Re: [Caml-list] Tools for helping backward compatibility?

[Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com>]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 02:19:10PM +0200, François Bobot wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
>   Backward compatibility helps a lot a community of packages to move forward. There are other
> possibilities like being able to co-install multiple version of a library, but having backward
> compatibility is still a huge simplification of the problem.

I forget if OCaml lets you specify just exactly which names you import 
from a module.  But if it does, some editor features would be useful:

* to add code to an import specifying exactly the features that are 
  currently exported from the module to protect against future name 
  clashes if the module is augmented.
  * same with explicit specification of the types of imported names 
      to detect future tye changes)
    * (this might need a compiler change)
  * Or the same, listing only the names currently used by the importer.

Yes, these changes will likely need deep interaction between the editor 
and the compiler.

-- hendrik