CABAL File

What are CABAL files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CABAL file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your CABAL files.

What is a CABAL file?

A .CABAL file is a Cabal Info file.

Cabal Info files are plain-text project description files used by the Haskell Cabal system to define how a Haskell software package is built, what its components are, and what dependencies it has so that tools can compile and distribute code consistently across environments. Created by the Cabal toolchain (including the cabal command-line utility), these files are written by Haskell package authors and read by build tools that compile, test, install or distribute Haskell libraries and executables.

The file contains metadata such as the package's name, version and author; build instructions like build-type; a list of dependencies specified in the build-depends field; definitions of which modules are exposed or included in executables; and configuration for languages, source files, and directories. Sections within the file describe library components, executables, test suites, and benchmarks. For example, the executable section includes main-is to identify the entry point source file. The file adheres to a specified version of the Cabal package description format, declared with cabal-version, which determines which fields and syntax are allowed.

Internally the file is UTF-8 plain text and uses keywords such as name, version, cabal-version, build-type, build-depends, library, executable, exposed-modules, main-is, hs-source-dirs. Lines beginning with whitespace are used to continue or indent multi-line fields. Typical identifiers include VERSION, BUILD-DEPENDS, NAME, BUILD-TYPE among others, and the file often contains the string BASE (as in base package), SOURCE-, MAIN, and optional conditional sections (e.g. if os(windows)) to adapt builds to different platforms.

How to open CABAL files

Important: Different programs may use files with the CABAL file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your CABAL file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

We have not yet verified any programs for Windows that work with this specific file format. If you know one, please use the 'Suggest a program' link below. Thanks!

Last updated: August 25, 2026

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