Re: [Caml-list] [community poll for PR#5312] Do some OCaml Windows users still use the @responsefile feature?

[Jeff Schultz <jws@csse.unimelb.edu.au>]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2012 at 11:46:08AM +0100, Gabriel Scherer wrote:
> According to our Windows spies, the command-line restrictions are
> nowadays very reasonable: 8K for cmd.com, and 32K internally. Maybe
> the @responsefile feature has outlived its use, and this bug could be
> fixed by simply removing the @-files expansion phase of the runtime.

8K is not much.

> This change would however affect all user programs, so it should not
> be taken lightly; it could break your programs.

> What do OCaml Windows user think? Do you still rely on @reponsefile?
> Please complain if you do -- or your users do -- and don't hesitate to
> pass the question to off-list OCaml Windows users.

I stopped using OCaml for new development *because* of the pain it
caused on MSWIN, so my opinion is probably not very valuable.

It looks to me like you could simply disable the feature for arguments
following -w.  However, if you want to remove the feature, I suggest
that you do so in three stages:

    1.  Disable the @responsefile feature and provide a command line
	flag to reenable it.  Warn if this conflicts with the -w @a
	style of options.
    2.  In a later release, remove the code, but make the flag print
	an appropriate diagnostic.
    3.  In an even later release, remove the flag completely.

The time between the first two steps should be determined by the
response to the first step.

This is the standard evolution: make people notice that you are taking
a feature away, but let them keep using it, followed by taking it
away, but telling them it's gone, followed by pretending it never
existed.

It's good that you're adding the desirable preliminary of asking
first.


    Jeff Schultz