GHCup makes it easy to install specific versions of GHC on GNU/Linux, macOS (aka Darwin), FreeBSD and Windows and can also bootstrap a fresh Haskell developer environment from scratch. It follows the UNIX philosophy of do one thing and do it well. Similar in scope to rustup, pyenv and jenv.
The following commands will download the ghcup binary into ~/.ghcup/bin (or C:\ghcup\bin on windows) and then
run it to interactively install the Haskell Toolchain. These commands should be run as non-root/non-admin
user.
For Linux, macOS, FreeBSD or Windows Subsystem 2 for Linux, run this in a terminal:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://get-ghcup.haskell.org | shFor Windows, run this in a PowerShell session:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force;[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; try { & ([ScriptBlock]::Create((Invoke-WebRequest https://www.haskell.org/ghcup/sh/bootstrap-haskell.ps1 -UseBasicParsing))) -Interactive -DisableCurl } catch { Write-Error $_ }
There's also a youtube video explaining installation on windows.
If you want to know what these scripts do, check out the source code at the repository. Advanced users may want to perform a manual installation and GPG verify the binaries.
GHCup has two main channels for every tool: recommended and latest. By default, it installs recommended.
latest follows the latest release of every tool, while recommended is at the discretion of the GHCup maintainers and based on community adoption (hackage libraries, tools like HLS, stackage support, etc.) and known bugs.
Also see tags and shortcuts for more information.
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi6 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi7 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi8 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi6 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi7 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi8ubuntu1 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev libncurses5 libtinfo5
The following distro packages are required: build-essential curl libffi-dev libffi8ubuntu1 libgmp-dev libgmp10 libncurses-dev
The following distro packages are required: gcc gcc-c++ gmp gmp-devel make ncurses ncurses-compat-libs xz perl
The following distro packages are required: gcc gcc-c++ gmp gmp-devel make ncurses ncurses-compat-libs xz perl
The following distro packages are required: gcc gcc-c++ gmp gmp-devel make ncurses xz perl
The following distro packages are required: binutils-gold curl gcc g++ gmp-dev libc-dev libffi-dev make musl-dev ncurses-dev perl tar xz
You need the following packages: curl g++ gcc gmp make ncurses realpath xz-utils. Consult your distro documentation on the exact names of those packages.
On OS X, in the course of running ghcup you will be given a dialog box to install the command line tools. Accept and the requirements will be installed for you. You will then need to run the command again. On Darwin M1 you might also need a working llvm installed (e.g. via brew) and have the toolchain exposed in PATH.
The following distro packages are required: curl gcc gmp gmake ncurses perl5 libffi libiconv
On Windows, msys2 should already have been set up during the installation, so most users should just proceed. If you are installing manually, make sure to have a working mingw64 toolchain and shell.
- Follow the First steps guide on how to build a "Hello world" program, use
ghc, run an interactive REPL and create a Haskell project - To understand the difference and overlap of
stackandcabal, read on here - To learn Haskell proper check out the links at How to learn Haskell proper
- To learn more about Haskell Toolchain management, check out the ghcup user guide
On linux, just run ghcup nuke, then make sure any ghcup added lines in your ~/.bashrc (or similar) are removed.
On windows, right click on the Uninstall Haskell.ps1 PowerShell script on your Desktop and select Run with PowerShell.
GHCup supports the following tools, which are also known as the Haskell Toolchain:
Show all supported GHC versions
| GHC Version | Tags |
|---|---|
| 9.10.1 | latest, base-4.20.0.0 |
| 9.8.2 | base-4.19.1.0 |
| 9.8.1 | base-4.19.0.0 |
| 9.6.6 | base-4.18.2.1 |
| 9.6.5 | base-4.18.2.1 |
| 9.6.4 | base-4.18.2.0 |
| 9.6.3 | base-4.18.1.0 |
| 9.6.2 | base-4.18.0.0 |
| 9.6.1 | base-4.18.0.0 |
| 9.4.8 | recommended, base-4.17.2.1 |
| 9.4.7 | base-4.17.2.0 |
| 9.4.6 | base-4.17.2.0 |
| 9.4.5 | base-4.17.1.0 |
| 9.4.4 | base-4.17.0.0 |
| 9.4.3 | base-4.17.0.0 |
| 9.4.2 | base-4.17.0.0 |
