From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id PAA28714; Sat, 24 Apr 2004 15:00:20 +0200 (MET DST) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id PAA29689 for ; Sat, 24 Apr 2004 15:00:19 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from rabelais.socialtools.net (rabelais.socialtools.net [81.2.94.243]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i3OD0IYM028891 for ; Sat, 24 Apr 2004 15:00:18 +0200 Received: by rabelais.socialtools.net (Postfix, from userid 108) id E989123333; Sat, 24 Apr 2004 14:00:17 +0100 (BST) Received: from socialtools.net (chaucer.socialtools.net [81.2.94.242]) by rabelais.socialtools.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id A84172332F; Sat, 24 Apr 2004 14:00:16 +0100 (BST) Message-ID: <408A64CB.40500@socialtools.net> Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 13:59:55 +0100 From: Benjamin Geer User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040113 X-Accept-Language: en-gb, en, fr, it MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Shawn Wagner Cc: caml-list@inria.fr Subject: Proposal: community standard library project (was: Re: [Caml-list] [ANN] The Missing Library) References: <20040423185148.GA4434@excelhustler.com> <20040423204115.GA20626@localhost> <20040423211628.GE6783@excelhustler.com> <20040423222829.GH848@speakeasy.org> In-Reply-To: <20040423222829.GH848@speakeasy.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on rabelais.socialtools.net X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Miltered: at concorde by Joe's j-chkmail ("http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr")! X-Loop: caml-list@inria.fr X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 camomile:01 library':01 incompatible:01 avoiding:01 unicode:01 caml:01 caml:01 modules:02 mentions:02 wrote:03 library:03 library:03 portability:03 data:03 Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk Shawn Wagner wrote: > Even if one or the other was renamed, you still couldn't use them together, > because they have some modules with the same names. And both have conflicts > with other libraries you might want to use (Camomile, for example). Insert > standard whine about needing namespace support. Here were are with the exactly the sort of problems for which a community structure is needed. I'm envisaging a new 'community standard library' project which would supplement (and perhaps partly replace) INRIA's standard library, and in which: * Libraries would be categorised according to function, e.g. data structures, Unicode, I/O, network protocols, etc. * No duplicate or incompatible functionality would be allowed in each functional area. People would have to cooperate to make their stuff work together. * Minimum standards of portability, documentation, etc. would be checked. * Everything would be released via GODI. In order to resolve the sorts of technical and social conflicts Shawn mentions above, I think this project would need a structure for making decisions, perhaps something like the one I proposed: http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200403/msg00227.html Whether that particular structure is used or not, I think the main thing is that there should be an efficient process for avoiding duplication and incompatibility, for maintaining minimum standards, and for resolving conflicts. Many existing Caml libraries could be folded into this new project, after some work to make them compatible with each other and to remove duplication. The result would be a consistent and increasingly complete community-run 'library distribution' without the fragmentation that we are starting to see now. Is there much interest in such a project? If so, I think the members of this list easily have the technical and intellectual resources to set it up. I would be glad to put some work into getting it started. Ben ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners