Help with running the Yesod Development server? - haskell

I'm currently trying out web development frameworks for haskell and I recently came across yesod. It seemed pretty interesting so I installed it using cabal, however I'm not able to run the development server. Following their getting started instructions here's the result:
$ yesod init
$ cd mysite
$ yesod devel
Configuring mysite-0.0.0...
Testing files...
Rebuilding app
yesod: bind: resource busy (Address already in use)
Preprocessing library mysite-0.0.0...
Preprocessing executables for mysite-0.0.0...
Building mysite-0.0.0...
Controller.hs:16:7:
Could not find module `Data.Dynamic':
It is a member of the hidden package `base'.
Perhaps you need to add `base' to the build-depends in your .cabal file.
It is a member of the hidden package `base-3.0.3.2'.
Perhaps you need to add `base' to the build-depends in your .cabal file.
Use -v to see a list of the files searched for.
Testing files...
Testing files...
^^ above line just keeps repeating...
I'm assuming it has something to do with the Data.Dynamic module but I don't know how to go about fixing it.
Additional Info
Running Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick
ghc version:
$ ghc --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 6.12.1

I haven't run into this specific issue, but the error message looks like it's a simple question of GHC being unable to find version 3.0.3.2 the package "base." This version has been buildable since GHC 6.9, so you should have it. Try running the following command:
ghc-pkg check
This will tell you if there is something wrong with your packages. Cabal can be a bit of a nightmare for dependencies -- partly, it seems, because a lot of Haskell developers underestimate the extent to which their underlying libraries will shift in the future. So they will define a dependency as ">= [version of package x]" without limiting the max version to the one presently available. Or they just leave out version-limiting altogether.
Yesod, I'm happy to say, doesn't fall into this trap. But several of the libraries it depends on do. When you start developing in Haskell, learn this lesson: never assume that future versions of a library won't break your code. They will. A lot.
If ghc-pkg comes up with broken packages, you may need to clean up/uninstall/reinstall these packages until they are either cleaned up or hidden. (Just do ghc-pkg hide [package name] to tell ghc to ignore that package.
Your next problem is that hidden base package. Try the following:
ghc-pkg list | grep base
If you see brackets around the library, that means it's hidden. The package base-3.0.3.2 might show up as hidden (although that's a bit unlikely, as that's where the backward-compatible Prelude lives). If it is hidden, try to unhide it with the following command:
ghc-pkg expose base-3.0.3.2
Now try re-running yesod devel and see how it goes. Best case scenario is that it works. If not, let us know.

According to the Yesod in Five Minutes guide, you appear to be missing the a call to the command "cabal install" between your "cd mysite" and "yesod devel". It may need to install further packages based on what your responses were during "yesod init", such as which database you want to use.
Also, you may want to check that the port is not currently being used, as you have the "Address already in use" shown in your transcript.

First, it would be a good idea to resolve any broken packages reported by ghc-pkg check, by removing/reinstalling/upgrading them.
Next, can you manually cabal build the mysite app without trouble ? If your mysite.cabal actually does not specify base in the build-depends list, you should follow the suggestion to add that.
The repeating Testing Files message is normal for current yesod devel, it is polling your source files.

Related

Could not find module in runhaskell-script

I code haskell of poor quality in december each year. This year my environment is broken for some reason.
When I try to run my old scripts with
runhaskell .\myCode.hs
I get
Could not find module `Data.List.Split'
Use -v to see a list of the files searched for.
This question has a comment in one of the answers:
Maybe he doesn't even use a .cabal or .yaml file and only wants to write a stand-alone Haskell script for runhaskell.
That is exactly what I'm after, but the comment thread does not provide an answer. It worked 2016-2018 and I do not remember this issue, and I've never had the setup that is written about here or here("hidden modules").
Anyone have an idea how to fix this?
Edit: I tried the guide here which says to download the package, extract it and run:
runhaskell Setup configure
runhaskell Setup build
runhaskell Setup install
But I just get an error which says:
$ runhaskell Setup configure
Configuring split-0.2.3.3...
Setup: Encountered missing dependencies:
base <4.12
And I do have a Haskell\8.6.3\lib\base-4.12.0.0 in the installation.
Data.List.Split is not part of "base", the core libraries that are distributed with Haskell. It is part of an external package named "split". If you want to use it, you must get that package somehow. This is typically done with cabal or stack. Perhaps there is a way to do this that runhaskell understands; I don't know anything about runhaskell.
Ok so after following the instructions to do things manually, I double checked that I had the latest split package. The web page says the package requires base (<4.14) but it still complains Setup: Encountered missing dependencies: base <4.12 when I try to run runhaskell Setup configure
But then after I've tried and failed to install an older 'base', seemed like a long shot anyway, I simply followed the 'Installing packages using cabal' part of the guide.
cabal update
cabal install split
I ran those two commands and ignored the warnings that it was part of the legacy v1 cabal usage. It worked and it installed split so the runhaskell command could access it.

