GHC API design initiative

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David Christiansen

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Sep 21, 2023, 2:51:34 PM9/21/23

to Haskell Foundation Board, Alexis King

Dear Board,

We frequently hear that a major challenge with Haskell is that our tools bit-rot too quickly. Many great things have been built for Haskell, but most of them cannot be used today. This is because GHC doesn't have an API per se - instead, clients use its internals, but the internals are of course rapidly changing. Haskell should inspire envy for our great tools - this is a path to both adoption and intellectual impact.

We've just signed a contract with Tweag that provides us with Alexis King's services running an initiative to design an API for GHC that is useful for the intended clients, can be as stable as possible, and doesn't impose an unacceptable cost on GHC development and maintenance. She'll be assembling stakeholders and leading a collaborative design process, resulting in a description that can be implemented in a future phase.

The announcement is on Discourse: https://discourse.haskell.org/t/charting-a-course-toward-a-stable-api-for-ghc/7646

This project is part of how the HF will continue delivering value while we search for a new ED. Until the new ED starts work, Richard will be the HF contact on this project. Thanks, Richard!