| 9.4.1 | base-4.17.0.0 |
| 9.2.8 | base-4.16.4.0 |
| 9.2.7 | base-4.16.4.0 |
| 9.2.6 | base-4.16.4.0 |
| 9.2.5 | base-4.16.4.0 |
| 9.2.4 | base-4.16.3.0 |
| 9.2.3 | base-4.16.2.0 |
| 9.2.2 | base-4.16.1.0 |
| 9.2.1 | base-4.16.0.0 |
| 9.0.2 | base-4.15.1.0 |
| 9.0.1 | base-4.15.0.0 |
| 8.10.7 | base-4.14.3.0 |
| 8.10.6 | base-4.14.3.0 |
| 8.10.5 | base-4.14.2.0 |
| 8.10.4 | base-4.14.1.0 |
| 8.10.3 | base-4.14.1.0 |
| 8.10.2 | base-4.14.1.0 |
| 8.10.1 | base-4.14.0.0 |
| 8.8.4 | base-4.13.0.0 |
| 8.8.3 | base-4.13.0.0 |
| 8.8.2 | base-4.13.0.0 |
| 8.8.1 | base-4.13.0.0 |
| 8.6.5 | base-4.12.0.0 |
| 8.6.4 | base-4.12.0.0 |
| 8.6.3 | base-4.12.0.0 |
| 8.6.2 | base-4.12.0.0 |
| 8.6.1 | base-4.12.0.0 |
| 8.4.4 | base-4.11.1.0 |
| 8.4.3 | base-4.11.1.0 |
| 8.4.2 | base-4.11.1.0 |
| 8.4.1 | base-4.11.0.0 |
| 8.2.2 | base-4.10.1.0 |
| 8.0.2 | base-4.9.1.0 |
| 7.10.3 | base-4.8.2.0 |
Show all supported cabal-install versions
| Cabal Version | Tags |
|---|---|
| 3.12.1.0 | latest |
| 3.10.3.0 | recommended |
| 3.10.2.1 | |
| 3.10.2.0 | |
| 3.10.1.0 | |
| 3.8.1.0 | |
| 3.6.2.0-p1 | |
| 3.6.2.0 | |
| 3.6.0.0 | |
| 3.4.1.0 | |
| 3.4.0.0 | |
| 3.2.0.0 | |
| 3.0.0.0 | |
| 2.4.1.0 |
Show all supported HLS versions
| HLS Version | Tags |
|---|---|
| 2.9.0.1 | latest, recommended |
| 2.9.0.0 | |
| 2.8.0.0 | |
| 2.7.0.0 | |
| 2.6.0.0 | |
| 2.5.0.0 | |
| 2.4.0.0 | |
| 2.3.0.0 | |
| 2.2.0.0 | |
| 2.1.0.0 | |
| 2.0.0.1 | |
| 2.0.0.0 | |
| 1.10.0.0 | |
| 1.9.1.0 | |
| 1.9.0.0 | |
| 1.8.0.0 | |
| 1.7.0.0 | |
| 1.6.1.0 | |
| 1.6.0.0 | |
| 1.5.1 | |
| 1.5.0 | |
| 1.4.0 | |
| 1.3.0 | |
| 1.2.0 | |
| 1.1.0 |
Show all supported Stack versions
| Stack Version | Tags |
|---|---|
| 3.1.1 | latest, recommended |
| 2.15.7 | |
| 2.15.5 | |
| 2.15.3 | |
| 2.15.1 | |
| 2.13.1 | |
| 2.11.1 | |
| 2.9.3 | |
| 2.9.1 | |
| 2.7.5 | |
| 2.7.3 | |
| 2.7.1 | |
| 2.5.1 |
This list may not be exhaustive and specifies support for bindists only.
| Platform | Architecture | ghcup | GHC | cabal | HLS | stack |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 8.1 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows 10 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows Server 2016 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows Server 2019 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows Server 2022 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows WSL1 | amd64 | ❌ | ❔ | ❔ | ❔ | ❔ |
| Windows WSL2 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| MacOS >=10.13 | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| MacOS <10.13 | amd64 | ❌ | ❔ | ❔ | ❔ | ❔ |
| MacOS | aarch64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | |
| FreeBSD | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ||
| Linux generic | x86 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Linux generic | amd64 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Linux generic | aarch64 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ||
| Linux generic | armv7 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
No longer supported for recent GHCs, according to manual testing of GHC 9.8.1 on Windows 7. According to msys2 documentation, the minimum Windows version is now 8.1.
Unsupported. GHC may or may not work. Upgrade to WSL2.
Not supported. Would require separate binaries, since >=10.13 binaries are incompatible. Please upgrade.
HLS bindists are still experimental. Stack has only unofficial binaries for this platform. There are various issues with GHC itself.
Lacks some upstream bindists and may need compat libs (such as misc/compat12x).
HLS bindists are experimental.
Only latest FreeBSD is generally supported.
Lower availability of bindists. Stack and HLS binaries are experimental.
Download the binary for your platform at https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghcup/
and place it into your PATH anywhere.
If you want to GPG verify the binaries, import the following keys first:
gpg --batch --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 7D1E8AFD1D4A16D71FADA2F2CCC85C0E40C06A8C
gpg --batch --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys FE5AB6C91FEA597C3B31180B73EDE9E8CFBAEF01
gpg --batch --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 88B57FCF7DB53B4DB3BFA4B1588764FBE22D19C4
gpg --batch --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EAF2A9A722C0C96F2B431CA511AAD8CEDEE0CAEFThen adjust your PATH in ~/.bashrc (or similar, depending on your shell) like so:
export PATH="$HOME/.cabal/bin:$HOME/.ghcup/bin:$PATH"- Install ghcup binary
- choose a base directory for installation, e.g.
