Findlib 1.1 released

[Gerd Stolpmann <info@gerd-stolpmann.de>]

Hi list,

I just managed to get a new version of findlib released. It works now
perfectly (hopefully) with O'Caml 3.09, and you can use all 3.09
command-line arguments.

There are also a number of improvements triggered by discussions:

- The check whether a package is already installed has been
  relaxed. In particular, the destination directory may already
  exist. It is, however, still not allowed to overwrite files
  when packages are installed.

- One can declare files as optional when installing a package.

- One can patch the META file when installing a package.
  Currently, there are three types of patches: The version
  string can be overwritten. Subpackages can be removed.
  Archive references can be removed when the corresponding
  files do not exist.

  Especially the latter is still experimental because it is
  unclear whether it improves anything. The resulting META
  file may be broken.

- There is an exists_if variable in META. The idea is to
  disable subpackages when a certain file does not exist,
  e.g.

  package "foo" (
    exists_if = "foo.cma"
    archive(byte) = "foo.cma"
  )

  If this package is only optionally built, the exists_if 
  variable may hide the package.

- The may be a directory with findlib configuration snippets.
  If you have findlib.conf.d and put *.conf files into it,
  these files will be read.

  This is to be used in conjunction with the following...

- It is now possible to drive patched compilers. Assume you 
  have ocamlc-mypatch which is binary compatible with ocamlc.
  It is now possible to use the patched compiler instead of
  the regular one with ocamlfind.

  First, you need to define the patched toolchain. Use this
  in findlib.conf:

  ocamlc(mypatch) = "ocamlc-mypatch"
  
  (This works with all findlib.conf parameters.)
  Second, you can select this toolchain by:

  ocamlfind -toolchain mypatch ocamlc ...

  Note that the -toolchain argument is before the command
  name.

  One should put the toolchain definition into its own 
  mypatch.conf file for easier installation.

There are also a number of bugfixes.

See http://www.ocaml-programming.de/packages/documentation/findlib/
for documentation and links. See
http://www.ocaml-programming.de/packages/
for downloads.

Gerd
-- 
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Gerd Stolpmann * Viktoriastr. 45 * 64293 Darmstadt * Germany 
gerd@gerd-stolpmann.de          http://www.gerd-stolpmann.de
Telefon: 06151/153855                  Telefax: 06151/997714
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