: User's Guide
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3. Building and installing a package

After you've unpacked a Cabal package, you can build it by moving into the root directory of the package and using the Setup.hs or Setup.lhs script there:

runhaskell Setup.hs [command] [option...]

where runhaskell might be runhugs, runghc or runnhc. The command argument selects a particular step in the build/install process. You can also get a summary of the command syntax with

runhaskell Setup.hs --help

Example 5. Building and installing a system package

runhaskell Setup.hs configure --ghc
runhaskell Setup.hs build
runhaskell Setup.hs install

The first line readies the system to build the tool using GHC; for example, it checks that GHC exists on the system. The second line performs the actual building, while the last both copies the build results to some permanent place and registers the package with GHC.

Example 6. Building and installing a user package

runhaskell Setup.hs configure --ghc --user --prefix=$HOME
runhaskell Setup.hs build
runhaskell Setup.hs install

The package may use packages from the user's package database as well as the global one (--user), is installed under the user's home directory (--prefix), and is registered in the user's package database (--user).

Example 7. Creating a binary package

When creating binary packages (e.g. for RedHat or Debian) one needs to create a tarball that can be sent to another system for unpacking in the root directory:

runhaskell Setup.hs configure --ghc --prefix=/usr
runhaskell Setup.hs build
runhaskell Setup.hs copy --destdir=/tmp/mypkg
(cd /tmp/mypkg; tar cf - .) | gzip -9 >mypkg.tar.gz

If the package contains a library, you need two additional steps:

runhaskell Setup.hs register --gen-script
runhaskell Setup.hs unregister --gen-script

This creates shell scripts register.sh and unregister.sh, which must also be sent to the target system. After unpacking there, the package must be registered by running the register.sh script. The unregister.sh script would be used in the uninstall procedure of the package. Similar steps may be used for creating binary packages for Windows.

The following options are understood by all commands:

--help, -h or -?: List the available options for the command.
--verbose=n or -vn: Set the verbosity level (0-5). The normal level is 1; a missing n defaults to 3.

The various commands and the additional options they support are described below. In the simple build infrastructure, any other options will be reported as errors, except in the case of the configure command.

3.1. setup configure

Prepare to build the package. Typically, this step checks that the target platform is capable of building the package, and discovers platform-specific features that are needed during the build.

The user may also adjust the behaviour of later stages using the options listed in the following subsections. In the simple build infrastructure, the values supplied via these options are recorded in a private file read by later stages.

If a user-supplied configure script is run (see Section 2.3 or Section 2.4), it is passed the --with-hc-pkg, --prefix, --bindir, --libdir, --datadir and --libexecdir options, plus any unrecognized options. In addition the value of the --with-compiler option is passed in a --with-hc option.

3.1.1. Programs used for building

The following options govern the programs used to process the source files of a package:

--ghc or -g, --nhc or -n, --hugs

Specify which Haskell implementation to use to build the package. At most one of these flags may be given. If none is given, the implementation under which the setup script was compiled or interpreted is used.

--with-compiler=path or -wpath

Specify the path to a particular compiler. If given, this must match the implementation selected above. The default is to search for the usual name of the selected implementation.

This flag also sets the default value of the --with-hc-pkg option to the package tool for this compiler. Check the output of setup configure to ensure that it finds the right package tool (or use --with-hc-pkg explicitly).

--with-hc-pkg=path

Specify the path to the package tool, e.g. ghc-pkg. The package tool must be compatible with the compiler specified by --with-compiler. If this option is omitted, the default value is determined from the compiler selected.

--with-haddock=path

Specify the path to haddock.

--with-happy=path

Specify the path to happy.

--with-alex=path

Specify the path to alex.

--with-hsc2hs=path

Specify the path to hsc2hs.

--with-c2hs=path

Specify the path to c2hs.

--with-greencard=path

Specify the path to greencard.

--with-cpphs=path

Specify the path to cpphs.

3.1.2. Installation paths

The following options govern the location of installed files from a package:

--prefix=dir

The root of the installation, for example /usr/local on a Unix system, or C:\Program Files on a Windows system. The other installation paths are usually subdirectories of prefix, but they don't have to be.

--bindir=dir

Executables that the user might invoke are installed here.

--libdir=dir

Object-code libraries are installed here.

--libsubdir=dir

A subdirectory of libdir in which libraries are actually installed. For example, in the simple build system on Unix, the default libdir is /usr/local/lib, and libsubdir contains the package identifier and compiler, e.g. mypkg-0.2/ghc-6.4, so libraries would be installed in /usr/local/lib/mypkg-0.2/ghc-6.4.

Not all build systems make use of libsubdir, in particular the Distribution.Make system does not.

--datadir=dir

Architecture-independent data files are installed here.

--datasubdir=dir

A subdirectory of datadir in which data files are actually installed. This option is similar to --libsubdir in that not all build systems make use of it.

--libexecdir=dir

Executables that are not expected to be invoked directly by the user are installed here.

