Re: [Caml-list] Hiding a public module/type?

[Martin Jambon <martin.jambon@ens-lyon.org>]

David Teller wrote:
>      Dear list,
> 
>  In order to simplify the error messages for users of my library, I'd
> like to hide some type aliasing.
> 
> I have the following:
> 
> (*** module [Inner], defined in inner.mli ***)
> type t
> 
> 
> (*** module [Outer], defined in outer.mli ***)
> type t = Inner.t
> val f : t -> t
> 
> 
> Now, module [Inner] is only useful to define the library and shouldn't
> be visible from the outside. Unfortunately, for the moment, whenever a
> client makes a type error involving [f], the error message looks like
> 
> # f 5;;
>         ^
> This expression has type int but is used with type
>  Outer.t = Inner.t
> 
> Is there a simple way of turning this error message into
> 
> This expression has type int but is used with type
>  Outer.t
> ?

One solution consists in using submodules for achieving an intermediate
level of privacy ("friend" modules):

$ cat inner.mli
type t = int

$ cat outer.mli
type t = Inner.t
val f : t -> t

$ cat packed.mli
module Outer :
sig
  type t
  val f : t -> t
end


Create valid inner.ml and outer.ml files but no packed.ml.

Compile:

$ ocamlc -c inner.mli
$ ocamlc -c outer.mli
$ ocamlc -c inner.ml
$ ocamlc -c outer.ml

Pack:

$ ocamlc -c packed.mli
$ ocamlc -pack -o packed.cmo inner.cmo outer.cmo


Then you only have to install the packed.cm* files. It gives you:

# Packed.Outer.f 5;;
This expression has type int but is here used with type Packed.Outer.t



Martin
-- 
http://mjambon.com/