1. download the Cabal source package e.g. from HackageDB
2. unpack it in a directory
3. locate the directory in the console
4. use “cabal install –reinstall” and watch the compiling process

For the network-2.2.1.3 package I couldn’t use this approach because I always got the message that “getnameinfo” couldn’t be found.

I discovered this mail that lead me to the solution, but was kinda vague in the second step. This is why I’m publishing this post. Here are the 4 steps with a detailed second step:

1. download the source from HackageDB
2. modify configure.ac by replacing the first paragraph with the second one:
   dnl Under mingw, we may need to set WINVER to 0x0501 to expose getaddrinfo. if test "x$ac_have_getaddrinfo" = x; then old_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" if test "z$ac_cv_lib_ws2_32__head_libws2_32_a" = zyes; then CFLAGS="-DWINVER=0x0501 $CFLAGS" AC_MSG_CHECKING(for getaddrinfo if WINVER is 0x0501) AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[$ac_includes_default int testme(){ getaddrinfo; }]])],[AC_DEFINE([HAVE_GETADDRINFO], [1], [Define to 1 if you have the `getaddrinfo' function.]) AC_DEFINE([NEED_WINVER_XP], [1], [Define to 1 if the `getaddrinfo' function needs WINVER set.]) EXTRA_CPPFLAGS="-DWINVER=0x0501 $EXTRA_CPPFLAGS"; AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)],[CFLAGS="$old_CFLAGS"; AC_MSG_RESULT(no)]) fi fi
dnl Under mingw, we may need to set WINVER to 0x0501 to expose getaddrinfo. if test "x$ac_have_getaddrinfo" = x; then old_CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" if test "z$ac_cv_lib_ws2_32__head_libws2_32_a" = zyes; then dnl CFLAGS="-DWINVER=0x0501 $CFLAGS" dnl AC_MSG_CHECKING(for getaddrinfo if WINVER is 0x0501) AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[$ac_includes_default int testme(){ getaddrinfo; }]])],[AC_DEFINE([HAVE_GETADDRINFO], [1], [Define to 1 if you have the `getaddrinfo' function.]) AC_DEFINE([NEED_WINVER_XP], [1], [Define to 1 if the `getaddrinfo' function needs WINVER set.]) EXTRA_CPPFLAGS="$EXTRA_CPPFLAGS"; AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)],[CFLAGS="$old_CFLAGS"; AC_MSG_RESULT(no)]) fi fi
3. run “autoreconf” in the source directory. If you don’t have autoreconf download msysDTK-1.0.1.exe (or a better version)
4. run “cabal install –reinstall”

I hope this will save a lost soul some time, one day!