Re: [Caml-list] Whither the Caml Consortium?

[Fabrice Le Fessant <fabrice.le_fessant@inria.fr>]

>  I, for instance, would like some improvements for ocaml for which
>  it is absolutely impossible to get scientific reward, and which
>  are therefore very difficult to get implemented by the ocaml
>  developers. Take for instance better error diagnostics from the
>  ocaml parser or Thierry Bravier's ocamlyacc patch
>  (http://caml.inria.fr/archives/199712/msg00020.html). One way to
>  get these things done is to join the consortium ...
>  
>  Another possibility is to write a patch (like Thierry did) and
>  get it into the ocaml distribution (what Thierry not achieved).
>  However, it is not clear (at least to me) what requirements have
>  to be met, to get such an improvement accepted by the ocaml
>  developers.
>  
>  I think, what is needed is that the ocaml developers give some
>  guidelines on how we ``small'' ocaml users should proceed, if we
>  want to contribute something to the ocaml kernel. Then there
>  would be no need for us to join the consortium.

If you want to contribute to ocaml, one possibility is to put your
libraries and patches in the CDK (Caml Development Kit). Maybe you
don't know, but the CDK is distributed with a patched version of the
ocaml compiler. As a consequence, the ocamlyacc patch for example can
be applied to the CDK ocaml compiler, and distributed in next
releases, so that it is possible to test whether a patch is really
useful or nor before complete integration in the original ocaml
compiler. I think the CDK can be seen as a complement to the
Consortium, since the consortium is used by corporates to contribute
(with money) to ocaml, while the CDK is used by programmers to
contribute (with code) ...

Regards,

-- 
Fabrice
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