Here's a list of things to check before you get started.
Disk space needed: from about 100Mb for a basic GHC build, up to probably 500Mb for a GHC build with everything included (libraries built several different ways, etc.).
Use an appropriate machine / operating system. Section 5, “What machines the Glasgow tools run on” lists the supported platforms; if yours isn't amongst these then you can try porting GHC (see Section 10, “Porting GHC”).
Be sure that the “pre-supposed” utilities are installed. Section 6, “Installing pre-supposed utilities” elaborates.
If you have any problem when building or installing the Glasgow tools, please check the “known pitfalls” (Section 11, “Known pitfalls in building Glasgow Haskell ”). Also check the FAQ for the version you're building, which is part of the User's Guide and available on the GHC web site.
If you feel there is still some shortcoming in our procedure or instructions, please report it.
For GHC, please see the bug-reporting section of the GHC Users' Guide, to maximise the usefulness of your report.
If in doubt, please send a message to
<glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org>
.