Install HLS on the fly #700
Description
So thinking about on the fly HLS installation...
- Current approach: PR requires HLS to be pre-installed (ghcup, stack, cabal, or system PATH). The language server gracefully
fails if HLS isn't found. - Proposed enhancement: Automatically download/install HLS if missing.
Trade-offs to discuss:
- Pro: Better user experience - works immediately without manual setup
- Con: Adds complexity - need to handle multiple installation methods (ghcup, stack, cabal, brew)
- Con: Platform-specific logic (macOS/brew, Linux/ghcup, Windows/?)
- Con: May require elevated permissions for system-wide installation
- Con: Version management complexity (which HLS version works with which GHC?)
I already removed the unrelated files.
- I think we should defer the on-the-fly download enhancement to a follow-up PR because:
- Current PR already provides full HLS functionality for users who have it installed
- The enhancement is non-trivial and needs careful design (installation method, version compatibility, error handling). I will need time to get it right. And even if I do get it working I think it will be brittle. OS upgrades, package manager changes, etc..
- Better to get core functionality merged first, then enhance installation UX
Thoughts?
Originally posted by @ketema in #697 (comment)