Cannot get ANY version of GHCJS installed

[gpropf]

I'm trying to try out GHCJS and have had no luck installing the master, 8.0, or 8.2 branches under either Arch Linux (updated a few days ago) and Linux Mint 18.3. Under Arch I have ghc 8.2.2 and under Mint 7.8.4. Basically things always fail with variations of this stuff depending on which version of GHC I'm using and which branch I'm trying to use:

$ cabal install ghcjs.cabal Resolving dependencies... cabal: Could not resolve dependencies: trying: ghcjs-0.2.0 (user goal) trying: ghcjs-0.2.0:-compiler-only trying: network-2.6.3.3/installed-BsP... (dependency of ghcjs-0.2.0:-compiler-only) next goal: unix (dependency of ghcjs-0.2.0) rejecting: unix-2.7.2.2/installed-2.7... (conflict: unix => time==1.8.0.2/installed-1.8..., ghcjs-0.2.0:compiler-only => time>=1.4 && <1.6) rejecting: unix-2.7.2.2, unix-2.7.2.1, unix-2.7.2.0, unix-2.7.1.0, unix-2.7.0.1, unix-2.7.0.0, unix-2.6.0.1, unix-2.6.0.0, unix-2.5.1.1, unix-2.5.1.0, unix-2.5.0.0, unix-2.4.2.0, unix-2.4.1.0, unix-2.4.0.2, unix-2.4.0.1, unix-2.4.0.0, unix-2.3.2.0, unix-2.3.1.0, unix-2.3.0.0, unix-2.2.0.0, unix-2.0 (conflict: network => unix==2.7.2.2/installed-2.7...) After searching the rest of the dependency tree exhaustively, these were the goals I've had most trouble fulfilling: base, haskell-src-meta, ghcjs

These are the errors I get under Arch, Installing under Mint fails with different packages mentioned. You may notice that I'm just using "cabal install ghcjs.cabal". The README files and some of the other bug reports mention things like 'ghcjs-boot'. I cannot locate anything called that anywhere in any of the branches. I've tried the "utils/update_archives.sh" script which seems to clone and update a lot of things and briefly creates directories named ghcjs-boot but they are apparently deleted by the script when it ends.

Overall, I find the process of installing this extremely frustrating and the various docs to be confusing and contradictory. Is there any simple guide to getting this working that simply allows me to try it out without great effort.

[ryantrinkle]

If you're interested in trying with nix, we have instructions here: https://github.com/reflex-frp/reflex-platform

[gpropf]

Actually I found out about Nix from seeing the comments about this very project relating to it. Fascinating and awesome idea too! I love the idea of a single system state managed from a single place. I had concluded that something like a special VM just to get GHCJS working might be needed and I've also been thinking of trying Nix out that way too. Maybe I'll set one up and look at the stuff in your link. It would be nice, however, if there was just an easy to install binary distro of GHCJS for other Linuxes that you could just install with apt or pacman/yaourt.

[gpropf]

I got Nixos running in a VM. After enabling the binary cache and your public key and following the other Nixos instructions at https://github.com/reflex-frp/reflex-platform/blob/develop/notes/NixOS.md I was able to try out GHCJS on the VM. Thanks for the help there Ryan. I decided to install the Nix package manager itself on my Arch desktop and my laptop running Mint. Unfortunately on Arch I get "error: getting status of '/home/gregory/Dropbox/Downloaded_Software/reflex-platform/gc-roots/shell.drv': No such file or directory" when trying to run ./try-reflex. There was a problem on the laptop too but I need to free up some space on the drive since it's critically low right now and I need to work out what I can delete to find out more about the issue there. Thanks for the suggestion about Nixos. I really like the whole concept of Nix in general.

[ddssff]

ghcjs-boot is an executable created in the ghcjs.cabal file, fwiw. It is to be run after cabal build finishes.

[gpropf]

The specific error I get on Arch after running ./try-reflex is reflex-platform-not-working/gc-roots/shell.drv': No such file or directory. I'm re-running it on my Mint 18.3 laptop after it filled up the hard drive and I had to free up some disk space. It may take a while and I need to get to work but I wanted to post the error about the shell.drv file at least this morning. I'll return tonight and try to see if the installation completed and works there.

I'm not really complaining about the drive filling up by the way. I understand that it's installing a whole bunch of Nix packages if you run it on a non-Nixos machine. The laptop was already low on space before I tried this.

Note: I accidentally closed the thread and re-opened it just now.

[ryantrinkle]

@gpropf Arch has had some trouble in the past, although I'm not sure if this is related. There's a topic here: NixOS/nix#879

Regarding the size, it is legitimately a ton of stuff, but we're also working to bring the size down for try-reflex here: reflex-frp/reflex-platform#249

[alexfmpe]

reflex-platform-not-working/gc-roots/shell.drv': No such file or directory

@gpropf Are you using nix 2.0?
If so, see the solution for reflex-frp/reflex-platform#250

[ryantrinkle]

@gpropf By the way, that solution has been added to develop of reflex-platform now, so you should be able to just pull and hopefully it will work!