docs(readme): consolidate building and contributing guides into README #107
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- Delete separate HACKING.md and INSTALL.md files, consolidating their content into README.md for a unified reference - Update README to reflect Stable Haskell Edition fork with GitHub issue tracker at stable-haskell/ghc - Revise clone instructions to point to GitHub stable-haskell/ghc repository instead of GitLab - Simplify build instructions to use make-based build system with clearer GHCup setup steps - Integrate developer contribution guidelines and communication channels directly into README - Update dependency references and remove outdated tool links (Happy, Alex) - Add test suite running instructions to building section - Reorganize content with clearer section headers for Getting Started, Useful Resources, and communication channels
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angerman
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| ### IRC | ||
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| If you're an IRC user, be sure to drop by the official `#ghc` channel | ||
| on [Libera.Chat](https://libera.chat). Many (but not all) of the | ||
| developers and committers are actively there during a variety of | ||
| hours. |
angerman
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| In the event IRC does not work or if you'd like a bigger audience, GHC | ||
| has several mailing lists for this purpose. The most important one is | ||
| [ghc-devs](http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/ghc-devs/), which is where | ||
| the developers actively hang out and discuss incoming changes and | ||
| problems. | ||
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| There is no strict standard about where you post patches - either in | ||
| `ghc-devs` or in the bug tracker. Ideally, please put it in the bug | ||
| tracker with test cases or relevant information in a ticket, and set | ||
| the ticket status to `patch`. By doing this, we'll see the patch | ||
| quickly and be able to review. This will also ensure it doesn't get | ||
| lost. But if the change is small and self contained, feel free to | ||
| attach it to your email, and send it to `ghc-devs`. | ||
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| Furthermore, if you're a developer (or want to become one!) you're | ||
| undoubtedly also interested in the other mailing lists: |
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For upstream ghc development, you can follow the following two mailing lists if you are interested.
(or we just completely drop this from our README)
angerman
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| Hacking & Developing GHC | ||
| ======================== | ||
| Contributing to GHC | ||
| =================== | ||
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Not sure we need this section at all, other than for "ask questions on discord".
hasufell
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Nov 17, 2025
| Both the bootstrap compiler and cabal-install can be easily installed with | ||
| [GHCup](https://www.haskell.org/ghcup/): | ||
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| $ ghcup install ghc 9.8.4 |
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| $ ghcup install ghc 9.8.4 | |
| $ ghcup install ghc --set 9.8.4 |
Then we can remove the explicit line 55
| $ ./boot | ||
| $ ./configure | ||
| $ hadrian/build # can also say '-jX' for X number of jobs | ||
| $ make CABAL=$PWD/_build/stage0/bin/cabal |
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I find the CABAL=foo part ridiculous tbh. Can we get rid of this?
| On Windows, you need an extra repository containing some build tools. | ||
| These can be downloaded for you by configure. This only needs to be done once by running: | ||
| On Windows, you should run the build command from an appropriate | ||
| environment (e.g., MSYS2). |
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That can actually cause more problems, because msys2 doesn't understand single backslash, causing issues with cabal.
I'm currently testing whether something like ghcup run -m -- make CABAL=_build/stage0/bin/cabal works better.
But it might not matter and we need to fix the cabal side either way.
| almost always a win regardless of how many cores you have. As a simple rule, | ||
| you should have about N+1 jobs, where `N` is the amount of cores you have.) | ||
| This gives you the default build, which includes everything | ||
| optimised and built in various ways (eg. profiling libs are built). |
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