Re: [Caml-list] GODI is shutting down

["Daniel Bünzli" <daniel.buenzli@erratique.ch>]

> OPAM is a source-based package manager. It needs the compiler to work.
> Maybe that it will support binary packages but today it isn't there and
> it will take some time for this feature to appear of course and then the
> packages will have to be made, and there's the question of who or what
> will be the builder and whether it can be trusted or not.

oasis doesn't need the compiler to work ? Did you ever use an oasis based package ? 
 
> OPAM will not replace a distribution's package manager. 

Who said it would ? And oasis doesn't either.

> It's good for people who develop or are somehow involved in the language but for
> everyone else, what they want and need is packages for their
> distribution. That was the goal for oasis, that makes no sense as a goal
> for opam.

No. From the oasis page: 

"OASIS is a tool to integrate a configure, build and install system in your OCaml project. It helps to create standard entry points in your build system and allows external tools to analyse your project easily."

It was a meta build thing. If you do a meta thing do it lightly and obviously or fail. It failed, even in being meta, it still supports only ocamlbuild and in an unsatisfying way. 

An opam .install file allows you to trivially express more (e.g. man pages to install, things to put in share) than what oasis is able after all these years. If your build system takes care to generate this file (or provide it statically if your project is not complex) it can be used by both opam and distribution packagers to understand what needs to be installed. 

Best,

Daniel