Cabal-installed Modules won't import

There are several things I'm confused about here, so I'll try to explain each of them as clearly as I can.
I've been trying to install the diagrams package for haskell, using cabal. I've seen it suggested to install packages using sandboxes, so that's what I did. Something that's not clear to me is exactly what a sandbox is - I understand that I can initialise one with cabal sandbox init and install packages inside of it with cabal install, but I don't see how to use those packages once they're installed.
I then tried to compile a test-script using ghc, which resulted in the following error:
diagramstutorial.lhs:3:10:
Could not find module 'Diagrams.Prelude'
Use -v to see a list of the files searched for.
With a similar error for another module that the script was supposed to load. These modules are definitely both included in the diagrams package, and cabal seems happy that the package is installed correctly. I expect there's something simple I just don't understand, but I don't know what it is.
I typed ghc --make diagramstutorial.lhs to compile it
That will make GHC use the regular user package database (that is, not the sandbox one). Use cabal exec -- ghc --make diagramstutorial.lhs instead, so that GHC runs in the context of your sandbox.
You can also use GHCi within the sandbox with cabal repl. And naturally, if/when you start preparing a cabal package, all cabal commands (cabal build, etc.) will use the sandbox if you are within its directory.
Something that's not clear to me is exactly what a sandbox is
A set of packages with an accompanying database local to the directory. Beyond the cabal.sandbox.config configuration file there is also a hidden directory .cabal-sandbox, in which diagrams and the other packages you installed lie.
Find the sandbox directory, and locate the packages.conf.d file.
For example, /home/user/.cabal-sandbox/x86_64-linux-ghc-7.8.4-packages.conf.d
Rerun your GHC commands with the package-db flag:
ghci -package-db /home/user/.cabal-sandbox/x86_64-linux-ghc-7.8.4-packages.conf.d --make diagramstutorial.lhs
Everything should now work

