path: root/docs/users_guide/7.12.1-notes.rst

.. _release-7-12-1:

Release notes for version 7.12.1
================================

The significant changes to the various parts of the compiler are listed
in the following sections. There have also been numerous bug fixes and
performance improvements over the 7.10 branch.

Highlights
----------

The highlights, since the 7.10 branch, are:

-  TODO FIXME

Full details
------------

Language
~~~~~~~~

-  TODO FIXME.

-  The parser now supports Haddock comments on GADT data constructors.
   For example,

   ::

                             data Expr a where
                               -- | Just a normal sum
                               Sum :: Int -> Int -> Expr Int

-  Implicit parameters of the new ``base`` type ``GHC.Stack.CallStack``
   are treated specially in function calls, the solver automatically
   appends the source location of the call to the ``CallStack`` in
   the environment. For example

   ::
        myerror :: (?callStack :: CallStack) => String -> a
        myerror msg = error (msg ++ "\n" ++ prettyCallStack ?callStack)

        ghci> myerror "die"
        *** Exception: die
        CallStack (from ImplicitParams):
          myerror, called at <interactive>:2:1 in interactive:Ghci1

   prints the call-site of ``myerror``. The name of the implicit
   parameter does not matter, but within ``base`` we call it
   ``?callStack``.

   See :ref:`lib-base` for a description of the ``CallStack`` type.

-  To conform to the common case, the default role assigned to
   parameters of datatypes declared in ``hs-boot`` files is
   ``representational``. However, if the constructor(s) for the datatype
   are given, it makes sense to do normal role inference. This is now
   implemented, effectively making the default role for non-abstract
   datatypes in ``hs-boot`` files to be ``phantom``, like it is in
   regular Haskell code.

-  Wildcards can be used in the type arguments of type/data family
   instance declarations to indicate that the name of a type variable
   doesn't matter. They will be replaced with new unique type variables.
   See :ref:`data-instance-declarations` for more details.

-  GHC now allows to declare type families as injective. Injectivity
   information can then be used by the typechecker. See
   :ref:`injective-ty-fams` for details.

-  Due to a :ghc-ticket:`security issue <10826>`, Safe Haskell now forbids
   annotations in programs marked as ``-XSafe``.

-  Generic instances can be derived for data types whose constructors have
   arguments with certain unlifted types. See :ref:`generic-programming` for
   more details.

-  The ``-XDeriveAnyClass`` extension now fills in associated type family
   default instances when deriving a class that contains them.

-  Users can now define record pattern synonyms. This allows pattern synonyms
   to behave more like normal data constructors. For example, ::

      pattern P :: a -> b -> (a, b)
      pattern P{x,y} = (x,y)

   will allow `P` to be used like a record data constructor and also defines
   selector functions `x :: (a, b) -> a` and `y :: (a, b) -> b`.

-  Pattern synonyms can now be bundled with type constructors. For a pattern
   synonym `P` and a type constructor `T`, `P` can be bundled with `T` so that
   when `T` is imported `P` is also imported. With this change
   a library author can provide either real data constructors or pattern
   synonyms in an opaque manner. See :ref:`pattern-synonyms` for details. ::

      -- Foo.hs
      module Foo ( T(P) ) where

      data T = T

      pattern P = T

      -- Baz.hs
      module Baz where

      -- P is imported
      import Foo (T(..))

-  Whenever a data instance is exported, the corresponding data family
   is exported, too. This allows one to write ::

     -- Foo.hs
     module Foo where

     data family T a

     -- Bar.hs
     module Bar where

     import Foo

     data instance T Int = MkT

     -- Baz.hs
     module Baz where

     import Bar (T(MkT))

   In previous versions of GHC, this required a workaround via an
   explicit export list in Bar.



Compiler
~~~~~~~~

-  Added the option ``-dth-dec-file``. This dumps out a .th.hs file of
   all Template Haskell declarations in a corresponding .hs file. The
   idea is that application developers can check this into their
   repository so that they can grep for identifiers used elsewhere that
   were defined in Template Haskell. This is similar to using
   ``-ddump-to-file`` with ``-ddump-splices`` but it always generates a
   file instead of being coupled to ``-ddump-to-file`` and only outputs
   code that does not exist in the .hs file and a comment for the splice
   location in the original file.

-  Added the option ``-fprint-expanded-types``. When enabled, GHC also
   prints type-synonym-expanded types in type errors.

-  Added the option ``-fcpr-anal``. When enabled, the demand analyser
   performs CPR analysis. It is implied by ``-O``. Consequently,
   ``-fcpr-off`` is now removed, run with ``-fno-cpr-anal`` to get the
   old ``-fcpr-off`` behaviour.

-  Added the option ``-fworker-wrapper``. When enabled, the worker-wrapper
   transformation is performed after a strictness analysis pass. It is implied
   by ``-O`` and by ``-fstrictness``. It is disabled by ``-fno-strictness``.
   Enabling ``-fworker-wrapper`` while strictness analysis is disabled (by
   ``-fno-strictness``) has no effect.

-  Added the options ``-fwarn-missed-specialisations`` and
   ``-fwarn-all-missed-specialisations``. When enabled, the simplifier will
   produce a warning when a overloaded imported function cannot be
   specialised (typically due to a missing ``INLINEABLE`` pragma). This
   is intended to alert users to cases where they apply ``INLINEABLE`` but
   may not get the speed-up they expect.

-  Added the option ``-fwarn-noncanonical-monad-instances`` which helps
   detect noncanonical ``Applicative``/``Monad`` instance definitions.
   See flag description in :ref:`options-sanity` for more details.

-  When printing an out-of-scope error message, GHC will give helpful advice if
   the error might be caused by too restrictive imports.

-  Added the ``-Wcompat`` warning group, along with its opposite
   ``-Wno-compat``. Turns on warnings that will be enabled by default in the
   future, but remain off in normal compilations for the time being. This
   allows library authors eager to make their code future compatible to adapt
   to new features before they even generate warnings.

-  Added the ``-fwarn-missing-monadfail-instance`` flag. When enabled, this
   will issue a warning if a failable pattern is used in a context that does
   not have a ``MonadFail`` constraint. This flag represents phase 1 of the
   `MonadFail Proposal (MFP)
   <https://prime.haskell.org/wiki/Libraries/Proposals/MonadFail>`__.

-  Added the ``-fwarn-semigroup`` flag. When enabled, this
   will issue a warning if a type is an instance of ``Monoid`` but not
   ``Semigroup``, and when a custom definition ``(<>)`` is made. Fixing these
   warnings makes sure the definition of ``Semigroup`` as a superclass of
   ``Monoid`` does not break any code.

- Added the ``-fwarn-missing-pat-syn-sigs`` flag. When enabled, this will issue
  a warning when a pattern synonym definition doesn't have a type signature.
  It is turned off by default but enabled by ``-Wall``.

GHCi
~~~~

-  ``Main`` with an explicit module header but without ``main`` is now
   an error (#7765).

-  The ``:back`` and ``:forward`` commands now take an optional count
   allowing the user to move forward or backward in history several
   steps at a time.

-  Added commands ``:load!`` and ``:reload!``, effectively setting
   "-fdefer-type-errors" before loading a module and unsetting it after
   loading if it has not been set before (#8353).

-  ``ghci -e`` now behaves like ``ghc -e`` (#9360).

-  Added support for top-level function declarations (#7253).

Template Haskell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  The new ``-XTemplateHaskellQuotes`` flag allows to use the
   quotes (not quasi-quotes) subset of ``TemplateHaskell``.  This is
   particularly useful for use with a stage 1 compiler (i.e. GHC
   without interpreter support). Also, ``-XTemplateHaskellQuotes`` is
   considered safe under Safe Haskell.

-  Partial type signatures can now be used in splices, see
   :ref:`pts-where`.

-  ``Template Haskell`` now fully supports typed holes and quoting unbound
   variables.  This means it is now possible to use pattern splices nested
   inside quotation brackets.

-  ``Template Haskell`` now supports the use of ``UInfixT`` in types to
   resolve infix operator fixities, in the same vein as ``UInfixP`` and
   ``UInfixE`` in patterns and expressions. ``ParensT`` and ``InfixT``
   have also been introduced, serving the same functions as their
   pattern and expression counterparts.

-  Primitive chars (e.g., ``[| 'a'# |]``) and primitive strings (e.g.,
   ``[| "abc"# |]``) can now be quoted with Template Haskell. The
   ``Lit`` data type also has a new constructor, ``CharPrimL``, for
   primitive char literals.

-  ``addTopDecls`` now accepts annotation pragmas.

-  Internally, the implementation of quasi-quotes has been unified with
   that of normal Template Haskell splices. Under the previous
   implementation, top-level declaration quasi-quotes did not cause a
   break in the declaration groups, unlike splices of the form
   ``$(...)``. This behavior has been preserved under the new
   implementation, and is now recognized and documented in
   :ref:`th-syntax`.

-  The ``Lift`` class is now derivable via the ``-XDeriveLift`` extension. See
   :ref:`deriving-lift` for more information.


Runtime system
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Support for performance monitoring with PAPI has been dropped.

Build system
~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  TODO FIXME.

Package system
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  TODO FIXME.

Libraries
---------

array
~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.5.0.0)


.. _lib-base:

base
~~~~

