Re: [Caml-list] Re: ocaml support in autotools

[Stefano Zacchiroli <zack@debian.org>]

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On Fri, Aug 04, 2006 at 03:32:26PM +1000, skaller wrote:
> BTW: anyone working on this should examine the Debian Ocaml Policy.
> Sorry no link off hand, ask on

The policy is available on line at this URL:

  http://pkg-ocaml-maint.alioth.debian.org/ocaml_packaging_policy.html/index.html

> At least any macros should work well with Debian packagers
> requirements, people there have high expertise packaging Ocaml
> stuff.
> 
> In particular .. you should note that 'detecting' ocaml libraries
> is VERY HARD because they're locked to a fixed version of Ocaml:
> the Ocaml ABI changes with every release (including patches).

Still, I don't see the relationship of the policy with ocaml autotools
support. The faced issues are different. We have the need of ensuring no
two binaries packages could be installed at the same time if they rely
on different .cmi assumptions. In other words we want to ensure that
libraries that cannot be linked together could be installed at the same
time.

You may want to perform such a check at configure time, to ensure that
linking will succeed, but IMO it would be overkilling and not really
needed. After all the target user of autotools is a developer, not the
final user. When the final user has to compile libraries by himself,
then the infrastructure it uses (e.g. source based distributions or GODI
for we ocamlers) for compiling is responsible to ensure that the
versions of the library he is building are linkable together.

Cheers.

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli -*- Computer Science PhD student @ Uny Bologna, Italy
zack@{cs.unibo.it,debian.org,bononia.it} -%- http://www.bononia.it/zack/
If there's any real truth it's that the entire multidimensional infinity
of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. -!-

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