It's not just OSX, it's a problem (in general) on windows, too. I was trying to create my first haskell project as a web crawler. Every direction I turned I had issues installing libraries to the point where I decided it's a deal breaker because I can't write code on my preferred OS.
Even if they eventually make these transitive dependencies OS agnostic, the libraries that already exist will depend on the versions that aren't.
> I'd be willing to bet that a great many developers like me wanted to try Haskell, but gave up when they found out how many Cabal packages don't compile. I think fixing that would do a lot for Haskell's mainstream acceptance.
Likewise. The more I learn about Haskell, the more I've blown away by it's power and elegance. It's been a deeply rewarding experience. But spending days fixing dependencies to update the compiler on OSX and linux, followed by Cabal packages failing to compile is no fun. Hopefully the increased attention Haskell is receiving nowadays will help resolve these growing pains.
Even if they eventually make these transitive dependencies OS agnostic, the libraries that already exist will depend on the versions that aren't.
> I'd be willing to bet that a great many developers like me wanted to try Haskell, but gave up when they found out how many Cabal packages don't compile. I think fixing that would do a lot for Haskell's mainstream acceptance.
Exactly what happened to me.