-  Version number 4.9.0.0 (was 4.7.0.0)

-  ``GHC.Stack`` exports two new types ``SrcLoc`` and ``CallStack``. A
   ``SrcLoc`` contains package, module, and file names, as well as start
   and end positions. A ``CallStack`` is a ``[(String, SrcLoc)]``,
   sorted by most-recent call.

-  ``error`` and ``undefined`` will now report a partial stack-trace
   using the new ``CallStack`` feature (and the ``-prof`` stack if available).

-  A new function, ``interruptible``, was added to ``GHC.IO`` allowing
   an ``IO`` action to be run such that it can be interrupted by an
   asynchronous exception, even if exceptions are masked (except if
   masked with ``interruptibleMask``).

   This was introduced to fix the behavior of ``allowInterrupt``, which
   would previously incorrectly allow exceptions in uninterruptible
   regions (see :ghc-ticket:`9516`).

-  Per-thread allocation counters (``setAllocationCounter`` and
   ``getAllocationCounter``) and limits (``enableAllocationLimit``,
   ``disableAllocationLimit`` are now available from ``System.Mem``. Previously
   this functionality was only available from ``GHC.Conc``.

- ``forever``, ``filterM``, ``mapAndUnzipM``, ``zipWithM``, ``zipWithM_``,
  ``replicateM``, and ``replicateM`` were generalized from ``Monad`` to
  ``Applicative``. If this causes performance regressions, try to make the
  implementation of ``(*>)`` match that of ``(>>)``.

- Add ``GHC.TypeLits.TypeError`` and ``ErrorMessage`` to allow users
  to define custom compile-time error messages.

binary
~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.7.1.0)

bytestring
~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.10.4.0)

Cabal
~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.18.1.3)

containers
~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.5.4.0)

deepseq
~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.3.0.2)

directory
~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.2.0.2)

filepath
~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.3.0.2)

ghc
~~~

-  TODO FIXME.

-  The ``HsBang`` type has been removed in favour of ``HsSrcBang`` and
   ``HsImplBang``. Data constructors now always carry around their
   strictness annotations as the user wrote them, whether from an
   imported module or not.

-  Moved `startsVarSym`, `startsVarId`, `startsConSym`, `startsConId`,
   `startsVarSymASCII`, and `isVarSymChar` from `Lexeme` to the `GHC.Lemexe`
   module of the `ghc-boot` library.

- Add `isImport`, `isDecl`, and `isStmt` functions.

ghc-boot
~~~~~~~~

-  This is an internal package. Use with caution.

-  This package was renamed from `bin-package-db` to reflect its new purpose
   of containing intra-GHC functionality that needs to be shared across
   multiple GHC boot libraries.

-  Added `GHC.Lexeme`, which contains functions for determining if a
   character can be the first letter of a variable or data constructor in
   Haskell, as defined by GHC. (These functions were moved from `Lexeme`
   in `ghc`.)

ghc-prim
~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.3.1.0)

haskell98
~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 2.0.0.3)

haskell2010
~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.1.1.1)

hoopl
~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 3.10.0.0)

hpc
~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.6.0.1)

integer-gmp
~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 0.5.1.0)

old-locale
~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.0.0.6)

old-time
~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.1.0.2)

process
~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.2.0.0)

template-haskell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 2.9.0.0)

-  The ``Lift`` type class for lifting values into Template Haskell
   splices now has a default signature ``lift :: Data a => a -> Q Exp``,
   which means that you do not have to provide an explicit
   implementation of ``lift`` for types which have a ``Data`` instance.
   To manually use this default implementation, you can use the
   ``liftData`` function which is now exported from
   ``Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax``.

-  ``Info``'s constructors no longer have ``Fixity`` fields. A
   ``qReifyFixity`` function was added to the ``Quasi`` type class (as
   well as the ``reifyFixity`` function, specialized for ``Q``) to allow
   lookup of fixity information for any given ``Name``.

time
~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 1.4.1)

unix
~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 2.7.0.0)

Win32
~~~~~

-  Version number XXXXX (was 2.3.0.1)

Known bugs
----------

-  TODO FIXME