The lang/ghc port builds ghc (which is written in ghc) by using a minimal bootstrap compiler distribution. The ghc build is patched to use this uninstalled bootstrap compiler "in place". Unfortunately, this patching is incomplete; the configure script in the ghc/ subdirectory wants to run the ghc-pkg command from the bootstrap compiler, but fails to find it. This results in ghc building with incomplete readline support, so that running ghci results in a prompt in raw tty mode with no line editing capabilities. (In a proper bootstrap situation, building the stage1 compiler would be followed by building stage2 and stage3; these later stages do not use the bootstrap ghc-pkg, so would correctly detect readline.) Fix: There are two possible ways to fix this: patch ghc/configure to run the bootstrap ghc-pkg, or arrange for bootstrap ghc-pkg to be in $PATH. (Presumably this also requires something to be done about libgmp.so.6, but that's also true for the bootstrap ghc itself.) It's up to the port maintainer to decide which is preferable. How-To-Repeat: cd /usr/ports/lang/ghc make install clean # hash -r or rehash as needed ghci
Responsible Changed From-To: freebsd-ports-bugs->haskell Over to maintainer
You're right, it's broken. I'm currently working on an upgrade anyway and will fix this on my way there (but please don't hold your breath, I have to do this in a slow VirtualPC environment). Thanks for the analysis! Volker
State Changed From-To: open->closed Fix in update to 6.6. Thanks for your submission!