id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	resolution	keywords	cc	os	architecture	failure	difficulty	testcase	blockedby	blocking	related
3270	Stop using PackedString in template-haskell; drop packedstring as a bootlib	simonmar		"The `packedstring` library has been superseded by the `bytestring` and `text` libraries, yet we are still shipping it with GHC for only one reason: it is used in the representations of three types in `template-haskell`.

The proposal is that we

 * make the types `ModName`, `PkgName`, and `OccName` from `Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax` into abstract newtypes (an API change)

 * change their representation from `PackedString` to `String`

 * drop the `packedstring` library from the bootlibs that GHC ships with

Relevant discussions:

 * [http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/libraries/2008-November/010960.html]

"	proposal	closed	normal	Not GHC	None	6.10.2	fixed		gwern0@…	Unknown/Multiple	Unknown/Multiple		Unknown