Re: [Caml-list] Project hosting for new OCaml projects

[Simon Cruanes <simon.cruanes.2007@m4x.org>]

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Hi,

First let me insist that this is only my personal view.

Le Wed, 05 Mar 2014, David Allsopp a écrit :
> I've got a bit of code in a library which seems worth putting online. I'm
> trying to consolidate the steps that should be taken to accomplish that
> (beyond simply putting a tarball online!) and wondering if anyone can
> confirm if what I've come up with is the "best/obvious" course of action.
> Indeed, are there already "idiot"'s guides for this - I couldn't see
> anything like it on ocaml.org et al?
> 
> So, this particular library is a pure OCaml library, which simplifies things
> somewhat. At present it's built using GNU make and of course it is managed
> using findlib.
> 
> It seems that the following are worth doing:
> 
> * Support OASIS (and in so doing, I believe that will migrate its build
> system to ocamlbuild)

oasis is very nice in that it centralizes, in a single _oasis file,
everything about the project. In particular, it deals with the META file,
building cmxa, cma, cmxs, etc. It can generate a "configure" and a
Makefile (if you so wish), points to the documentation, the VCS
repository, deals with several libraries (or sub-libraries, see how lwt
does it for instance) and executables, etc.

> * Support OPAM (which looks incredibly straightforward - being primarily a
> Windows user, the OPAM typhoon has flowed past me thus far)

Pretty simple indeed, 3 small files in the opam-repository and you're done.
Also the opam team is quite reactive and helpful with packaging
problems.

> * Put the SCM online somewhere; submit a pull request for opam-repository;
> announce it
> 
> So, apart from any obvious errors/omissions in those steps, I have two
> questions:
> 
> 1. What are the differences, politely, in terms of things you can and can't
> do between using GitHub and the OCaml Forge for the project pages? The Forge
> seems the obvious choice, even ignoring the offensive name of the other!

I think the main advantages of github is that since many people use it,
it's easier to fork/contribute to a project (which is simple because
it's 1/ forking 2/ committing 3/ submitting a "pull request" that can be
discussed online; the patch can be modified as needed, and everyone
commenting the pull request can see it). Also, I prefer the UI, but
some could disagree.

The main issue is lock-in, and it requires an account, but so does the
forge afaik.

> 2. Given that, is there any benefit/different to hosting the git repository
> on the Forge vs hosting it on github and simply linking to it from the
> Forge?

My advice, if you already have a github account, is to use it. Otherwise
I can't tell.

Cheers,

-- 
Simon

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