`cabal init`: `--package-dir` seems to be ignored

[ffaf1]

Describe the bug
cabal init --package-dir some-dir does not work (does not work = the files do not get written inside some-dir).

To Reproduce

f@mkiii:~/download$ cabal init --package-dir=/tmp/app/ -nm
Warning: this is a debug build of cabal-install with assertions enabled.
[Log] Guessing dependencies...
[Log] Using cabal specification: 3.0
[Warning] unknown license type, you must put a copy in LICENSE yourself.
[Log] Creating fresh file CHANGELOG.md...
[Log] Creating fresh directory ./app...
[Log] Creating fresh file app/Main.hs...
[Log] Creating fresh file app.cabal...
[Warning] No synopsis given. You should edit the .cabal file and add one.
[Info] You may want to edit the .cabal file and add a Description field.

f@mkiii:~/download$ lsc
app  app.cabal  CHANGELOG.md
f@mkiii:~/download$ ls /tmp/app/
f@mkiii:~/download$

Expected behavior
After running cabal init --package-dir=/tmp/app/ -nm, I want folders, cal files etc. to be written in /tmp/app.

System information

• Debian bookworm
• cabal 3.11, ghc 9.2.8

Additional context

--help entry for --package-dir

 --package-dir=DIRECTORY        Root directory of the package (default =
                                current directory).

[ffaf1]

Same problem with 3.10.1.0

[fgaz]

cc @emilypi @ptkato

[ptkato]

I don't remember how that was wired before the rewrite, but a fix for this would probably need to go in here, due to the changes in #7873.

[alt-romes]

I've just run into this as well with 3.10.

[alt-romes]

I don't remember how that was wired before the rewrite, but a fix for this would probably need to go in here, due to the changes in #7873.

Following the source listed here, it seems that the first argument to cabal init is interpreted as the dir where to put the cabal project, so a workaround is

cabal init <project-dir>