3.1.2.1. Paths in the simple build system

For the simple build system, the following defaults apply:

Option	Windows Default	Unix Default
`--prefix`	`C:\Program Files`	`/usr/local`
`--bindir`	`$prefix\Haskell\bin`	`$prefix/bin`
`--libdir`	`$prefix\Haskell`	`$prefix/lib`
`--libsubdir` (Hugs)	`hugs\packages\$pkg`	`hugs/packages/$pkg`
`--libsubdir` (others)	`$pkgid\$compiler`	`$pkgid/$compiler`
`--datadir` (executable)	`$prefix\Haskell`	`$prefix/share`
`--datadir` (library)	`C:\Program Files\Common Files`	`$prefix/share`
`--datasubdir`	`$pkgid`	`$pkgid`
`--libexecdir`	`$prefix\$pkgid`	`$prefix/libexec`

The following strings are substituted into directory names:

$prefix: The value of prefix
$pkgid: The full package identifier, e.g. pkg-0.1
$compiler: The compiler and version, e.g. ghc-6.4.1
$pkg: The name of the package only
$version: The version of the package

3.1.2.2. Prefix-independence

On Windows (and perhaps other OSs), it is possible to query the pathname of the running binary. This means that we can construct an installable executable package that is independent of its absolute install location. The executable can find its auxiliary files by finding its own path and knowing the location of the other files relative to bindir. Prefix-independence is particularly useful: it means the user can choose the install location (i.e. the value of prefix) at install-time, rather than having to bake the path into the binary when it is built.

In order to achieve this, we require that for an executable on Windows, all of bindir, libdir, datadir and libexecdir begin with $prefix. If this is not the case then the compiled executable will have baked in all absolute paths.

The application need do nothing special to achieve prefix-independence. If it finds any files using getDataFileName and the other functions provided for the purpose (see Section 2.2), the files will be accessed relative to the location of the current executable.

A library cannot (currently) be prefix-independent, because it will be linked into an executable whose filesystem location bears no relation to the library package.

3.1.3. Miscellaneous options

--user

Allow dependencies to be satisfied by the user package database, in addition to the global database.

This also implies a default of --user for any subsequent install command, as packages registered in the global database should not depend on packages registered in a user's database.

--global

(default) Dependencies must be satisfied by the global package database.

--enable-library-profiling or -p

Request that an additional version of the library with profiling features enabled be built and installed (only for implementations that support profiling).

--disable-library-profiling

(default) Do not generate an additional profiling version of the library.

--enable-executable-profiling

Any executables generated should have profiling enabled (only for implementations that support profiling). For this to work, all libraries used by these executables must also have been built with profiling support.

--disable-executable-profiling

(default) Do not enable profiling in generated executables.

In the simple build infrastructure, an additional option is recognized:

--scratchdir=dir or -bdir: Specify the directory into which the package will be built (default: dist/build).

3.2. setup build

Perform any preprocessing or compilation needed to make this package ready for installation.

3.3. setup haddock

Build the interface documentation for a library using haddock.

This command takes the following option:

--hoogle: Generate a file dist/doc/html/pkgid.txt, which can be converted by Hoogle into a database for searching. This is equivalent to running haddock with the --hoogle flag.

3.4. setup install

Copy the files into the install locations and (for library packages) register the package with the compiler, i.e. make the modules it contains available to programs.

The install locations are determined by options to setup configure (see Section 3.1.2).

This command takes the following options:

--global: Register this package in the system-wide database. (This is the default, unless the --user option was supplied to the configure command.)
--user: Register this package in the user's local package database. (This is the default if the --user option was supplied to the configure command.)

3.5. setup copy

Copy the files without registering them. This command is mainly of use to those creating binary packages.

This command takes the following option:

--destdir=path: Specify the directory under which to place installed files. If this is not given, then the root directory is assumed.

3.6. setup register

Register this package with the compiler, i.e. make the modules it contains available to programs. This only makes sense for library packages. Note that the install command incorporates this action. The main use of this separate command is in the post-installation step for a binary package.

This command takes the following options:

--global

--user

--gen-script

Instead of registering the package, generate a script containing commands to perform the registration. On Unix, this file is called register.sh, on Windows, register.bat. This script might be included in a binary bundle, to be run after the bundle is unpacked on the target system.

--inplace

Registers the package for use directly from the build tree, without needing to install it. This can be useful for testing: there's no need to install the package after modifying it, just recompile and test.

This flag does not create a build-tree-local package database. It still registers the package in one of the user or global databases.

However, there are some caveats. It only works with GHC (currently). It only works if your package doesn't depend on having any supplemental files installed - plain Haskell libraries should be fine.

--with-hc-pkg=path

Specify the path to the package tool, e.g. ghc-pkg. This overrides the hc-pkg tool discovered during configure.

3.7. setup unregister

Deregister this package with the compiler.

This command takes the following options:

--global: Deregister this package in the system-wide database. (This is the default.)
--user: Deregister this package in the user's local package database.
--gen-script: Instead of deregistering the package, generate a script containing commands to perform the deregistration. On Unix, this file is called unregister.sh, on Windows, unregister.bat. This script might be included in a binary bundle, to be run on the target system.

3.8. setup clean

Remove any local files created during the configure, build, haddock, register or unregister steps, and also any files and directories listed in the extra-tmp-files field.

3.9. setup test

Run the test suite specified by the runTests field of Distribution.Simple.UserHooks. See Distribution.Simple for information about creating hooks and using defaultMainWithHooks.

3.10. setup sdist

Create a system- and compiler-independent source distribution in a file package-version.tar.gz in the dist subdirectory, for distribution to package builders. When unpacked, the commands listed in this section will be available.

The files placed in this distribution are the package description file, the setup script, the sources of the modules named in the package description file, and files named in the license-file, main-is, c-sources, data-files and extra-source-files fields.

This command takes the following option:

--snapshot: Append today's date (in YYYYMMDD form) to the version number for the generated source package. The original package is unaffected.

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