# "Merge-buddy" request for GHC's exact-print annotations

**URL:** <https://discourse.haskell.org/t/merge-buddy-request-for-ghcs-exact-print-annotations/7953>\
**Category:** Links\
**Created:** [October 27, 2023, 8:37am UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/merge-buddy-request-for-ghcs-exact-print-annotations/7953 "2023-10-27T08:37:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sgraf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/sgraf/32/392_2.png) [@sgraf](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/sgraf)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 8:37am UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/merge-buddy-request-for-ghcs-exact-print-annotations/7953/1 "2023-10-27T08:37:40Z")

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[https://www.mail-archive.com/ghc-devs@haskell.org/msg21125.html](https://www.mail-archive.com/ghc-devs@haskell.org/msg21125.html)

If you are looking for a way to contribute to GHC’s editor tooling, stepping up as @alanz’s “merge-buddy” would be a good way to do so. It is a lot of work to transform GHC’s internal data structures in such a way that it supports usable source code formatters and language servers, and @alanz has been doing this work for years at this point.

To quote @simonpj’s reply:

> I hope someone responds to Alan’s call. Simplifying exact-print  
> annotations is a noble goal, and Alan has been working hard on it.
> 
> I hope someone feels able to support him. I don’t think you need to be an  
> exact-print expert. I’m sure Alan would be happy to teach you. And that  
> learning journey might be very useful in itself, because it’ll tell you  
> want extra documentation (especially overview notes) is needed.
> 
> Big thanks to Alan
> 
> Simon

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**Author:** ![Vlix](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/vlix/32/1551_2.png) [@Vlix](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/Vlix)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/merge-buddy-request-for-ghcs-exact-print-annotations/7953/2 "2023-10-27T18:00:07Z")

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If one were to be interested… where would one apply? 🤔

I’d like to help out, but will probably have to learn a lot about GHC internals/building/testing/etc. before being able to be of significant use.

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**Author:** ![sgraf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/sgraf/32/392_2.png) [@sgraf](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/sgraf)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/merge-buddy-request-for-ghcs-exact-print-annotations/7953/3 "2023-10-27T19:07:41Z")

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Thank you for considering to contribute!

I think writing @alanz or simply pinging him on one of the MRs is the simplest way to get in touch. You can find his e-mail from the linked mailing list thread if that is what you prefer.

Either way, you need to create an account on the GitLab instance in order to review MRs. It should take a short time for @chreekat to approve you.

If you want to dive further into GHC development, I recommend you give the [newcomers page of the wiki a read](https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/-/wikis/contributing#newcomers-to-ghc).