cabal:tldr:a99ec

The cabal init command is used in Haskell programming language and it is part of the Cabal build system.

When you run the cabal init command, it initializes a new cabal package and generates a *.cabal file in the current directory.

The *.cabal file is a configuration file that contains metadata about your Haskell project, such as the name, version, dependencies, source files, etc. It is used by Cabal to build, package, and distribute your Haskell application or library.

The cabal init command interacts with you through a series of prompts and questions to gather information about your project, such as the package name, version, licenses, author information, source directories, dependencies, etc. Once it has collected the necessary details, it generates the *.cabal file with the provided information.

Overall, cabal init simplifies the process of setting up a new Haskell project by generating the initial configuration file based on your inputs, saving you from writing it manually.