couldn't install leksah on Ubuntu 16.10 using cabal 1.24.0.2/ghc 8.2.1

I'm trying to install leksah as my development environment using cabal but I ran into errors.

user@home:~$ cabal install leksah
Resolving dependencies...
cabal: Could not resolve dependencies:
trying: leksah-0.15.2.0 (user goal)
next goal: base (dependency of leksah-0.15.2.0)
rejecting: base-4.10.0.0/installed-4.1... (conflict: leksah => base>=4.0.0.0 && <4.9)
rejecting: base-4.10.0.0, base-4.9.1.0, base-4.9.0.0, base-4.8.2.0,
base-4.8.1.0, base-4.8.0.0, base-4.7.0.2, base-4.7.0.1, base-4.7.0.0,
base-4.6.0.1, base-4.6.0.0, base-4.5.1.0, base-4.5.0.0, base-4.4.1.0,
base-4.4.0.0, base-4.3.1.0, base-4.3.0.0, base-4.2.0.2, base-4.2.0.1,
base-4.2.0.0, base-4.1.0.0, base-4.0.0.0, base-3.0.3.2, base-3.0.3.1
(constraint from non-upgradeable package requires installed instance)
Backjump limit reached (currently 2000, change with --max-backjumps or 
try to run with --reorder-goals).

other detauls regarding haskell install in my machine are as follows -

user@home:~$ ghci --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 8.2.1
user@home:~$ cabal --version
cabal-install version 1.24.0.2
compiled using version 1.24.2.0 of the Cabal library 
user@home:~$ stack --version
Version 1.3.2, Git revision 3f675146590da4f3edf768b89355f798229da2a5 (4395 commits) x86_64 hpack-0.15.0

Any suggestions to resolve these errors?

Solution

Let's get the dependencies straight:

leksah has version 0.15.2, which has been released ~18 months ago. It depends on a base package strictly lower than 4.9 (see also the version bump commit).
ghc has version 8.2.1. According to the release notes, the base package has version 4.10.0.0.

You cannot install another base package - it is intrinsically linked to the ghc version (see this post). Note that the version of the base package for ghc 8.0.1 (release notes) is4.9.0.0.

So either

install a haskell version prior to 8, bringing with it an older base package, or
install leksah from its github source (install instructions), or
work with the other contributors to perhaps release a 0.15.1 (or whatever) just bumping versions (provided it's still working of course).

It looks weird though - there are commits in the last two weeks, however the download page mentions that they are planning a 0.16 version - this was half a year ago.

I'm kind of wondering why there is an upper limit on ghcs minor version - currently the version requirement is set to base >=4.0.0.0 && <4.11. So when a ghc next bumps the base package again, the same problem arises. So leksah is pretty much locked to the ghc release cycle.