Version 6.10.1 (released 4 November 2008)

Online Docs

Distribution packages

GHC is packaged for a number of operating systems and distributions. While they may lag behind the latest GHC release, advantages such as dependency checking and ease of uninstallation mean we recommend using them anyway, unless you have a particular need for new features or bug fixes.

Binary Packages

The OS-specific packages (eg. RPMs on Linux) are generally a better bet than the vanilla .tar.bz2 binary bundles, because they will check for dependencies and allow the package to be uninstalled at a later date.

However, if you don't have permission to install binaries on your system, or you want to install somewhere other than the default place (/usr or /usr/local on a Unix system), then you'll need to use a .tar.bz2 binary bundle.

Supported platforms:

Community supported platforms:

Supported platforms

Linux (x86)

  • Generic i386 Linux for libedit0. If you have a file /usr/lib/libedit.so.0 (expected on RedHat and derived distributions) then use this bindist. This is a complete build, including interactive system, profiling libraries and documentation.
  • Generic i386 Linux for libedit2. If you have a file /usr/lib/libedit.so.2 (expected on Debian and derived distributions) then use this bindist. This is a complete build, including interactive system, profiling libraries and documentation.
  • If you have neither, then you need to install editline. Try looking for a package called something like libedit2 or libedit.

Linux (x86_64)

  • Generic amd64 Linux for libedit0. If you have a file /usr/lib/libedit.so.0 (expected on RedHat and derived distributions) then use this bindist. This is a complete build, including interactive system, profiling libraries and documentation.
  • Generic amd64 Linux for libedit2. If you have a file /usr/lib/libedit.so.2 (expected on Debian and derived distributions) then use this bindist. This is a complete build, including interactive system, profiling libraries and documentation.
  • If you have neither, then you need to install editline. Try looking for a package called something like libedit2 or libedit.

Windows (x86) (standalone)

This is a complete build, and should work for Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista. It also includes support for compiling C++ files.

MacOS X (Intel)

This is an installer for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). The package requires Xcode 3.0 to be already installed. You can find Xcode 3.0 on your Leopard installation DVD (or at http://developer.apple.com/.

This is a binary distribution for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), prepared by Christian Maeder. It needs libedit.2.dylib, libncurses.5.dylib and libgmp.3.dylib under /opt/local/lib/.

Community supported platforms

These platforms are supported by community members.

Sparc/Solaris

This is a minimal binary distribution (i.e. it does not include extralibs) for Solaris, prepared by Christian Maeder.

If you are on Solaris 8 or 9, please see #1291 for some hoops you may have to jump through.

There may be problems with gcc-3.4.x; see #951 for details.

x86/Solaris

This is a binary distribution for Solaris, prepared by Christian Maeder. You will also need (amongst others) libedit.so.5 and libncurses.so.5, which may mean setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

MacOS X (PowerPC)

NOTE: In order to use GHC on MacOS X PowerPC, you must have Xcode 3.1 installed.

This is a binary distribution for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) on PowerPC G5 machines, prepared by Christian Maeder. It needs libedit.2.dylib, libncurses.5.dylib and libgmp.3.dylib under /opt/local/lib/.

This is a binary distribution for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), prepared by Michael Witten.

Source Distribution

  • ghc-6.10.1-src.tar.bz2 (9.1 MB). This provides the compiler and a minimal set of libraries. For more information on building, see the building guide.
  • ghc-6.10.1-src-extralibs.tar.bz2 (0.5 MB). If you unpack this tarball on top of the above then you will get a number of extra libraries. However, the build will take significantly longer. Alternatively these, and many others, can be downloaded and compiled from Hackage once GHC is built.
  • testsuite-6.10.1.tar.bz2 (2.3MB). If you unpack this tarball on top of the above then you will be able to run the testsuite.

The source distribution needs an installed GHC (version 6.4.2 at least). If your platform isn't currently supported with a binary distribution, then you'll need to consult the section on Porting GHC in the Building Guide.