Packcheck

Packcheck is a simple tool that makes it easy to build a Haskell package. With a single command, it will build your package, run tests, benchmarks, and doctests, generate documentation, check the package, validate source distributions, and even verify that everything builds correctly from the distribution.

You don’t need to set up or install tools like GHC or Cabal yourself; Packcheck handles finding or installing all the tools for you. The same command works across Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD, so you get consistent results locally and in CI without extra configuration.

Quick Start

Local Testing

Easiest way to try it out is to download the packcheck.sh script and run it from within your Haskell package repo locally.

packcheck.sh cabal

Running in GitHub Actions

One of Packcheck's core strengths is parity. You can run the exact same tests locally or in the CI.

The following github.yml uses the default GHC available on the runner (typically the latest stable version).

on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: |
          curl -sLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/composewell/packcheck/master/packcheck.sh
          bash packcheck.sh cabal

Tip: Replace master with a specific commit hash for production environments to ensure build reproducibility.

Testing Across a GHC Matrix

To verify your package against multiple GHC versions, use a strategy matrix:

on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        ghc: ["9.14.1", "9.12.4", "9.10.3"]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: |
          curl -sLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/composewell/packcheck/master/packcheck.sh
          bash packcheck.sh cabal GHCVER=${{ matrix.ghc }}

Fast CI Testing

Packcheck supports Split Caching which makes CI as fast as your local testing. Packcheck can be invoked to install dependencies and exit, then we save the cache and resume. After failures CI can resume from building your package instead of installing dependencies, making it fast and amenable to iterative development.

See the github CI template | for an example use.

---

OS and CI Support

Packcheck provides out-of-the-box configuration files for all major OS and CI platforms. These templates include optimized, multi-stage caching to ensure your CI runs are fast and efficient. The templates are designed to work immediately for most packages. For fine-grained control, simply uncomment the labeled lines in the config files to toggle benchmarks, Haddock generation, or coverage reports.

CI System	Platforms	Configuration Template
GitHub Actions	Linux, macOS, Windows	.github/workflows/packcheck.yml
Cirrus CI	FreeBSD	.cirrus.yml
Appveyor	Windows	appveyor.yml
CircleCI	Linux	.circleci/config.yml

Build Tools: Cabal, Stack
GHC Provisioning: System PATH, ghcup, Stack-managed GHC

Implementation

1. Copy the relevant configuration file to your repository.
2. Enable the project in your CI provider's dashboard.
3. Customize the environment variables in the YAML.

---

Key Features

• Identical Testing: Run the exact same test suite locally that runs on your CI—eliminating "it worked on my machine" issues.
• Deep Diagnostics: Precise error messages and detailed build metadata (tool paths, versions, OS CPU, memory, disk space). Prints timing for every step for build performance debugging.
• Production-Ready Checks:
  • SDist Verification: Builds from the generated tarball to ensure no files are missing from your release.
  • Git Parity: Automatically alerts you if files in your repository are missing from the source distribution.
• Smart GHC Discovery: Automatically resolves GHC versions from PATH, ghcup (with auto-install), or Stack.
• Zero-Footprint: Non-destructive by default. It won’t alter your global configs or upgrade tools unless explicitly requested.
• Declarative Control: Toggle benchmarks, docs, coverage, or hlint via simple environment variables.
• Docspec Integration: Seamlessly run doctest-style snippets within your source code using cabal-docspec. Toggle it on with a single variable and optionally provide a custom binary URL for specific environments.

---

Usage Examples

Packcheck is driven by environment variables, making it highly scriptable for both local use and CI.

# Test using a specific GHC version via ghcup
./packcheck.sh cabal GHCUP_VERSION=0.1.50.0 GHCVER=9.14.1

# Test using Stack with a specific resolver
./packcheck.sh stack RESOLVER=lts-21

# Run hlint on specific directories
./packcheck.sh hlint HLINT_TARGETS="src test"

# Run a cabal build using a stack-installed GHC
stack exec ./packcheck.sh cabal RESOLVER=lts-21

To verify the documentation snippets in your source files, enable the docspec flag.

