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Add --with-libedit flag to the readline package

It would be useful for the readline package to support compiling against the libedit library (which provides a subset of the readline APIs):

  • libedit is available by default on OS X.
  • since libedit is BSD-licensed, there are no problems statically linking ghc with it. (This may be useful on Windows.)

I propose adding a --with-libedit flag to the readline autoconf script. Without that flag, the package will behave exactly as before, refusing to link against libedit. With that flag, the following behavior occurs:

  • GNUreadline.framework (OS X - only) is ignored, if present
  • We try to link with -lreadline, and don't fail if readline is actually libedit.
  • If it is libedit, we #ifdef out all of the functions not supported by libedit. (these are generally low-level APIs not needed by most applications, including ghci.) Otherwise, if we're linking against GNU readline, we support all the available APIs.

Suggested deadline: Jan. 23, 2008.

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Trac field Value
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Type Bug
TypeOfFailure OtherFailure
Priority normal
Resolution Unresolved
Component libraries (other)
Test case
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Operating system Multiple
Architecture Multiple
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