3. Building and installing a package

3. Building and installing a package
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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 --prefix=$HOME
runhaskell Setup.hs build
runhaskell Setup.hs install --user

In this case, since the package will be registered in the user's package database, we also install it under the user's home directory.

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 --copy-prefix=/tmp/mypkg/usr
(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. In addition to the general options, this command recognizes the following

--prefix=dir: Specify the installation prefix (default: /usr/local on Unix systems).
--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.
--with-hc-pkg=path: Specify the path to the package tool, e.g. ghc-pkg.
--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-cpphs=path: Specify the path to cpphs.
--user: Allow dependencies to be satisfied by the user package database, in addition to the global database.
--global: (default) Dependencies must be satisfied by the global package database.

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

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

In the simple build infrastructure, the values supplied via these options are recorded in a private file for use by later stages.

If a user-supplied configure script is run (see Section 2.2, “System-dependent parameters”), it is passed the --prefix option and any unrecognized options.

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.

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.

This command takes the following options:

--global: Register this package in the system-wide database. (This is the default.)
--user: Register this package in the user's local package database.

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:

--copy-prefix=path: Specify the directory under which to place installed files. If this is not given, the argument of the --prefix option to configure is used.

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: Register this package in the system-wide database. (This is the default.)
--user: Register this package in the user's local package database.
--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.

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 files created during the configure or build steps.

3.9. setup sdist

Create a system- and compiler-independent source distribution in a file package-version.tgz that can be distributed to package builders. When unpacked, the commands listed in this section will be available.

However this command is not yet working in the simple build infrastructure.

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