[aur-general] [arch-dev-public] GHC 7.8.1 packaging decisions for Arch Linux

[Jeremy Audet]

> Doesn't every language with its own package manager have this problem?
For example, Python.  Is there a good solution?  Users knowing about this
issue and making their own decisions is the current solution on every
distro I'm familiar with.

Aye. There are some upshots to allowing users to install software via
either the system package manager or a language-specific one, instead of
forcing them down a single path. For example, with ruby: tools such as
bundler, rbenv and rvm provide users with some awesome capabilities, such
as being able to install multiple versions of Ruby and multiple versions of
gems, either system-wide, in a user's home directory or in a custom
directory. That's very useful, and the user should have that option - but
if the user wants a simpler, more straightforward option, they can use
`gem` or `pacman`. (And the choice between gem and pacman has its own
tradeoffs.)

Couldn't the same be said of Haskell packages? Using pacman to manage
haskell packages provides some niceties, such as automatic updates
(whenever -Syu is performed), whereas cabal-install provides its own
niceties, such as access to numerous packages. So... is there anything
wrong with letting the user choose the tool that suits their needs?