always compile everything to object code and never use the
+ interpreter, use the -fobject-code option (see
+ ).
HINT: since GHCi will only use a compiled object file if it
can be sure that the compiled version is up-to-date, a good technique
@@ -552,9 +569,9 @@ Compiling Main ( Main.hs, interpreted )
NOTE: for technical reasons, GHCi can only support the
*-form for modules that are interpreted.
Compiled modules and package modules can only contribute their
- exports to the current scope. This is why GHCi will always
- interpret, not compile, a module if you specify its filename
- rather than its module name to :load.
+ exports to the current scope. To ensure that GHCi loads the
+ interpreted version of a module, add the *
+ when loading the module, e.g. :load *M.
The scope is manipulated using the
:module command. For example, if the current
@@ -1477,7 +1494,7 @@ a :: a
*Main> :set -fbreak-on-exception
*Main> :trace qsort ("abc" ++ undefined)
-"Stopped at <exception thrown>
+“Stopped at <exception thrown>
_exception :: e
[<exception thrown>] *Main> :hist
-1 : qsort.hs:3:24-38
@@ -1762,13 +1779,16 @@ $ ghci -lm
- :add module ...
+ :add *module ...
:add
Add module(s) to the
current target set, and perform a
- reload.
+ reload. Normally pre-compiled code for the module will be
+ loaded if available, or otherwise the module will be
+ compiled to byte-code. Using the *
+ prefix forces the module to be loaded as byte-code.
@@ -2139,7 +2159,7 @@ Prelude> :. cmds.ghci
- :load module ...
+ :load *module ...
:load
@@ -2156,6 +2176,11 @@ Prelude> :. cmds.ghci
to unload all the currently loaded modules and
bindings.
+ Normally pre-compiled code for a module will be loaded
+ if available, or otherwise the module will be compiled to
+ byte-code. Using the * prefix forces a
+ module to be loaded as byte-code.
+
After a :load command, the current
context is set to: