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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-17T01:54:06+00:00

Here’s the message I get when trying to install in via cabal-install: $ cabal

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Here’s the message I get when trying to install in via cabal-install:

$ cabal install --extra-include-dirs="C:\no_spaces\cygwin\usr\include" --extra-lib-dirs="C:\no_spaces\cygwin\lib" readline
Resolving dependencies...
Configuring readline-1.0.1.0...
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.exe
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables... .exe
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for GNUreadline.framework... checking for readline... no
checking for tputs in -lncurses... yes
checking for readline in -lreadline... yes
checking for rl_readline_version... yes
checking for rl_begin_undo_group... yes
checking for rl_erase_empty_line... yes
checking for rl_free_undo_list... yes
checking for rl_completion_word_break_hook in -lreadline... yes
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating config.mk
config.status: creating readline.buildinfo
config.status: creating include/HsReadlineConfig.h
config.status: include/HsReadlineConfig.h is unchanged
cabal.exe: Missing dependencies on foreign libraries:
* Missing header file: HsReadline.h
* Missing C libraries: readline, ncurses
This problem can usually be solved by installing the system packages that
provide these libraries (you may need the "-dev" versions). If the libraries
are already installed but in a non-standard location then you can use the
flags --extra-include-dirs= and --extra-lib-dirs= to specify where they are.
cabal.exe: Error: some packages failed to install:
readline-1.0.1.0 failed during the configure step. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1

I have readline.h and whatnot, and clearly it seems to find them. The lack of HsReadline.h being an issue seems strange: isn’t that part of the package I’m trying to install?

Any advice on how to get this working would be appreciated. I’ve spent days mucking around trying to get this to work, whether under gnuWin32 readline, MinGW, or cygwin.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’m going to venture a guess that what’s throwing Cygwin off is the DOS/Windows-style path: “C:\no_spaces\cygwin\usr\include”

    Try navigating to these files in the Cygwin shell. It’ll probably look something like “/cygdrive/c/no_spaces/cygwin/usr/include”

    The message about HsReadline.h is probably a red herring. The real issue is that Cabal can’t find the underlying dev library to compile against.

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