Windows installer 2009.2.1 RC1

[Duncan Coutts]

On Mon, 2009-06-01 at 03:05 +0200, Mikhail Glushenkov wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I've uploaded the 2009.2.1 release candidate installer to
> 
> http://code.haskell.org/~refold/HaskellPlatform-2009.2.1-rc1-setup.exe

Thanks Mikhail

> Unless someone finds serious bugs in this RC, it can be released unchanged.
> 
> What's new in 2009.2.1-rc1:

I'm sorry Mikhail, Don and I should have been clearer about this. Due to
popular demand on the libraries list, we've decided that we're making a
slight change to the version numbers, to reflect the fact that minor
releases do not change the API. So while we'd originally planned that
the next minor releases would be 2009.2.1 and 2009.2.2 etc, they're
actually going to be 2009.2.0.1, 2009.2.0.2 etc.

We worked this out a week ago or so on the libraries mailing list but
havn't updated the wiki. Apologies for not keeping you in the loop
properly. I'll update the wiki now.

>     * The platform installer is now relocatable (all libraries are installed
>       into a single directory, and referred to via '$topdir' in package.conf).

Yay. Well done. That should make Claus happy. :-)

>     * The default install directory no longer contains spaces (it was changed to
>       $SYSTEMDRIVE\HaskellPlatform\$PLATFORM_VERSION).

Turns out this will not be a problem in future. They've managed to
change the ghc build system so that it can use tools that contain
spaces. So perhaps we do not need to change the install location.

> Known issues:
> 
>     * The network and time libraries shipped with GHC 6.10.3 were replaced with
>       versions specified in the 'haskell-platform.cabal' file (2.2.1.1 and
>       1.1.2.4 instead of 2.2.1 and 1.1.3, respectively).

I hope we're making the right decision here about network. The 2.2.1.2
did make it in time for the deadline but we've since heard that it
contains some regression, so I'm assuming 2.2.1.1 is still the right one
to stick with. I've not heard from the maintainer yet sadly.

So I think those versions will be right. 

So, would it be possible to ask for a rebuild using the version number
2009.2.0.1? :-) Yes, it's entirely me to blame to not saying so earlier.
I owe you a beer or two I'm sure.

If you're doing a rebuild, what do you think about flipping the default
install dir back to the previous default. I know the current ghc build
system still has problems but if we're going to be able to move back to
a path with spaces it seems a bit of a shame to have to go back and
forth. In any case, it's not that much of a hassle for people who want
to build the existing ghc from source on Windows to just install a ghc
in a path without spaces. There are only a handful of people it affects
and they're all perfectly capable of reading the instructions.

Duncan