Can't run terminfo code in GHCi on Windows

It's possible this is a duplicate of another runtime linker on Windows issue out there, but I'll post this just in case this really is a unique case.

I was attempting to compile the terminfo library on Windows, and I actually made it surprisingly far--but I quickly stumbled when I actually tried to run some code in GHCi.

First, make sure you have a native Windows version of ncurses installed. On MSYS2:

$ pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-ncurses

And here's a stripped-down version of terminfo, which I'll use to demonstrate the bug:

module Main where

import Control.Exception

import Foreign
import Foreign.C.String
import Foreign.C.Types

data TERMINAL
newtype Terminal = Terminal (ForeignPtr TERMINAL)

-- Use "unsafe" to make set_curterm faster since it's called quite a bit.
foreign import ccall unsafe set_curterm :: Ptr TERMINAL -> IO (Ptr TERMINAL)
foreign import ccall "&" del_curterm :: FunPtr (Ptr TERMINAL -> IO ())

foreign import ccall setupterm :: CString -> CInt -> Ptr CInt -> IO ()

setupTerm :: String -> IO Terminal
setupTerm term =
    withCString term $ \c_term ->
    with 0 $ \ret_ptr -> do
        -- NOTE: I believe that for the way we use terminfo
        -- (i.e. custom output function)
        -- this parameter does not affect anything.
        let stdOutput = 1
        -- Save the previous terminal to be restored after calling setupterm.
        old_term <- set_curterm nullPtr
        -- Call setupterm and check the return value.
        setupterm c_term stdOutput ret_ptr
        ret <- peek ret_ptr
        if (ret /=1)
            then throwIO $ SetupTermError
                $ "Couldn't look up terminfo entry " ++ show term
            else do
                cterm <- set_curterm old_term
                fmap Terminal $ newForeignPtr del_curterm cterm

data SetupTermError = SetupTermError String
instance Show SetupTermError where
    show (SetupTermError str) = "setupTerm: " ++ str
instance Exception SetupTermError where

main :: IO ()
main = do
  Terminal t <- setupTerm "xterm"
  print t

If you compile this code, it "works" (in the sense that it'll actually call the C code):

$ ghc -lncursesw Terminfo.hs
[1 of 1] Compiling Main             ( Terminfo.hs, Terminfo.o )
Linking Terminfo.exe ...
$ ./Terminfo
Terminfo.exe: setupTerm: Couldn't look up terminfo entry "xterm"

But attempting to run the same code in GHCi is a disaster:

$ runghc -lncursesw Terminfo.hs
ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `nanosleep'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_cookie_init'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_cookie_init'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr._nc_wacs'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr._nc_wacs'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_WIN_DRIVER'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_WIN_DRIVER'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_get_driver'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_get_driver'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_setupterm_ex'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_setupterm_ex'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol 'newterm'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `newterm'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr._nc_globals'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr._nc_globals'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_err_abort'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_err_abort'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol 'tparm'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `tparm'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr._nc_prescreen'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr._nc_prescreen'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_outch_sp'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_outch_sp'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr._nc_outch_sp'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr._nc_outch_sp'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_scrolln_sp'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_scrolln_sp'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr.SP'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr.SP'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '.refptr.cur_term'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `.refptr.cur_term'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol '_nc_ospeed'

ghc.exe: C:/msys64/mingw64/lib/../lib/libncursesw.a: unknown symbol `_nc_ospeed'

ghc.exe: Could not on-demand load symbol 'set_curterm'

Terminfo.hs:
ByteCodeLink: can't find label
During interactive linking, GHCi couldn't find the following symbol:
  set_curterm
This may be due to you not asking GHCi to load extra object files,
archives or DLLs needed by your current session.  Restart GHCi, specifying
the missing library using the -L/path/to/object/dir and -lmissinglibname
flags, or simply by naming the relevant files on the GHCi command line.
Alternatively, this link failure might indicate a bug in GHCi.
If you suspect the latter, please send a bug report to:
  glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org

Also reproducible on GHC HEAD.

Trac metadata

Trac field	Value
Version	8.0.2
Type	Bug
TypeOfFailure	OtherFailure
Priority	normal
Resolution	Unresolved
Component	Runtime System (Linker)
Test case
Differential revisions
BlockedBy
Related
Blocking
CC	Phyx-
Operating system
Architecture