Hell 2026-05-29 — Application Image Compilation 1.0.0

Hell is a tiny Haskell dialect for shell scripting created by Chris Done. This repository is an independently maintained fork of chrisdone/hell. It is not an official upstream release and does not imply endorsement by Chris Done or upstream contributors.

The version has two deliberately separate parts:

• 2026-05-29 is the exact upstream Hell language/runtime baseline.
• Application Image Compilation 1.0.0 identifies and versions this feature line.

The executable remains named hell. Its version display is:

Hell 2026-05-29 — Application Image Compilation 1.0.0

The first release is GitHub-only and remains experimental until all release gates pass. It is not published to Hackage.

Application Image Compilation

On Linux, hell can emit an executable application image containing a checked, pre-inferred Hell program:

hell --compile script.hell --output script
# short form
hell --compile script.hell -o script

./script one two

Compilation preserves an existing destination by default. Use --force only when replacement is intended:

hell --compile script.hell -o script --force

Keep the .hell file as the canonical source and regenerate the application image whenever its source or runtime changes.

Important limitations

• Emission is Linux-only and is not cross-compilation.
• The output copies the emitting Hell runtime and inherits its architecture and static or dynamic linkage.
• The embedded program is linked and evaluated by that runtime. This is not native machine-code compilation.
• Source layout is omitted, but literals, names, and program semantics remain recoverable. Application images are not source protection.
• Image format, checksum, operating system, architecture, compiler, and runtime ABI are validated. These compatibility checks are not a security sandbox.
• An emitted application image cannot emit another application image.
• Ordinary arguments beginning with - reach the Hell program. The GHC runtime's reserved +RTS ... -RTS syntax may consume runtime options first.
• Do not run application images from untrusted sources. They are executables and can perform the same operations as the user running them.

See SUPPORT.md for the support boundary and SECURITY.md for private vulnerability reporting.

Build and test

The release gate uses Nix:

nix build
nix flake check

nix flake check exercises the normal test suite plus dynamically linked and native-static application image execution. Passing locally is necessary but does not by itself declare a release supported; the exact tagged commit must pass every gate in RELEASE.md.

License and redistribution

Original Hell is Copyright (c) 2023 Chris Done and is distributed under the BSD-3-Clause license. The original copyright notice, conditions, and disclaimer are preserved unchanged.

Generated application images include the Hell runtime. If you redistribute a generated executable, accompany it with Hell's BSD-3-Clause LICENSE in the documentation or other materials, retain the required notices, and do not imply endorsement by Chris Done or other contributors.

Release binary archives must contain both the hell executable and LICENSE.

Project information

• Fork provenance
• Release history
• Release contract and gates
• Support policy
• Security policy
• Contribution guide
• Fork repository
• Fork documentation
• Upstream Hell

Maintainer: Nicholas Yip nicholasyip@obceit.cc