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+## Build system
+
+`haskell-ide-engine` is built using the library `shake`. The build descriptions are defined in the file `install.hs`.
+
+Previously, `haskell-ide-engine` was built using a `Makefile` on Unix systems and a `PowerShell` script on Windows. By replacing both scripts by a Haskell-based solution, the build process is unified.
+
+### Design goals
+
+The design of the build system has the following main goals:
+
+* works identically on every platform
+* has minimal run-time dependencies:
+    - a working installation of `stack`
+    - `git`
+* is completely functional right after simple `git clone`
+* one-stop-shop for building all executables required for using `hie` in IDEs.
+
+See the project's `README` for detailed information about installing `hie`.
+
+### Tradeoffs
+
+#### `shake.yaml`
+
+A `shake.yaml` is required for executing the `install.hs` file.
+
+* It contains the required version of `shake`.
+* In contrast to the other `*.yaml` it does not contain the submodules, which is necessary for `stack` to work even before the submodules have been initialized.
+
+It is necessary to update the `resolver` field of the `shake.yaml` if the script should run with a different `GHC`.
+
+#### `install.hs` installs a GHC
+
+Before the code in `install.hs` can be executed, `stack` installs a `GHC`, depending on the `resolver` field in `shake.yaml`. This is necessary if `install.hs` should be completely functional right after a fresh `git clone` without further configuration.
+
+This may lead to an extra `GHC` to be installed by `stack` if not all versions of `haskell-ide-engine` are installed.
+
+#### `stack` is a build dependency
+
+Currently, it is not possible to build all `hie-*` executables automatically without `stack`, since the `install.hs` script is executed by `stack`.
+
+Other parts of the script also depend on `stack`:
+
+* finding the local install-dir `stack path --local-bin`
+* finding and installing different `ghc` versions
+
+#### `install.hs` executes `cabal install Cabal`
+
+`ghc-mod` installs `cabal-helper` at runtime depending on the `ghc` used by the project, which can take a long time upon startup of `hie`. The `install.hs` script speeds up this process by calling `cabal install Cabal` upon build.
+
+Hopefully, this behaviour can be removed in the future.