6.8.3 is a bugfix release over 6.8.2. Many bugs in the compiler, libraries and build system have been fixed. However, most library APIs have not changed, so code that worked with 6.8.2 should continue to work with 6.8.3. The notable exceptions, as well as the user interface changes, are listed below.
The arguments to ghc-pkg now understand lists and wildcards, and there is a new command ghc-pkg find-module; see Section 5.8.6, “Package management (the ghc-pkg command)” for more details.
The filename completion in ghci is now more intelligent.
Options to be given to haddock now use a OPTIONS_HADDOCK pragma, rather than a DOC_OPTIONS pragma.
We now look for GHCi config files in these locations:
./.ghci
c:/Documents and Settings/user/Application Data/ghc/ghci.conf (on Windows)
$HOME/.ghc/ghci.conf (on *NIX)
$HOME/.ghci
You can now give multiple -e options to GHC.
You can now use the -prof and -threaded flags together, although you cannot also use +RTS -N2.
SCC names are no longer allowed to contain spaces, as some of the profiling tools break if they do.
On MacOS X we now include ~/Library/Frameworks in the framework searchpath.
Various changes have been made to GHC's internals, so there are some differences in the API exposed by the ghc package. Most notably, checkAndLoadModule has now been implemented.
The version of base has been increased from 3.0.1.0 to 3.0.2.0.
The version of bytestring has been increased from 0.9.0.1 to 0.9.0.2.
GHC.TopHandler now exports topHandler and topHandlerFastExit.
The version of Cabal has been increased from 1.2.3.0 to 1.2.4.0.
In Cabal, there is a new --hyperlink-source flag for haddock 2.
The version of containers has been increased from 0.1.0.1 to 0.1.0.2.
The version of directory has been increased from 1.0.0.0 to 1.0.0.1.
The version of hpc has been increased from 0.5.0.0 to 0.5.0.1.
The version of process has been increased from 1.0.0.0 to 1.0.0.1.
The version of unix has been increased from 2.3.0.0 to 2.3.0.1.
The version of Win32 has been increased from 2.1.1.0 to 2.1.1.1.