Cabal vs Composer
Cabal
haskell.orgComposer
getcomposer.orgSide by side
| Figure | Cabal | Composer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Package Managers | 8.6 (#18) | 8.9 (#5) |
| Dependency resolution | Yes | Composer determines which package versions need to be installed and can update all dependencies in one command. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Lockfile support | Yes | Yes |
| Offline installation | Yes | Yes |
| Package formats | .cabal files; .tar.gz source distributions; RPM; Debian packages; Windows installers | PHP packages; ZIP; TAR; VCS repositories |
| Package sources | Cabal can install packages from local directories, package archives, and local or remote tarball files. | Composer uses Packagist by default and supports custom Composer, VCS, and local path repositories. |
| Platforms | The official overview says ghcup can manage Cabal versions on Linux, Mac, and Windows. | Composer says it is multi-platform and aims to run on Windows, Linux, and macOS. |
| Purpose | Cabal is a system for building and packaging Haskell libraries and programs. | Composer is a tool for managing PHP project dependencies, installing and updating the libraries a project declares. |
| Support | The official site directs users to the FAQ and troubleshooting pages, bug reports, and the cabal-devel mailing list. | The project says commercial support and consulting are available through its sponsorship page. |
| Supported platforms | Linux; macOS; FreeBSD; Windows | PHP; Windows; Linux; macOS |
| Workspace support | Yes | Yes |
Plans
In their own words
Composer
Composer manages dependencies for PHP projects, installing and updating the libraries each project declares. By default, it keeps those dependencies in a directory within the project, and it can also manage a global project. It resolves dependencies and supports lockfiles, workspaces, private registry authentication, and offline installation. Packagist is its default package source; custom Composer, version-control, and local-path repositories are also supported. Composer integrates with Fossil, Git, Mercurial, Perforce, and Subversion. It can be installed locally or as a system-wide executable on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The latest version requires PHP 7.2.5 or later; the 2.2.x LTS line supports PHP 5.3.2 and later. Its audit command checks installed packages for security advisories, abandoned packages, malware flags, and other dependency policies. Composer is free under the MIT license. Plugins and scripts can run with the user's permissions, so the project advises against running Composer as root with untrusted packages.