# Run all docspec snippets in the source
./packcheck.sh cabal \
  ENABLE_DOCSPEC="y" \
  DOCSPEC_URL="https://github.com/phadej/cabal-extras/releases/download/cabal-docspec-0.0.0.20250606/cabal-docspec-0.0.0.20250606-x86_64-linux.xz" \
  DOCSPEC_OPTIONS="--timeout 60"

Tip: Instead of passing the options on the command line, you can also export them in your shell environment and just run packcheck.sh cabal after that.

---

Pro-Tips & Advanced Logic

• Reproducibility: When CHECK_ENV=y is enabled, packcheck ignores all environment variables and relies solely on command-line inputs; it can also detect and report mistyped variable names. We recommend using this mode by default, especially when troubleshooting “ghost” issues caused by unintended environment variables or typos (e.g., GHCVWR instead of GHCVER).
• GHC Resolution: If GHCVER is a prefix (e.g., 9.12), Packcheck finds the first matching binary in your PATH. Set GHCVER=head to specifically target ghc-head.
• Hybrid Workflows: You can use Stack-installed GHCs for Cabal builds: stack exec ./packcheck.sh cabal RESOLVER=lts-21
• Template Repo: This repository is a fully functional "Hello World" Haskell package. You can clone it as a foundation for new projects to get CI, testing, and benchmarking pre-configured.
• Tooling Pass-through: Use HLINT_OPTIONS and CABAL_BUILD_OPTIONS to pass raw flags directly to the underlying tools.
• Split Caching Control: Use SKIP_POST_DEP and SKIP_PRE_DEP in your CI YAML to manually manage where caching starts and stops.

---

Why Packcheck?

Most CI scripts are fragile collections of shell commands. packcheck.sh is a high-level, universal "super-build" script written in bash to ensure it works everywhere without dependencies. It wraps the complexity of cross-platform Haskell tooling into a single, consistent interface. Whether you are a beginner learning Haskell metadata or a maintainer managing complex libraries, Packcheck ensures your builds are reproducible, transparent, and fast.

Full Reference

Note: Any parameter can be passed either as a command-line argument or an environment variable. Command-line arguments are ideal for interactive local use, while environment variables are preferred for CI configurations.

# Show all available commands and options
./packcheck.sh --help

Help Output Reference

--------------------------------------------------
Usage
--------------------------------------------------

packcheck.sh COMMAND [PARAMETER=VALUE ...]

For example:
packcheck.sh cabal GHCVER=9.8.1
packcheck.sh stack RESOLVER=lts GHC_OPTIONS="-O0 -Werror"
packcheck.sh hlint

Ask questions: https://app.gitter.im/#/room/#composewell_streamly:gitter.im
Report issues: https://github.com/composewell/packcheck/issues/new

Control parameters can either be passed on command line or exported
as environment variables. Parameters marked DESTRUCTIVE may modify
your global user config or state.

Boolean parameters can be specified as
y|Y|yes|Yes|YES|true|True|TRUE|on|On|ON for an affirmative value and as
n|N|no|No|NO|false|False|FALSE|off|Off|OFF or empty for a negative value.

--------------------------------------------------
Commands and flags
--------------------------------------------------

cabal                   : build using cabal
stack                   : build using stack
hlint                   : run hlint
clean                   : remove the .packcheck directory
cleanall                : remove .packcheck, .stack-work directories
help | --help | -h      : show this help message
--version               : show packcheck version

--------------------------------------------------
Selecting tool versions
--------------------------------------------------

GHCUP_VERSION           : [a.b.c.d] or 'latest' to install at $HOME/.ghcup/bin/ghcup (for versions see https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghcup)
GHCVER                  : [a.b.c | head] GHC version prefix (may not be enforced when using stack)
CABALVER                : [a.b.c.d] Cabal version (prefix) to use
STACKVER                : [a.b.c.d] Stack version (prefix) to use
STACK_UPGRADE           : [y] DESTRUCTIVE! Upgrades stack to latest version
RESOLVER                : Stack resolver to use for stack builds or cabal builds using stack
HLINT_VERSION           : hlint version to install at $HOME/.local/bin/hlint (see [https://github.com/ndmitchell/hlint/releases](https://github.com/ndmitchell/hlint/releases))
DOCSPEC_URL             : cabal-docspec release URL to install at $HOME/.local/bin/cabal-docspec (see [https://github.com/phadej/cabal-extras/releases/](https://github.com/phadej/cabal-extras/releases/))

