[Agda] Good old times... (install trouble)

[Darin Morrison]

On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 7:53 AM, Pierre Hyvernat
<pierre.hyvernat at univ-savoie.fr> wrote:

> Long version:

> The result is that the dependencies are a PITA to get right.  For
> example, in the darcs version of Agda, we need "quickcheck-2.1.0.1".

> Anyway, after cleaning my Haskell installation, I had to install:
>
>  - binary-0.4.4,
>  - Cabal-1.6.0.1,
>  - extensible-exceptions-0.1.1.0,
>  - haskeline-0.3.2,
>  - process-1.0.1.1,
>  - QuickCheck-2.1.0.1,
>  - stm-2.1.1.2,
>  - terminfo-0.3.0.1,
>  - utf8-string-0.3.4,
>  - xhtml-3000.2.0.1,
>  - zlib-0.4.0.4.
>
> (It does look horrifying...)

If you first install the cabal-install package, it should be able to
determine the necessary Agda dependencies for you and automatically
download, build, and install the required packages:

http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/cabal-install

Unfortunately, cabal-install is not yet bundled with the standard
Haskell distributions, but it should have fewer dependencies than Agda
itself.

> (There was a warning:
> Warning: This package indirectly depends on multiple versions of the
> same package. This is highly likely to cause a compile failure.
> package haskell98-1.0.1.0 requires process-1.0.0.0 package Agda-2.1.3
> requires process-1.0.1.1)

I don't think I've seen this one before.

> Except that it didn't work... Trying to load even the simplest file
> under emacs freezes emacs (which starts using 80% of my CPU).
>
> I did try using an older emacs-mode, without success.

I had a similar problem on my Mac awhile ago.  When you load a file
and it starts to hang, can you hit C-g and then switch to the *ghci*
buffer?  What does it say?

> Using the precompiled packages didn't work either...

They didn't work in the sense that you had the same problem with Emacs
or there was a different problem?

In any case, I agree that Agda could be made easier to install.
Whether this should be accomplished through better maintenance of
binary packages, better install guides, or through making a smaller
version with fewer dependencies, I don't know.

-- 
Darin