Can't use explicit braces/semicolons (i.e. non-layout) at top level with ghci

The following file is rejected by ghc and ghci, but accepted by hugs.

{
x =
3;
}

The work-around is to include 'module Main where' before the opening brace in the first line.

The error reported is:

layoutbug.hs:1:0: parse error on input `{'

I discovered this bug whilst assisting a programmer who uses a screenreader and hence finds layout code quite unhelpful. Blind and partially sighted users in general may well hit this problem!

My reading of the haskell report suggests that the code above is valid haskell98 (looking at the grammar, one alternative for 'module' is 'body', and 'body' can be { topdecls } )

Trac metadata

Trac field	Value
Version	6.6
Type	Bug
TypeOfFailure	OtherFailure
Priority	normal
Resolution	Unresolved
Component	Compiler
Test case
Differential revisions
BlockedBy
Related
Blocking
CC
Operating system	Unknown
Architecture	Unknown