How to install latest GHC from source + latest stack + cabal + cabal-install on mac os

install-ghc-macos.md

How to install GHC from source + latest stack + cabal + cabal-install on mac os

for your convinience this instuction is available as:
gist
git repo

Prefererred way install stack then install ghc using stack

stack (package manager and build tool, preferrered way to manage dependencies)

# settings
DOWNLOADS_DIR=$HOME/Downloads

STACK_ARCHITECTURE="x86_64"  
STACK_PLATFORM="osx"  
STACK_DIST_URL="https://www.stackage.org/stack/$STACK_PLATFORM-$STACK_ARCHITECTURE"
STACK_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/Development/bin"

cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR

curl -L -O $STACK_DIST_URL  
STACK_DIST_FILENAME=`ls -1 | grep 'stack-.*\.tar\.gz'`  
STACK_VERSION=`echo $STACK_DIST_FILENAME | sed -E 's/stack-([.0-9]+)-.*/\1/'`  
STACK_TARGET_DIR="stack-$STACK_VERSION"  
echo "stack $STACK_VERSION will be installed"  

tar xvf $STACK_DIST_FILENAME  
STACK_DIST_UNZIPPED_DIR=`ls -d -1 stack-*/`

# move to home development dir
rm -rf $STACK_INSTALL_DIR/$STACK_TARGET_DIR  
mkdir -p $STACK_INSTALL_DIR
mv $STACK_DIST_UNZIPPED_DIR $STACK_INSTALL_DIR/$STACK_TARGET_DIR

# sym link
cd $STACK_INSTALL_DIR
# delete old link
rm -fv stack  
ln -s `pwd`/$STACK_TARGET_DIR stack  

# add to PATH environment  
STACK_HOME=$STACK_INSTALL_DIR/stack  
PATH=$STACK_HOME:$PATH

# clean up
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR  
rm -rfv stack-$STACK_VERSION*

then install ghc

# install ghc  
stack setup  
# run repl  
stack ghci  

OLD way (manual installation of ghc)

mac prerequisites

# install xcode command line tools from here:  
# [xcode command line tools site](https://developer.apple.com/downloads)

ghc

DOWNLOADS_DIR=$HOME/Downloads  

ARCHITECTURE="x86_64"  
PLATFORM="apple-darwin"  
GHC_VERSION=`curl https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/ | grep -E '([.0-9]+)/' | sed -E 's/.*>([.0-9]+).*/\1/' | uniq | sort -r | head -n 1`

GHC_DIST_FILENAME="ghc-$GHC_VERSION-$ARCHITECTURE-$PLATFORM.tar.xz"
GHC_DIST_FILE="https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/$GHC_VERSION/$GHC_DIST_FILENAME"

### ghc installation

echo "GHC $GHC_VERSION will be installed"  

# go to Downloads  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR

# get ghc sources  
curl -O $GHC_DIST_FILE  

# extract files
tar xvfj $GHC_DIST_FILENAME

# goto extracted dir
cd ghc-$GHC_VERSION

# configure  
mkdir -p $HOME/Development/bin/ghc-$GHC_VERSION  
./configure --prefix=$HOME/Development/bin/ghc-$GHC_VERSION

# make and install  
make install
# for xcode4:
# see [explanation](http://haskell.1045720.n5.nabble.com/Installing-ghc-7-8-3-OS-X-bindist-fails-on-Xcode-4-CLI-only-machine-td5752678.html)
# make install CC_CLANG_BACKEND=0

# symbol links  
cd $HOME/Development/bin
rm -fv ghc
ln -s `pwd`/ghc-$GHC_VERSION/ ghc

# add $HOME/Development/bin/ghc to $PATH
GHC_HOME=$HOME/Development/bin/ghc
PATH=$GHC_HOME/bin:${PATH}

# remove temporary files  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR
rm -rfv ghc-$GHC_VERSION*    

cabal (package manager, old way to manage dependencies)

# remove old  
rm -rf $HOME/.cabal
rm -rf $HOME/.ghc

cabal library

CABAL_VERSION=`curl https://www.haskell.org/cabal/release/cabal-latest/ | grep -E 'Cabal-([.0-9]+\.[0-9]).*' | sed -E 's/.*>Cabal-([.0-9]+\.[0-9]).*/\1/' | head -n 1`    
CABAL_DIST_FILENAME="Cabal-$CABAL_VERSION.tar.gz"  

echo "Cabal $CABAL_VERSION will be installed..."  

# clone dist  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR  
curl -O "https://www.haskell.org/cabal/release/cabal-$CABAL_VERSION/$CABAL_DIST_FILENAME"  

# extract   
tar xzvf $CABAL_DIST_FILENAME  
cd Cabal-$CABAL_VERSION  

# build
ghc --make Setup.hs  
./Setup configure --user  
./Setup build  
./Setup install  

# Remove temporary files  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR  
rm -rfv Cabal-$CABAL_VERSION*  

cabal-install

CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION=`curl https://www.haskell.org/cabal/release/cabal-install-latest/ | grep -E 'cabal-install-([.0-9]+\.[0-9]).*' | sed -E 's/.*>cabal-install-([.0-9]+\.[0-9]).*/\1/' | head -n 1`      
CABAL_INSTALL_DIST_FILENAME="cabal-install-$CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION.tar.gz"  

echo "cabal install $CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION will be installed..."  

# get distributive  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR  
curl -L -O "https://www.haskell.org/cabal/release/cabal-install-$CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION/$CABAL_INSTALL_DIST_FILENAME"  

# extract archive  
tar xzvf $CABAL_INSTALL_DIST_FILENAME  
cd cabal-install-$CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION  

# install  
./bootstrap.sh

# remove temporary files  
cd $DOWNLOADS_DIR  
rm -rfv cabal-install-$CABAL_INSTALL_VERSION*  

# add path to cabal to PATH environment
CABAL_HOME=$HOME/.cabal
PATH=$CABAL_HOME/bin:$PATH  

Very useful, thank you very much for this!

Just a short note. Instead of:

make install

Some people (as myself) will need to type:

make install CC_CLANG_BACKEND=0

See: http://haskell.1045720.n5.nabble.com/Installing-ghc-7-8-3-OS-X-bindist-fails-on-Xcode-4-CLI-only-machine-td5752678.html

@momomimachli Thanks, fixed.