NixOS and ghc-mod - Module not found

I'm experimenting a problem with the interaction between the ghc-mod plugin in emacs, and NixOS 14.04. Basically, once packages are installed via nix-env -i, they are visible from ghc and ghci, recognised by haskell-mode, but not found by ghc-mod.
To avoid information duplication, you can find all details, and the exact replication of the problem in a VM, in the bug ticket https://github.com/kazu-yamamoto/ghc-mod/issues/269
The current, default, package management set up for Haskell on NixOS does work will with packages that use the ghc-api, or similar (ghc-mod, hint, plugins, hell, ...) run time resources. It takes a little more work to create a Nix expression that integrates them well into the rest of the environment. It is called making a wrapper expression for the package, for an example look at how GHC is installed an operates on NixOS.
It is reasonable that this is difficult since you are trying to make a install procedure that is atomic, but interacts with an unknown number of other system packages with their own atomic installs and updates. It is doable, but there is a quicker work around.
Look at this example on the install page on the wiki. Instead of trying to create a ghc-mod package that works atomically you weld it on to ghc so ghc+ghc-mod is an atomic update.
I installed ghc+ghc-mod with the below install script added to my ~/.nixpkgs/nixpkgs.nix file.
hsEnv = haskellPackages.ghcWithPackages (self : [
self.ghc
self.ghcMod
# add more packages here
]);
Install package with something like:
nix-env -i hsEnv
or better most of the time:
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.haskellPackages.hsEnv
I have an alias for the above so I do not have to type it out every time. It is just:
nixh hsEnv
The down side of this method is that other Haskell packages installed with nix-env -i[A] will not work with the above installation. If I wanted to get everything working with the lens package then I would have to alter the install script to include lens like:
hsEnv = haskellPackages.ghcWithPackages (self : [
self.ghc
self.ghcMod
self.lens
# add more packages here
]);
and re-install. Nix does not seem to use a different installation for lens or ghc-mod in hsEnv and with the ghc from nix-env -i ghc so apparently only a little more needs to happen behind the scenes most of the time to combine existing packages in the above fashion.
ghc-mod installed fine with the above script but I have not tested out its integration with Emacs as of yet.
Additional notes added to the github thread
DanielG:
I'm having a bit of trouble working with this environment, I can't even get cabal install to behave properly :/ I'm just getting lots of errors like:
With Nix and NixOS you pretty much never use Cabal to install at the global level
Make sure to use sandboxes, if you are going to use cabal-install. You probably do not need it but its there and it works.
Use ghcWithPackages when installing packages like ghc-mod, hint, or anything needs heavy runtime awareness of existing package (They are hard to make atomic and ghcWithPackages gets around this for GHC).
If you are developing install the standard suite of posix tools with nix-env -i stdenv. NixOS does not force you to have your command line and PATH cultured with tools you do not necessarily need.
cabal assumes the existence a few standard tools such as ar, patch(I think), and a few others as well if memory services me right.
If you use the standard install method and/or ghcWithPackages when needed then NixOS will dedup, on a package level (If you plot a dependency tree they will point to the same package in /nix/store, nix-store --optimise can always dedup the store at a file level.), many packages automatically unlike cabal sandboxes.
Response to comment
[carlo#nixos:~]$ nix-env -iA nixos.pkgs.hsEnv
installing `haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3'
these derivations will be built:
/nix/store/39dn9h2gnp1pyv2zwwcq3bvck2ydyg28-haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3.drv
building path(s) `/nix/store/minf4s4libap8i02yhci83b54fvi1l2r-haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3'
building /nix/store/minf4s4libap8i02yhci83b54fvi1l2r-haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3
collision between `/nix/store/1jp3vsjcl8ydiy92lzyjclwr943vh5lx-ghc-7.6.3/bin/haddock' and `/nix/store/2dfv2pd0i5kcbbc3hb0ywdbik925c8p9-haskell-haddock-ghc7.6.3-2.13.2/bin/haddock' at /nix/store/9z6d76pz8rr7gci2n3igh5dqi7ac5xqj-builder.pl line 72.
builder for `/nix/store/39dn9h2gnp1pyv2zwwcq3bvck2ydyg28-haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3.drv' failed with exit code 2
error: build of `/nix/store/39dn9h2gnp1pyv2zwwcq3bvck2ydyg28-haskell-env-ghc-7.6.3.drv' failed
It is the line that starts with collision that tells you what is going wrong:
collision between `/nix/store/1jp3vsjcl8ydiy92lzyjclwr943vh5lx-ghc-7.6.3/bin/haddock' and `/nix/store/2dfv2pd0i5kcbbc3hb0ywdbik925c8p9-haskell-haddock-ghc7.6.3-2.13.2/bin/haddock' at /nix/store/9z6d76pz8rr7gci2n3igh5dqi7ac5xqj-builder.pl line 72.
It is a conflict between two different haddocks. Switch to a new profile and try again. Since this is a welding together ghc+packages it should not be installed in a profile with other Haskell packages. That does not stop you from running binaries and interrupters from both packages at once, they just need to be in their own name space so when you call haddock, cabal, ghc, there is only one choice per profile.
If you are not familiar with profiles yet you can use:
nix-env -S /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/<user>/<New profile name>
The default profile is either default or channels do not which one it will be for your set up. But check for it so you can switch back to it later. There are some tricks so that you do not have to use the /nix/var/nix/profiles/ directory to store you profiles to cut down on typing but that is the default location.

