Why does `peek` with a polymorphic Ptr return GHC.Prim.Any when used with a bind?

Question

Using the low-level GNU Science Library bindings Bindings.Gsl.RandomNumberGeneration, I'm running into this odd type behavior in GHCi where binding changes return type from a peek into GHC.Prim.Any. I'm trying to understand why since I can't use the c'rng_alloc unless I retain the type of pointer to an rng. For eample:

λ> :t c'gsl_rng_alloc
c'gsl_rng_alloc :: Ptr C'gsl_rng_type -> IO (Ptr C'gsl_rng)
λ> :t p'gsl_rng_mt19937
p'gsl_rng_mt19937 :: Ptr (Ptr gsl_rng_type)
λ> :t peek p'gsl_rng_mt19937
peek p'gsl_rng_mt19937 :: IO (Ptr gsl_rng_type)
λ> x <- peek p'gsl_rng_mt19937
λ> :t x
x :: Ptr GHC.Prim.Any
λ> c'gsl_rng_alloc x

<interactive>:421:17:
    Couldn't match type ‘GHC.Prim.Any’ with ‘C'gsl_rng_type’
    Expected type: Ptr C'gsl_rng_type
      Actual type: Ptr GHC.Prim.Any
    In the first argument of ‘c'gsl_rng_alloc’, namely ‘x’
    In the expression: c'gsl_rng_alloc x
λ> 

Trying to explicitly specify the type of the peek return that doesn't help either:

λ> x <- (peek p'gsl_rng_mt19937) :: IO (Ptr gsl_rng_type)
λ> :t x
x :: Ptr GHC.Prim.Any

Answer 1

To expand somewhat on @user2407038's comment:

When you do x <- peek (ptr :: Ptr (Ptr a)) in the GHCi prompt, the type variable a must be instantiated to some concrete type. This is because the do notation x <- peek p means peek p >>= \x -> ..., where ... is what you type into GHCi afterwards. Since GHCi can't know the future, it has to "cheat" during typechecking.

Recall that in peek p >>= \x -> ..., the right-hand argument to >>=, namely the lambda abstraction \x -> ..., is monomorphic in its argument. This is why GHCi has to assign a monomorphic type to x.

GHC.Prim.Any is the placeholder type that GHC uses in situations like this where a concrete, monomorphic type needs to be assigned to something that has no other constraints.