[Caml-list] parsing included files recursively using ocamllex and ocamlyacc

[Benjamin Geer <ben@socialtools.net>]

I'm writing an interpreter for a small language (to be released as an 
open source library), using ocamllex and ocamlyacc.  I'd like this 
language to support an instruction that, at compile time, recursively 
includes source code from another file.

I searched the list archives and found a message 
(http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml/caml-list/0258.html), posted here in 1997 
by Xavier Leroy, which suggests one way to write a recursive 
"yacc_start" function.  However, the details of this approach aren't 
clear to me; could someone provide a more detailed explanation of what 
would be involved (e.g. a brief outline of the contents of this 
function)?  What about ocamllex?  Would I have to save the lexbuf on a 
stack, and restore it after each recursive call?

I considered using (or writing) a preprocessor to do the includes, but I 
couldn't think of a way to do this without losing the ability to report 
filenames and line numbers in run-time error messages.

Ben


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