* Norman Ramsey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2002-05-27T19:12-0400]: > I'm trying to compile some Haskell code using Debian package ghc5, > and it fails to find -lreadline at link time. Looks like a config > problem because hte library is sitting there in /lib.
You also need the libreadline4-dev package to compile stuff against readline (but see below). Can you please check whether it is installed? > I'm cc-ing the GHC bug list even though this looks to me like a Debian > problem. >From looking at http://bugs.debian.org/134950, it _seemed_ to me only ghc package util needed readline to link, and that wouldn't necessarily warrant a dependency on libreadline*-dev. Quoting Debian policy: >>> 7.2. Binary Dependencies - `Depends', `Recommends', `Suggests', `Enhances', `Pre-Depends' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [...] The meaning of the five dependency fields is as follows: `Depends' [...] The `Depends' field should be used if the depended-on package is required for the depending package to provide a significant amount of functionality. <<< with "significant amount of functionality" being the key phrase. So Depends: is a weak dependency, not an absolute one (whether this is good or nor is debatable...). However, it seems you are right: whenever _some_ ghc package needs util, it will implicitly depend on libreadline being installed, even if readline is never really linked to. So, what can be done? The hot-fix is to install libreadline4-dev. I _could_ make readline a hard dependency of ghc, but this is somehow not satisfactory. I'd rather like readline to be out-factored to its own package (I know, this would break other Haskell programs, but it's arguably easy-to-fix breakage...). Comments? Cheers, Michael _______________________________________________ Glasgow-haskell-bugs mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-bugs