--------------------------------------------------
Where to find the required tools
--------------------------------------------------

PATH                    : [path] Set PATH explicitly for predictable builds
TOOLS_DIR               : [dir] Find ghc|cabal by version as in TOOLS_DIR/ghc/<version>/bin

--------------------------------------------------
Specifying common tool options
--------------------------------------------------

GHCUP_GHC_OPTIONS       : Used as in "ghcup install ghc <GHCUP_GHC_OPTIONS> <version>"
GHC_OPTIONS             : Specify GHC options to use
SDIST_OPTIONS           : Arguments to stack/cabal sdist command

--------------------------------------------------
Specifying what to build
--------------------------------------------------

DISABLE_BENCH           : [y] Do not build benchmarks, default is to build but not run
DISABLE_TEST            : [y] Do not run tests, default is to run tests
DISABLE_DOCS            : [y] Do not build haddocks, default is to build docs
ENABLE_DOCSPEC          : [y] Run cabal-docspec after the cabal build
DISABLE_SDIST_BUILD     : [y] Do not build from source distribution
DISABLE_SDIST_PROJECT_CHECK: [y] Ignore project file and continue
DISABLE_SDIST_GIT_CHECK : [y] Do not compare source distribution with git repo
DISABLE_DIST_CHECKS     : [y] Do not perform source distribution checks

--------------------------------------------------
Skipping parts of build (for split caching)
--------------------------------------------------

BUILD_DEPS_ONLY         : [y] Build dependencies and exit
BUILD_PACKAGE_ONLY      : [y] Skip tools/deps; build local package only

--------------------------------------------------
cabal options
--------------------------------------------------

CABAL_REINIT_CONFIG     : [y] DESTRUCTIVE! Remove old config to avoid incompatibility issues
CABAL_PROJECT           : Alternative cabal project file, path relative to project root
CABAL_BUILD_OPTIONS     : ADDITIONAL cabal build options to append to defaults
CABAL_BUILD_TARGETS     : cabal build targets, default is 'all'
CABAL_HADDOCK_TARGETS   : cabal haddock targets, default is '.'
CABAL_DISABLE_DEPS      : [y] Do not install deps, no cabal update, useful for nix
CABAL_TEST_OPTIONS      : ADDITIONAL cabal test options to append to defaults
CABAL_CHECK_RELAX       : [y] Do not return failure if 'cabal check' fails on the package.
CABAL_HACKAGE_MIRROR    : DESTRUCTIVE! Specify an alternative mirror, modifies the cabal config file.
CABAL_INDEX_TTL         : Do not attempt cabal update until it is stale by this many hours.
HADDOCK_OPTIONS         : ADDITIONAL haddock build options to append to defaults

--------------------------------------------------
stack options
--------------------------------------------------

STACK_YAML              : Alternative stack config file path relative to project root
STACK_OPTIONS           : ADDITIONAL stack global options (e.g. -v) to append
STACK_BUILD_OPTIONS     : ADDITIONAL stack build command options to append

--------------------------------------------------
hlint options
--------------------------------------------------

HLINT_OPTIONS           : hlint arguments e.g.'--datadir=.'
HLINT_TARGETS           : target directories to run hlint on e.g. 'src test'

--------------------------------------------------
Coverage options
--------------------------------------------------

COVERAGE                : [y] Just generate coverage information

--------------------------------------------------
Diagnostics options
--------------------------------------------------

CHECK_ENV               : [y] Treat unknown env variables as error, used with env -i
BASE_TIME               : System time to be used as base for timeline reporting

Critical Behavioral Notes

• SDist Parity: By default, the build fails if the source distribution (.tar.gz) does not match your git repository. This ensures you only release what you have committed. You can bypass this with DISABLE_SDIST_GIT_CHECK=y.
• Destructive Options: Parameters marked DESTRUCTIVE! (like STACK_UPGRADE or CABAL_REINIT_CONFIG) are safe for CI but should be used cautiously on local machines as they modify global user configurations.
• Sandboxing: Cabal builds are performed in a sandbox. All temporary artifacts are stored in the .packcheck directory to keep your project root clean.