C:\that has sufficient space - then create the directory, e.g.
C:\ghcup\bin - download the binary: https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghcup/x86_64-mingw64-ghcup.exe
- place it as
ghcup.exeinto e.g.C:\ghcup\bin
- choose a base directory for installation, e.g.
- Install MSYS2
- download https://repo.msys2.org/distrib/msys2-x86_64-latest.exe and execute it
- remember the installation destination you choose (default is
C:\msys64) - finish the installation
- Add environment variables and update
Path- open search bar and type in "Edit the system environment variables", then open it
- click on "Environment Variables..." at the near bottom
- in the upper half, select
Pathvariable and double click on it - in the new window, click "New", type in
C:\ghcup\bin(depending on step 1.) and press enter - click "OK" at the bottom
- in the upper half, click on "New..."
- enter
GHCUP_MSYS2under "Variable name" and the installation destination from step 2. under "Variable value" - click "OK" at the bottom
- in the upper half, click on "New..."
- enter
GHCUP_INSTALL_BASE_PREFIXunder "Variable name" and based on the installation destination from step 1. enter the device directory (defaultC:\) - click "OK" at the bottom
- in the upper half, click on "New..."
- enter
CABAL_DIRunder "Variable name" and based on the installation destination from step 1. enter the device directory +cabalsubdir (defaultC:\cabal) - click "OK" at the bottom
- click "OK" at the bottom
- click "OK" at the bottom
- Install tools
- open powershell
- run
ghcup install ghc --set recommended - run
ghcup install cabal latest - run
ghcup install stack latest - run
ghcup install hls latest - run
cabal update
- Update msys2
- run
ghcup run -m -- pacman --noconfirm -Syuu - run
ghcup run -m -- pacman --noconfirm -Syuu - run
ghcup run -m -- pacman --noconfirm -S --needed curl autoconf mingw-w64-x86_64-pkgconf - run
ghcup run -m -- pacman --noconfirm -S ca-certificates
- run
- Update cabal config
- go to e.g.
C:\cabal(based on device you picked in 1.) - open file
config - uncomment
extra-include-dirs(the--) and add the value (depending on installation destination you chose in 2.), e.g.C:\msys64\mingw64\include... so the final line should beextra-include-dirs: C:\msys64\mingw64\include - uncomment
extra-lib-dirsand do the same, addingC:\msys64\mingw64\lib - uncomment
extra-prog-pathand set it toC:\ghcup\bin, C:\cabal\bin, C:\msys64\mingw64\bin, C:\msys64\usr\bin, depending on your install destinations from 1. and 2.
- go to e.g.
- Set up msys2 shell
- run
ghcup run -m -- sed -i -e 's/db_home:.*$/db_home: windows/' /etc/nsswitch.confto make the HOME in your msys2 shell match the one from windows - make a desktop shortcut from
C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd, which will allow you to start a proper msys2 shell - run
ghcup run -m -- sed -i -e 's/#MSYS2_PATH_TYPE=.*/MSYS2_PATH_TYPE=inherit/' /c/msys64/msys2.ini - run
ghcup run -m -- sed -i -e 's/rem set MSYS2_PATH_TYPE=inherit/set MSYS2_PATH_TYPE=inherit/' /c/msys64/msys2_shell.cmd
- run
All set. You can run cabal init now in an empty directory to start a project.
Since void linux can be installed with glibc and musl, it's hard to support correctly with ghcup. One way to make ghcup work on Void Linux musl is to follow the Overriding distro detection section and tell it to consider Alpine bindists only. E.g.:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://get-ghcup.haskell.org | BOOTSTRAP_HASKELL_MINIMAL=1 sh
source ~/.ghcup/env
ghcup config set platform-override '{ "arch": "A_64", "platform": { "contents": "Alpine", "tag": "Linux" }, "version": "3.17" }'
ghcup install cabal --set latest
ghcup install ghc --set latest
ghcup install stack --set latest
ghcup install hls --set latestSee ghcup.vim.
The developers of the Haskell Language Server offer an extension tightly integrated with the Haskell Language Server. To get started:
- Install GHCup. During installation, opt in to install the Haskell Language Server (HLS).
- Install the extension (from VSCode: Ctrl + P and then
ext install haskell.haskell). - Make sure your project uses the GHC version installed from GHCup (otherwise HLS is likely to fail on launch):
- instructions for stack
On Linux, some users have reported an issue when VSCode is not launched from a terminal ("cannot find ghc version"). A solution is to let HLS know about your GHCup on $PATH.