id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	resolution	keywords	cc	os	architecture	failure	difficulty	testcase	blockedby	blocking	related
1459	"Build fails with ""lexical error at character '\a'"""	chevalier@…	simonmar	"There are a couple of Makefiles that contain something like:

echo ""main = getArgs >>= \args -> ...""

On my system, I get an error building the HEAD (checked out today) with:

ghc-pkg-inplace.hs:2:19: lexical error at character '\a'

It seems like something weird happens with the backslash getting escaped or not escaped, and the generated file, ghc-pkg-inplace.hs in this case, ends up with the character '\a' in it (^G). If I change ""\args"" to ""\\\\args"" in the Makefile, I get the right result.

I'm submitting a bug rather than fixing it since I assume that on *some* system this worked correctly, so maybe my fix would break it on some other system.

I'm not sure what about my environment might be relevant, besides:
$ uname -a
Linux bongo 2.6.17-10-generic #2 SMP Tue Dec 5 22:28:26 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux
$ make --version
GNU Make 3.81
$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash
$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.1.17(1)-release (i486-pc-linux-gnu)"	bug	closed	normal		Build System	6.6.1	fixed			Linux	x86		Unknown