cabal

Haskell package manager and build system

TLDR

Build project

$ cabal build

Run executable

$ cabal run

Install package

$ cabal install [package]

Create new project

$ cabal init

Test project

$ cabal test

Update package list

$ cabal update

cabal (Common Architecture for Building Applications and Libraries) is the package manager and build system for Haskell. It handles dependency resolution, building, testing, and distributing Haskell packages. Cabal uses Nix-style local builds by default, isolating dependencies per project to avoid conflicts.

PARAMETERS

build

Build project

run [target]

Build and run executable

install package

Install package

update

Update package index

test

Run test suite

repl

Start GHCi with project loaded

clean

Remove build artifacts

sdist

Create source distribution

upload

Upload package to Hackage

CONFIGURATION

~/.cabal/config

Global configuration for package repositories, install directories, and build settings

PROJECT FILE

cabal.cabal example:

$ cabal-version: 2.4
name: myproject
version: 0.1.0.0

executable myproject
  main-is: Main.hs
  build-depends: base >=4.14 && <5
  hs-source-dirs: src
  default-language: Haskell2010

WORKFLOW

$ # Create new project
cabal init

# Update package list
cabal update

# Build project
cabal build

# Run executable
cabal run myproject

# Install dependencies
cabal install --only-dependencies

# Run tests
cabal test

# Start REPL
cabal repl

FEATURES

- Dependency resolution
- Sandboxed builds
- Multiple build targets
- Test framework integration
- Benchmarking support
- Documentation generation
- Package publishing to Hackage

CAVEATS

Dependency resolution can be slow. "Cabal hell" (dependency conflicts) historically problematic (improved with Nix-style builds). Large download sizes. Compilation times can be long. GHC version compatibility important.

HISTORY

Cabal was developed for Haskell starting around 2003, with major improvements in Cabal 2.0 (2017) introducing Nix-style local builds.