Leksah system scope module browser is empty

I have just installed leksah following the user manual. The manual says that I should do a ghc-pkg recache before starting Leksah for the first time, or I might see an empty module browser at the system scope. My problem is that this is what I am seeing, even though I did the recache.
Basically, my setup process was this: Leksah install -> ghc-pkg recache -> starting Leksah. Then I get to a screen which tells me that Leksah will collect and download metadata for my installed packages, and warns me that it might take long time. Using the recommended defaults there, I see a progress bar for about five seconds, and then Leksah starts. These defaults were:
No paths for haskell package sources.
Prebuild metadata URL: http://www.leksah.org.
Retrieve, then build.
Server port: 11111.
End server with last connection.
Reading on in the manual, it says that the location of haskell package sources could be omitted (which was the default), if I just wanted to test, and the location could be filled in later. This leads me to believe that the missing Haskell source paths are the problem, but then I don´t know where my haskell sources are. They don´t seem to be in the Haskell Platform folder. Does anybody know how to solve this?
Other stuff, which might help:
I have grep on my path as well as wget, as specified in the manual.
The ghc-pkg recache command takes about a second. I don´t know, if it should be more.
Doing a Rebuild Metadata, I get a console with a lot of numbers from 0 to 1 for update_toolbar, and then a lot of "starting server" -> "metadata collector has nothing to do" -> "metadata collection has finished".
my setup:
win xp sp3
ghc 6.12.3
Leksah 0.8.0.6
GNU grep 2.5.4
GNU wget 1.5.3.1
I´ll be happy to provide more information. Thank you.
In the preferences under metadata you need to put the path to package sources in the section "Paths under which Haskell source for package maybe found", they should be under your home path in .cabal directory. For me this was "/home/korcan/.cabal" then restart Leksah, if that doesn't work you might need to rebuild system data.
I think I had problems getting this to work except when I re-installed Leksah and it asks you to add those settings for the first time.
EDIT: okay I just read you're using XP, this will be somewhere in your Docs & Settings directory, on windows 7 for me it's in C:\Users\user-name\AppData\Roaming\cabal

Cabal: Odd Error Message + Lack of Documentation

So I recently installed cabal (from the default binary of ArchLinux).
I then tried to upgrade cabal as a user:
cabal upgrade Cabal --user --prefix=$USER
Resolving dependencies...
cabal: fromFlag NoFlag. Use fromFlagOrDefault
What I've already done:
Googled the error message. Turned up the cabal source and little else.
Looked at haskell-wiki on cabal-install.
Looked through this guide.
So basically I'm wondering:
What's up with the error message?
Could anyone point me in the direction of a cabal tutorial?
I think that's a bug in Arch's package. I'm running Arch as well, and I got the same error.
I then built cabal-install (0.8.2) from Hackage, which didn't complain when I run cabal upgrade Cabal. In fact, it started building right away, although I didn't let it finish because I didn't feel comfortable upgrading a core package.
May I ask why you wanted to upgrade Cabal? The version that comes with ghc is 1.8.0.2, and the latest version is 1.8.0.4 -- not too distant IMO. Besides, if you're running cabal-install as normal user, why not simply cabal install? It doesn't have permission to overwrite the system files anyway.
I'm guessing wildly here, but can you see if
You have a nonstandard Setup.hs?
You have flags: set in ~/.cabal/config?
The most helpful tutorial I have found is not ostensibly about Cabal; it is called How to Write a Haskell Program.
I have looked through the guide you mention (the official Cabal documentation), and the information I wanted is a tiny bit of flotsam swimming in a sea of complexity. I assume that the complexity serves some useful purpose, since I know that good people have been working very hard on Cabal for several years, but as an outsider, I find the state of play discouraging. I was just barely able to build, install, and upload a simple package of my own—with a little help from my friends on SO.
I tentatively suggest you might want to avoid cabal upgrade and maybe try cabal install instead, and see if you can move forward with your original goals.
From user tlo:
The global configuration file for cabal-install is ~/.cabal/config. If
you do not have this file, cabal will create it for you on the first
call to cabal update.
I deleted my config, ran cabal update, and all was good.

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