Cabal doesn't update binary symlinks

Question

I'm using OS X 10.8.2 with Haskell Platform 2012.4.0.0. When updating packages with cabal install, the binary symlinks don't get updated to point to the new binary versions. I must delete the symlink manually and reinstall the package. cabal install says:

Warning: could not create a symlink in /Users/thsoft/Library/Haskell/bin for elm because the file exists there already but is not managed by cabal. You can create a symlink for this executable manually if you wish. The executable file has been installed at /Users/thsoft/Library/Haskell/ghc-7.4.1/lib/Elm-0.7/bin/elm

I tried using sudo and specifying --symlink-bindir=/Users/thsoft/Library/Haskell/bin explicitly, but none of them helped. How could I fix this?

Marginal

Is there an answer to this one? I am having the same problem. Nothing from Cabal links. – Intellection

Answer 1

Just remove the existing links that are present in the specified directory.

Superadd

Meanwhile, the problem seems to have gone away by itself, but this might work anyway. – Marginal

Didn't solve it for me. I've logged as issue here: github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/1802 – Intellection

Answer 2

Tener's answer is correct: before 'cabal install'ing remove the links that would cause problems. I've had the same problem and this solved it.

(I couldn't make this a comment to Tener's answer since that would require more reputation than I have. :-( )

Boozy