On 10/02/2013 21:43, Ian Lynagh wrote: > On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 09:30:23PM +0000, Simon Peyton-Jones wrote: >> | > You may ask what use is a GHC release that doesn't cause a wave of >> updates? >> | And hence that doesn't work with at least some libraries. Well, it's a >> very useful >> | forcing function to get new features actually out and tested. >> | >> | But the way you test new features is to write programs that use them, >> | and programs depend on libraries. >> >> That is of course ideal, but the ideal carries costs. A half way house is a >> release whose library support will be patchy. > > But that's not what happens. GHC 7.8 is released. Someone installs it in > order to try to use TypeHoles when developing their program. But their > program depends on text, so they send Bryan a mail saying that text > doesn't build with 7.8. And so the wave of updates begins.
As the maintainer of a low-level package (HTTP), I certainly see this kind of pressure starting even before a GHC release - e.g. https://github.com/haskell/HTTP/issues/36 As one of the maintainers of a high-level tool (darcs) that aims to always build against the current HP, I generate this kind of pressure myself: once GHC is released, I expect it to be in the HP within 3-6 months, so I need to get started quickly. I can't even check darcs itself until the dependencies work. I don't think there are any easy answers :-/ Ganesh _______________________________________________ Glasgow-haskell-users mailing list Glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users