Don't want to turn this into Stack Exchange and this may be homebrew's fault on OS X but I just tried installing 'haskell-platform' and got:

Error:
Building the QuickCheck-2.5.1.1 package failed
make: *** [build.stamp] Error 2

Ok I will install the package on haskell.org, which instructs me to 'To upgrade, run: cabal install cabal-install':

...

cabal: Error: some packages failed to install:
cabal-install-1.16.0.2 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1

Alright, maybe I don't really need the update, let's try yesod:

cabal: Error: some packages failed to install:
ReadArgs-1.2.1 depends on system-filepath-0.4.7 which failed to install.
aeson-0.6.1.0 depends on hashable-1.2.0.5 which failed to install.
asn1-data-0.7.1 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
attoparsec-0.10.4.0 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
attoparsec-conduit-1.0.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
authenticate-1.3.2.6 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
base64-conduit-1.0.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
basic-prelude-0.3.4.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
blaze-builder-conduit-1.0.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
blaze-html-0.6.0.0 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
blaze-markup-0.5.1.4 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
case-insensitive-1.0 depends on hashable-1.2.0.5 which failed to install.
certificate-1.3.5 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
classy-prelude-0.5.3 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
clientsession-0.8.1 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
conduit-1.0.2 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
cookie-0.4.0.1 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
cprng-aes-0.3.4 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
crypto-api-0.11 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
crypto-conduit-0.5.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
crypto-pubkey-0.1.2 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
cryptohash-0.8.3 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
css-text-0.1.1 depends on attoparsec-0.10.4.0 which failed to install.
email-validate-1.0.0 depends on attoparsec-0.10.4.0 which failed to install.
failure-0.2.0.1 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
fast-logger-0.3.1 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
filesystem-conduit-1.0.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
fsnotify-0.0.6 depends on system-filepath-0.4.7 which failed to install.
hamlet-1.1.6.3 depends on shakespeare-1.0.3.1 which failed to install.
hashable-1.2.0.5 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
hfsevents-0.1.3 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
hjsmin-0.1.4.1 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
hspec-1.4.4 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
html-conduit-1.1.0 depends on xml-types-0.3.3 which failed to install.
http-conduit-1.9.0 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
http-date-0.0.4 depends on attoparsec-0.10.4.0 which failed to install.
http-reverse-proxy-0.1.1.3 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to
install.
http-types-0.8.0 depends on hashable-1.2.0.5 which failed to install.
language-javascript-0.5.7 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to
install.
lifted-base-0.2.0.2 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
mime-mail-0.4.1.2 depends on blaze-builder-0.3.1.0 which failed to install.
mime-types-0.1.0.3 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
monad-control-0.3.1.4 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
monad-logger-0.3.0.1 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
network-conduit-1.0.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
optparse-applicative-0.5.2.1 failed during the building phase. The exception
was:
ExitFailure 1
path-pieces-0.1.2 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
pem-0.1.2 depends on attoparsec-0.10.4.0 which failed to install.
persistent-1.1.5.1 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
persistent-template-1.1.2.4 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
pool-conduit-0.1.1 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
project-template-0.1.3 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
publicsuffixlist-0.0.3 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
pureMD5-2.1.2.1 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
pwstore-fast-2.3 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
resource-pool-0.2.1.1 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
resourcet-0.4.5 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
shakespeare-1.0.3.1 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
shakespeare-css-1.0.3 depends on shakespeare-1.0.3.1 which failed to install.
shakespeare-i18n-1.0.0.2 depends on shakespeare-1.0.3.1 which failed to
install.
shakespeare-js-1.1.2.1 depends on shakespeare-1.0.3.1 which failed to install.
shakespeare-text-1.0.0.5 depends on shakespeare-1.0.3.1 which failed to
install.
simple-sendfile-0.2.11 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
skein-0.1.0.12 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
socks-0.5.0 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
system-fileio-0.3.11 depends on system-filepath-0.4.7 which failed to install.
system-filepath-0.4.7 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
tagsoup-0.12.8 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
tagstream-conduit-0.5.4 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
tls-1.1.2 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
tls-extra-0.6.1 depends on crypto-api-0.11 which failed to install.
transformers-base-0.4.1 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
unordered-containers-0.2.3.0 depends on hashable-1.2.0.5 which failed to
install.
vault-0.2.0.4 depends on hashable-1.2.0.5 which failed to install.
wai-1.4.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
wai-app-static-1.3.1.2 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to
install.
wai-extra-1.3.2.4 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
wai-logger-0.3.0 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
wai-test-1.3.0.4 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
warp-1.3.7.4 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
xml-conduit-1.1.0.3 depends on xml-types-0.3.3 which failed to install.
xml-types-0.3.3 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
xss-sanitize-0.3.3 depends on tagsoup-0.12.8 which failed to install.
yaml-0.8.2.3 depends on transformers-base-0.4.1 which failed to install.
yesod-1.1.9.2 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-auth-1.1.5.3 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-core-1.1.8.2 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-default-1.1.3.2 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to
install.
yesod-form-1.2.1.3 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-json-1.1.2.1 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-persistent-1.1.0.1 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to
install.
yesod-platform-1.1.8 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-routes-1.1.2 depends on path-pieces-0.1.2 which failed to install.
yesod-static-1.1.2.2 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.
yesod-test-0.3.5 depends on xml-types-0.3.3 which failed to install.
zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 failed during the building phase. The exception was:
ExitFailure 1
zlib-conduit-1.0.0 depends on zlib-bindings-0.1.1.3 which failed to install.

If I'm yak-shaving in my first hour of trying a language out it's not a good sign.