F43 Change Proposal: Hare Programming Language (self-contained)

Wiki - https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/HareProgrammingLanguage
Discussion thread -
https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f43-change-proposal-hare-programming-language-self-contained/160770

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes
process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive
community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved
by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.


== Summary ==

Introduce packages for [https://harelang.org/ Hare], a systems
programming language designed to be simple, stable, and robust. Hare
is still under development, the language, its standard library and its
reference tool chain are still subject to breaking changes.

== Owner ==

* Name: [[User:dridi|Dridi Boukelmoune]], [[User:mroche|Mike
Rochefort]], [[User:fnux|Timothee Floure]], [[User:fed500|Benson
Muite]]
* Email: dridi dot boukelmoune at gmail, mroche at omenos dot dev,
timothee dot floure at posteo dot net, benson_muite at emailplus dot
org
<!--- UNCOMMENT only for Changes with assigned Shepherd (by FESCo)
* FESCo shepherd: [[User:FASAccountName| Shehperd name]] <email address>
-->


== Detailed Description ==

Hare is a systems programming language designed to be simple, stable,
and robust. Hare uses a static type system, manual memory management,
and a minimal runtime. It is well-suited to writing operating systems,
system tools, compilers, networking software, and other low-level,
high performance tasks.

The Hare tool chain on Fedora will include:

* `hare` (build driver)
* `harec` (compiler front-end, already available in Fedora)
* `qbe` (compiler back-end, already available in Fedora)
* `binutils` (for assembly and static linking)
* `gcc` (for dynamic linking, it also works with other C compilers)

Leaving `binutils` and GCC aside, bootstrapping a Hare tool chain only
takes a few minutes. The Hare tool chain can target the `x86_64`,
`aarch64` and `riscv64` architectures, and will be configured to rely
by default on `gcc-<arch>-linux-gnu` and `binutils-<arch>-linux-gnu`
for cross compilation.

The `hare` source package will produce the following packages:

* `hare` (build driver, `haredoc` utility and manuals)
* `hare-stdlib` (standard library)
* `hare-rpm-macros` (packaging utilities)

In addition, a `hare-update` package will be provided to assist Hare
developers deal with breaking changes when a new Hare release is
available, until the language and its standard library become stable.

== Feedback ==

None.

== Benefit to Fedora ==

Developers can begin using the Hare language in their projects.
Package maintainers can ship applications written in Hare.

Unlike other language tool chains, Hare modules are meant to be the
responsibility of system package managers like DNF. Packaging Hare
modules and applications should result in little friction.

== Scope ==

* Proposal owners:
** submit `hare` and `hare-update` packages for review
** create RPM macros for Hare packaging
*** `%hare_arches` already submitted to `redhat-rpm-config`
** handle the `hare` package bootstrap
** add dependency generators for Hare modules
** draft packaging guidelines

* Other developers: N/A (not needed for this Change)

* Release engineering: N/A (not needed for this Change)

* Policies and guidelines:
** There ideally should be Hare packaging guidelines submitted as part
of this change, otherwise at a later point.
** See https://pagure.io/packaging-committee/pull-request/1472

* Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

* Alignment with the Fedora Strategy: none

== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==

The Hare specification is still a draft, so the Hare language, tool
chain and standard library are still subject to relatively frequent
breaking changes. Package updates containing breaking changes should
be limited to Fedora releases.

== How To Test ==

Once the `hare` package is available, the upstream [introduction
https://harelang.org/tutorials/introduction] to the language walks you
through the hello world below before covering language concepts.

Hello world:
<pre>$ cat >main.ha <<EOF
use fmt;

export fn main() void = {
fmt::println("Hello world!")!;
};
EOF
$ hare build -o example main.ha
4/4 tasks completed (100%)
$ ./example
Hello world!</pre>

== User Experience ==


== Dependencies ==

None.

== Contingency Plan ==

* Contingency mechanism: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

== Documentation ==

* https://harelang.org/documentation/
* https://harelang.org/tutorial
* https://harelang.org/specification
* https://harelang.org/blog

== Release Notes ==


--
Aoife Moloney

Fedora Operations Architect

Fedora Project

Matrix: @amoloney:fedora.im

IRC: amoloney

--
_______________________________________________
devel-announce mailing list -- devel-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe send an email to devel-announce-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org
Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/
List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org
Do not reply to spam, report it: https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/new_issue