Windows: clang-based GHC (9.4.1 to 9.10.1) fails, if spaces in path to GHC executable

Summary

On Windows 11, clang-based GHC (GHC 9.4.1 to 9.10.1) fails if there are spaces in the path to the GHC executable. The motivation is an issue raised at the Stack repository: https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/issues/6647.

EDIT: I am not sure to what extent this duplicates #24265 (closed), said to have been (1) fixed by !11938 (closed) (2) backported to GHC 9.6.5 but (3) not backported to GHC 9.8. Commit 31bf85ee does not appear to be present in any release branch. Commit d74ffbbb is present in the ghc-9.6 branch.

So, it may duplicate for GHC 9.4.1 to 9.6.4, 9.8.1, 9.8.2 and 9.10.1. However, it may be a distinct problem for GHC 9.6.5 and 9.6.6.

Steps to reproduce

main.c contains a C comment. Starting with GHC 9.6.6, if I command:

&"D:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\bin\ghc.exe" -c main.c -v

all is well and main.o is created. The output is as follows:

Glasgow Haskell Compiler, Version 9.6.6, stage 2 booted by GHC version 9.4.3
*** systool:cc:
*** C Compiler:
"D:\\sr\\programs\\x86_64-windows\\ghc-9.6.6\\lib\\../mingw/bin/clang.exe" "-x" "c" "-c" "main.c" "-o" "main.o.tmp" "-Wa,-mbig-obj" "-Wimplicit" "-include" "D:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\rts-1.0.2\include\ghcversion.h" "-ID:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\base-4.18.2.1\include" "-ID:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\ghc-bignum-1.3\include" "-ID:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\rts-1.0.2\include" "-ID:\sr\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\../mingw/include" "-D_UCRT" "--rtlib=compiler-rt"
Created temporary directory: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc41684_0
!!! systool:cc: finished in 0.00 milliseconds, allocated 0.446 megabytes
*** Deleting temp files:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc41684_0\ghc_1.rsp
*** Deleting temp subdirs:
Deleting:
*** Deleting temp dirs:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc41684_0

However, if I command (with spaces in the path to the GHC executable):

&"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\bin\ghc.exe" -c main.c -v

the corresponding output is as follows (and GHC 9.6.5 is similar), ending with failure and no main.o (but no real explanation):

Glasgow Haskell Compiler, Version 9.6.6, stage 2 booted by GHC version 9.4.3
*** systool:cc:
*** C Compiler:
"D:\\test\ with\ spaces\\programs\\x86_64-windows\\ghc-9.6.6\\lib\\../mingw/bin/clang.exe" "-x" "c" "-c" "main.c" "-o" "main.o.tmp" "-Wa,-mbig-obj" "-Wimplicit" "-include" "D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\rts-1.0.2\include\ghcversion.h" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\base-4.18.2.1\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\ghc-bignum-1.3\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.6.6\rts-1.0.2\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.6.6\lib\../mingw/include" "-D_UCRT" "--rtlib=compiler-rt"
Created temporary directory: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc43120_0
*** Deleting temp files:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc43120_0\ghc_1.rsp
*** Deleting temp subdirs:
Deleting:
*** Deleting temp dirs:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc43120_0
ghc-9.6.6.exe: could not execute: D:\\test\ with\ spaces\\programs\\x86_64-windows\\ghc-9.6.6\\lib\\../mingw/bin/clang.exe

In the case of GHC 9.4.8 (and GHC 9.6.4, GHC 9.8.2 and GHC 9.10.1 are similar), the equivalent is (but the message is different):

&"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\bin\ghc.exe" -c main.c -v
Glasgow Haskell Compiler, Version 9.4.8, stage 2 booted by GHC version 9.2.2
Created temporary directory: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0
*** systool:cc:
*** C Compiler:
"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\../mingw/bin/clang.exe" "-x" "c" "main.c" "-o" "C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0\ghc_1.s" "-Wimplicit" "-S" "-include" "D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.4.8\rts-1.0.2\include\ghcversion.h" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.4.8\base-4.17.2.1\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.4.8\ghc-bignum-1.3\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.4.8\rts-1.0.2\include" "spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\../mingw/include" "with" "-ID:\test" "-D_UCRT" "--rtlib=compiler-rt"
clang: error: no such file or directory: 'spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.4.8\lib\../mingw/include'
clang: error: no such file or directory: 'with'
*** Deleting temp files:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0\ghc_1.s C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0\ghc_2.rsp
Warning: deleting non-existent C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0\ghc_1.s
*** Deleting temp dirs:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc31604_0
`clang.exe' failed in phase `C Compiler'. (Exit code: 1)

However, GHC 9.2.8 (which uses gcc.exe, not clang.exe) is good. The output is:

&"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\bin\ghc.exe" -c main.c -v
Glasgow Haskell Compiler, Version 9.2.8, stage 2 booted by GHC version 8.10.4
*** initializing unit database:
Using binary package database: D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\package.conf.d\package.cache
package flags []
loading package database D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\package.conf.d
wired-in package ghc-prim mapped to ghc-prim-0.8.0
wired-in package ghc-bignum mapped to ghc-bignum-1.2
wired-in package base mapped to base-4.16.4.0
wired-in package rts mapped to rts-1.0.2
wired-in package template-haskell mapped to template-haskell-2.18.0.0
wired-in package ghc mapped to ghc-9.2.8
!!! initializing unit database: finished in 0.00 milliseconds, allocated 5.965 megabytes
Created temporary directory: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0
*** systool:cc:
*** C Compiler:
"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\../mingw/bin/gcc.exe" "-x" "c" "main.c" "-o" "C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0\ghc_1.s" "-Wimplicit" "-S" "-include" "D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.2.8\rts-1.0.2\include\ghcversion.h" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.2.8\base-4.16.4.0\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.2.8\ghc-bignum-1.2\include" "-ID:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\x86_64-windows-ghc-9.2.8\rts-1.0.2\include"
!!! systool:cc: finished in 0.00 milliseconds, allocated 0.325 megabytes
*** systool:as:
*** Assembler:
"D:\test with spaces\programs\x86_64-windows\ghc-9.2.8\lib\../mingw/bin/gcc.exe" "-Wa,-mbig-obj" "-x" "assembler" "-c" "C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0\ghc_1.s" "-o" "main.o.tmp"
!!! systool:as: finished in 0.00 milliseconds, allocated 0.139 megabytes
*** Deleting temp files:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0\ghc_1.s C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0\ghc_2.rsp
*** Deleting temp dirs:
Deleting: C:\Users\mike\AppData\Local\Temp\ghc36788_0

Expected behavior

On Windows, GHC tolerates spaces on the path to the GHC executable.

Environment

• GHC version used: 9.4.1 to 9.10.1

Optional:

• Operating System: Windows 11
• System Architecture: x86_64