XMonad Install on NetBSD 5.0

May 30, 2009

I had some issues with getting XMonad and it’s dependencies working on NetBSD 5.0 with pkgsrc, so I thought I’d put this up to help out others and myself when I forget how it was done.

Start by installing ghc-6.8.3 from pkgsrc. The two options here are: * pkg_add -v ghc * cd /usr/pkgsrc/lang/ghc; make; make install

Both require root access. The first option will download a prebuilt binary of ghc and install it all for you. I chose the second option which involves downloading the pkgsrc source and compiling from source.

Next up you need to install Xmonad’s dependencies: * mtl * unix * X11

Running ghc-pkg list will show you what is already installed.

Mine looked something like this:


micro# ghc-pkg list
/usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/package.conf:
    Cabal-1.2.4.0, HUnit-1.2.0.0, QuickCheck-1.1.0.0, X11-1.4.5,
    array-0.1.0.0, base-3.0.2.0, bytestring-0.9.0.1.1, cgi-3001.1.6.0,
    containers-0.1.0.2, directory-1.0.0.1, fgl-5.4.2.0,
    filepath-1.1.0.0, (ghc-6.8.3), haskell-src-1.0.1.2,
    haskell98-1.0.1.0, hpc-0.5.0.1, html-1.0.1.1, mtl-1.1.0.1,
    network-2.2.0.0, old-locale-1.0.0.0, old-time-1.0.0.0,
    packedstring-0.1.0.0, parallel-1.0.0.1, parsec-2.1.0.1,
    pretty-1.0.0.0, process-1.0.0.1, random-1.0.0.0, readline-1.0.1.0,
    regex-base-0.72.0.1, regex-compat-0.71.0.1, regex-posix-0.72.0.2,
    rts-1.0, stm-2.1.1.1, template-haskell-2.2.0.0, time-1.1.2.1,
    unix-2.3.0.1, xhtml-3000.2.0.0

So I only needed X11 which I grabbed from here. Untar the X11 download, hop into that directory and run each of these commands in order.

runhaskell Setup configure
runhaskell Setup build
runhaskell Setup install

If it fails, good it’s just like my install. I got the following stack trace:


Building X11-1.4.5...
[22 of 24] Compiling Graphics.X11.Xlib.Extras ( dist/build/Graphics/X11/Xlib/Extras.hs, dist/build/Graphics/X11/Xlib/Extras.o )
Warning: orphan instances:
  instance GHC.Read.Read [Graphics.X11.Xlib.Types.Rectangle]
    = Graphics.X11.Xlib.Extras.$f1

In file included from /usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Stg.h:183,
                 from /usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Rts.h:19,

                 from dist/build/Graphics/X11/Xlib/Extras_stub.c:2:0:


/usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Regs.h:28:17:
     error: gmp.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Stg.h:183,
                 from /usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Rts.h:19,

                 from dist/build/Graphics/X11/Xlib/Extras_stub.c:2:0:


/usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Regs.h:121:0:
     error: expected specifier-qualifier-list before 'MP_INT'

In file included from dist/build/Graphics/X11/Xlib/Extras_stub.c:2:0:


/usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Rts.h:203:0:
     error: expected ')' before '*' token

/usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/Rts.h:204:0:
     error: expected ')' before '*' token

Seems that it’s actually complaining that it can’t see gmp.h. So the quick ’n nasty fix for this is.

ln -s /usr/pkg/include/gmp.h /usr/pkg/lib/ghc-6.8.3/include/gmp.h

Idea originally from here.

Now retry, runhaskell Setup build and runhaskell Setup install, which should work now.

Next download the xmonad sources from http://xmonad.org, I grabbed both xmonad and xmonad-contrib. Untar them and follow the same runhaskell commands from before:

runhaskell Setup configure
runhaskell Setup build
runhaskell Setup install

It should now all compile & install correctly, and you can get on with using Xmonad.

Finally here are some helpful Xmonad starter links:

Perpetually Curious Blog Blog | About | Archive | Talks

XMonad Install on NetBSD 5.0