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# Glossary

The following terms are used in Stack's documentation.

|Term                |Meaning                                                  |
|--------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
|Cabal               |The Haskell Common Architecture for Building Applications and Libraries, provided by the [`Cabal` package](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/Cabal). Also referred to as Cabal (the library) to distinguish it from Cabal (the tool).|
|Cabal file          |A file containing a [package description](https://cabal.readthedocs.io/en/stable/cabal-package-description-file.html) used by Cabal, named `<package_name>.cabal`. A Cabal file specifies properties in the form of field/value pairs.|
|Cabal (the tool)    |The Haskell tool used for building provided by the [`cabal-install` package](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/cabal-install).|
|CI                  |Continuous integration.                                  |
|CMake               |A [system](https://cmake.org/) for managing build processes.|
|`config.yaml`       |A global and non-project-specific configuration file used by Stack.|
|dependency          |A Haskell package other than a project package and on which a project package depends (directly or indirectly), located locally or elsewhere.|
|Docker              |A [platform](https://www.docker.com/) for developing,  shipping, and running applications. It can package and run an application in a loosely isolated environment called a _container_.|
|Emacs               |[GNU Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/), an extensible, customisable text editor.|
|extra-deps          |Extra dependencies (one version of each) that add to, or shadow, those specified in a snapshot.|
|FreeBSD             |A Unix-like operating system.                            |
|GCC                 |The [GNU Compiler Collection](https://gcc.gnu.org/) or its executable `gcc`.|
|GHC                 |The [Glasgow Haskell Compiler](https://www.haskell.org/ghc/).|
|GHC boot package    |A package that comes with GHC, is included in GHC's global package database, and is not specified directly in a Stackage snapshot. See the output of command `stack exec -- ghc-pkg list --global`.|
|GHC wired-in package|A GHC boot package that cannot be shaddowed with different versions of the same package. Also referred to as 'magic'.|
|GHCi                |GHC's [interactive environment](https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/latest/docs/html/users_guide/ghci.html).|
|GHCJS               |A Haskell to JavaScript [compiler](https://github.com/ghcjs/ghcjs).|
|GHCup               |An [installer](https://www.haskell.org/ghcup/) for Haskell.
|Git                 |A [distributed version control system](https://git-scm.com/).|
|GPG                 |The [GNU Privacy Guard](https://gnupg.org/) or GnuPG, software that allows you to encrypt or sign your data and communications.|
|Hackage             |The [Haskell Package Repository](https://hackage.haskell.org/).
|Haddock             |The [document generation tool](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/haddock) for Haskell libraries.|
|'Haskell' extension |The ['Haskell' extension]() for VS Code.                  |
|HLS                 |[Haskell Language Server](https://haskell-language-server.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), an implementation of the Language Server Protocol for Haskell.|
|Homebrew            |A [package manager](https://brew.sh/) for macOS or Linux, or its executable `brew`.|
|Hoogle              |A Haskell API [search engine](https://hoogle.haskell.org/).|
|Hpack               |A [format](https://github.com/sol/hpack) for Haskell packages or the executable `hpack` that produces a Cabal file from `package.yaml`.|
|Linux               |A family of operating systems based on the Linux kernel. |
|macOS               |The primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Previously known as Mac OS X or OS X.|
|Make                |A [build automation tool](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/).|
|Markdown            |A plain text [formatting syntax](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) or software used to convert files in that format to HTML.|
|MSYS2               |The [MSYS2](https://www.msys2.org/) software distribution and building platform for Windows.|
|Nix                 |A purely functional [package manager](https://nixos.org/), available for Linux and macOS.|
|package             |A Haskell package is an organised collection of Haskell code and related files. It is described by a Cabal file or a `package.yaml` file, which is itself part of the package.|
|`package.yaml`      |A file that describes a package in the Hpack format.      |
|Pantry              |A library for content-addressable Haskell package management, provided by the [`pantry` package](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pantry). A dependency of Stack.|
|PATH                |The `PATH` environment variable, specifying a list of directories searched for executable files.|
|project             |A Stack project is a local directory that contains a project-level configuration file (`stack.yaml`, by default). A project may relate to more than one project package.|
|project package     |A Haskell package that is part of a project and located locally. Distinct from a dependency located locally.|
|PVP                 |The Haskell [Package Versioning Policy](https://pvp.haskell.org/), which tells developers of libraries how to set their version numbers.|
|REPL                |An interactive (run-eval-print loop) programming environment.|
|resolver            |A synonym for snapshot, now deprecated.                  |
|`Setup.hs`          |A project-specific file used by Cabal to perform setup tasks.|
|snapshot            |A snapshot defines a version of GHC (and, implicitly, its boot packages), a set of packages (one version of each), Cabal flags and GHC options.|
|Stack               |The Stack project or its executable `stack`.|
|`stack.yaml`        |A project-level configuration file used by Stack, which may also contain non-project-specific options.|
|Stackage            |A [distribution](https://www.stackage.org/) of compatible Haskell packages.|
|Stack root          |A directory in which Stack stores important files. See `stack path --stack-root`. On Windows, or if Stack is configured to use the XDG Base Directory Specification, Stack also stores important files outside of the Stack root.|
|Stack work directory|A directory within a local project or package directory in which Stack stores files created during the build process. Named `.stack-work`, by default.|
|Unix-like operating systems|Linux, FreeBSD and macOS.                         |
|VS Code             |[Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/), a source code editor.|
|Windows             |A group of operating systems developed by Microsoft.     |
|WSL                 |[Windows Subsystem for Linux](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/). Provides a Linux environment on Windows.|
|XDG Base Directory Specification|A [specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html) of directories relative to which files should be located.|
|YAML                |A human-friendly [data serialization language](https://yaml.org/). The YAML syntax allows for key/value pairs.|
