Cabal cannot find GHC when using relative path in -w flag

[bos]

(Imported from Trac #768, reported by @tibbe on 2010-11-19)

Trying to build the network package while standing at the root of a GHC build tree fails to find GHC:

$ cabal install -w inplace/bin/ghc-stage2 network -v2
inplace/bin/ghc-stage2 --numeric-version
looking for package tool: ghc-pkg near compiler in inplace/bin
found package tool in inplace/bin/ghc-pkg
inplace/bin/ghc-pkg --version
inplace/bin/ghc-stage2 --supported-languages
Reading installed packages...
inplace/bin/ghc-pkg dump --global
inplace/bin/ghc-pkg dump --user
inplace/bin/ghc-stage2 --print-libdir
Reading available packages...
Resolving dependencies...
selecting network-2.3 (hackage) and discarding network-2.0, 2.1.0.0, 2.2.0.0,
2.2.0.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.1.1, 2.2.1.2, 2.2.1.3, 2.2.1.4, 2.2.1.5, 2.2.1.6, 2.2.1.7,
2.2.1.8, 2.2.1.9, 2.2.1.10, 2.2.3 and 2.2.3.1
selecting base-4.3.0.0 (installed)
selecting ffi-1.0 (installed)
selecting ghc-prim-0.2.0.0 (installed)
selecting integer-gmp-0.2.0.2 (installed)
selecting rts-1.0 (installed)
selecting parsec-2.1.0.1 (hackage) and discarding parsec-2.0, 2.1.0.0, 3.0.0,
3.0.1 and 3.1.0
selecting unix-2.4.1.0 (installed) and discarding unix-2.0, 2.2.0.0, 2.3.0.0,
2.3.1.0, 2.3.2.0, 2.4.0.0, 2.4.0.1 and 2.4.0.2
selecting bytestring-0.9.1.8 (installed) and discarding bytestring-0.9,
0.9.0.1, 0.9.0.2, 0.9.0.3, 0.9.0.4, 0.9.1.0, 0.9.1.1, 0.9.1.2, 0.9.1.3,
0.9.1.4, 0.9.1.5, 0.9.1.6 and 0.9.1.7
In order, the following would be installed:
parsec-2.1.0.1 (new package)
network-2.3 (new package)
parsec-2.1.0.1 has already been downloaded.
Extracting
/home/tibell/.cabal/packages/hackage.haskell.org/parsec/2.1.0.1/parsec-2.1.0.1.tar.gz
to /tmp/parsec-2.1.0.117969...
Configuring parsec-2.1.0.1...
cabal: Cannot find the program 'ghc' at 'inplace/bin/ghc-stage2' or on the
path
cabal: Error: some packages failed to install:
network-2.3 depends on parsec-2.1.0.1 which failed to install.
parsec-2.1.0.1 failed during the configure step. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1

[bos]

(Imported comment by @dcoutts on 2010-11-19)

Presumably due to cabal-install changing the current directory when it builds the package in question. See SetupWrapper? in cabal-install.

[abdelhegazi]

Any solution suggestions as I got a similar error here ?

When I was trying to build an operating systems and the course requires that ghc and cabal should be installed, and because I am trying to do it on a ubuntu 12.04

hegazy@AHegazy:/sbin$ cabal install ghc-paths
Warning: Falling back to topdown solver for GHC < 7.
Resolving dependencies...
[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( /tmp/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9-31688/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9/Setup.hs, /tmp/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9-31688/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9/dist/setup/Main.o )
Linking /tmp/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9-31688/ghc-paths-0.1.0.9/dist/setup/setup ...
unrecognized option `--disable-tests'

unrecognized option `--disable-benchmarks'
cabal: Error: some packages failed to install:
ghc-paths-0.1.0.9 failed during the configure step. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
hegazy@AHegazy:/sbin$
hegazy@AHegazy:/sbin$

I will be grateful if you listed how did you solve this thing happened to you ?!

[byorgey]

@ahegazy that doesn't look like the same problem to me, I think you are running into #1004 , which was fixed by #1133 . It should work if you install the most recent version of cabal-install (cabal install cabal-install).

[abdelhegazi]

Thanks byorgey, you are right it worked.

[AndreasPK]

This is still an issue on windows using:

$ cabal --version
cabal-install version 2.0.0.1
compiled using version 2.0.1.1 of the Cabal library

[ulysses4ever]

Could someone with access to a Windows machine try this? (@jneira?) It works fine on Linux. At least, we could stick the windows label on it.

[jneira]

Thanks for the mention, i have been able to test it amd it works for me using cabal-3.6.0.0 build -w ..\..\..\..\ghcup\ghc\8.10.7\bin\ghc.exe so iam gonna close it optimistically

[AndreasPK]

Still broken for me:

andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/ghc_master
$ cabal install dom-lt -w _dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe
Resolving dependencies...
Build profile: -w ghc-9.1.20210216 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib) (requires build)
Starting     dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib)

Failed to build dom-lt-0.2.3. The failure occurred during the configure step.
Build log (
C:\ghcup\cabal\logs\ghc-9.1.20210216\dom-lt-0.2.3-4ab9b330e981bfcfe12250dc7b82fd00a91f4384.log
):
Configuring library for dom-lt-0.2.3..
cabal.exe: Cannot find the program 'ghc'. User-specified path
'_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe' does not refer to an executable and the program is
not on the system path.

cabal.exe: Failed to build dom-lt-0.2.3. See the build log above for details.


andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/ghc_master
$ cabal install dom-lt -w ~/ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe
Resolving dependencies...
Build profile: -w ghc-9.1.20210216 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib) (requires build)
Starting     dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib)
Building     dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib)


andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/ghc_master
$ cabal --version
cabal-install version 3.6.2.0
compiled using version 3.6.3.0 of the Cabal library

andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/ghc_master
$ cabal install dom-lt -w ../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe
Resolving dependencies...
Build profile: -w ghc-9.1.20210216 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib) (requires build)
Starting     dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib)

Failed to build dom-lt-0.2.3. The failure occurred during the configure step.
Build log (
C:\ghcup\cabal\logs\ghc-9.1.20210216\dom-lt-0.2.3-4ab9b330e981bfcfe12250dc7b82fd00a91f4384.log
):
Configuring library for dom-lt-0.2.3..
cabal.exe: Cannot find the program 'ghc'. User-specified path
'../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe' does not refer to an executable and
the program is not on the system path.

cabal.exe: Failed to build dom-lt-0.2.3. See the build log above for details.


andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/ghc_master
$ ../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 9.1.20210216

[Mikolaj]

@AndreasPK: does cabal build work for you? @jneira: does cabal install work for you? If not, how about on master branch?

[AndreasPK]

@AndreasPK: does cabal build work for you? @jneira: does cabal install work for you? If not, how about on master branch?

cabal build behaves quite strangly:

andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/dom-lt
$ ../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 9.1.20210216

andi@Ryzen MINGW64 ~/dom-lt
$ cabal build -w ../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe
Build profile: -w ghc-9.1.20210216 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - call-stack-0.4.0 (lib) (requires build)
 - dom-lt-0.2.3 (lib) (first run)
 - HUnit-1.6.2.0 (lib) (requires build)
 - dom-lt-0.2.3 (test:dom-lt-tests) (first run)
Starting     call-stack-0.4.0 (lib)
Configuring library for dom-lt-0.2.3..
Preprocessing library for dom-lt-0.2.3..
Building library for dom-lt-0.2.3..
[1 of 2] Compiling Data.Graph.Dom   ( Data\Graph\Dom.hs, C:\ghc\msys64\home\andi\dom-lt\dist-newstyle\build\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.1.20210216\dom-lt-0.2.3\build\Data\Graph\Dom.o )
[2 of 2] Compiling Data.Graph.Dom.Internal ( Data\Graph\Dom\Internal.hs, C:\ghc\msys64\home\andi\dom-lt\dist-newstyle\build\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.1.20210216\dom-lt-0.2.3\build\Data\Graph\Dom\Internal.o )

Failed to build call-stack-0.4.0. The failure occurred during the configure
step.
Build log (
C:\ghcup\cabal\logs\ghc-9.1.20210216\call-stack-0.4.0-948672797ec2c144d9221e5d447f5e9d2b8d687f.log
):
Configuring library for call-stack-0.4.0..
cabal.exe: Cannot find the program 'ghc'. User-specified path
'../ghc_master/_dwarf/stage1/bin/ghc.exe' does not refer to an executable and
the program is not on the system path.

cabal.exe: Failed to build call-stack-0.4.0 (which is required by
test:dom-lt-tests from dom-lt-0.2.3). See the build log above for details.

[jneira]

very weird, i've tried to get close to @AndreasPK use case, using msys2 console, with ghc-8.10.7 and 9.2.1 (i dont have a ghc built from source at hand) and trying cabal build and install and i cant reproduce 🤔 :

atrey@FNTSY MINGW64 /d/dev/ws/haskell/cabal-test
$ ../../../../ghcup/ghc/9.2.1/bin/ghc.exe --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 9.2.1

atrey@FNTSY MINGW64 /d/dev/ws/haskell/cabal-test
$ cabal --version
cabal-install version 3.6.2.0
compiled using version 3.6.2.0 of the Cabal library

atrey@FNTSY MINGW64 /d/dev/ws/haskell/cabal-test
$ which cabal
/d/ghcup/bin/cabal

atrey@FNTSY MINGW64 /d/dev/ws/haskell/cabal-test
$ cabal build -w ../../../../ghcup/ghc/9.2.1/bin/ghc.exe
Build profile: -w ghc-9.2.1 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - cabal-test-0.1.0.0 (lib) (first run)
 - cabal-test-0.1.0.0 (exe:cabal-test) (first run)
Preprocessing library for cabal-test-0.1.0.0..
Building library for cabal-test-0.1.0.0..

[1 of 3] Compiling MyModule2        ( src\MyModule2.hs, D:\\dev\ws\haskell\cabal-test\dist-newstyle\build\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.1\cabal-test-0.1.0.0\build\MyModule2.o )
.....

$ mkdir test && cd test && cabal init -n && cabal install -w ../../../../../ghcup/ghc/8.10.7/bin/ghc.exe
Wrote tarball sdist to
D:\dev\ws\haskell\issues\test\dist-newstyle\sdist\test-0.1.0.0.tar.gz
Resolving dependencies...
Build profile: -w ghc-8.10.7 -O1
In order, the following will be built (use -v for more details):
 - test-0.1.0.0 (exe:test) (requires build)
Configuring executable 'test' for test-0.1.0.0..
Preprocessing executable 'test' for test-0.1.0.0..
Building executable 'test' for test-0.1.0.0..
[1 of 1] Compiling Main             ( app\Main.hs, dist\build\test\test-tmp\Main.o )
.....

Dont know where could be the difference, could you create a fresh simple cabal project like i did? i even would use a fresh cabal global config just in case. Another check could be use a ghc release (like mine one from ghcup) or start the path with ./

[AndreasPK]

Dont know where could be the difference

What I observed was that the configure step of a dependency failed. By extension this would mean if you (re)compile a project where all dependencies are already available your build might succeed. Which would explain the difference.