I am pleased to announce the (somewhat delayed) 111.17.00 release of the
Core suite.

The following packages were upgraded:

- async
- async_extra
- async_inotify
- async_kernel
- async_parallel
- async_unix
- bignum
- core
- core_extended
- core_kernel
- faillib
- jenga
- ocaml_plugin
- patdiff
- patience_diff
- sexplib
- typerep

We're also releasing for the first time a new library called
async_extended, which contains more experimental and less well-scrutinised
code than async, in much the same role that core_extended plays for core.

Note that async_extra, despite the name, does not play that role: the code
in async_extra is subject to the same level of scrutiny as async or
async_kernel. We've had discussions internally about merging async and
async_extra into a single library, since they serve essentially the same
purpose, but it's no-one's top priority.

Files and documentation for this release are available on our website and
all packages are in opam:

  https://ocaml.janestreet.com/ocaml-core/111.17.00/individual
  https://ocaml.janestreet.com/ocaml-core/111.17.00/doc

Here is the list of changes for this version:

## async_extra

- Added module `Persistent_rpc_client`, an RPC client that attempts to
  reconnect when the connection is lost, until a new connection is
  established.
- Significantly sped up the `Rpc` module by removing `Bigstring`
  serialization.

  Performance of the two implementations was tested by building a
  simple client/server executable that would count major cycles.
  Sending 100 byte messages at a rate of 50k/second shows (on both
  sides of the RPC):

  original:
  * ~160 major cycles in 30s
  * CPU usage around 60%

  new:
  * ~10 major cycles in 30s
  * CPU usage <= 2%
- Enabled a version of `Pipe_rpc` and `State_rpc` where the consumer
  can pushback on the producer if it can't consume the contents of the
  pipe fast enough.
- Added `Log.Level.arg : Log.Level.t Command.Spec.Arg_type.t` for
  defining command lines that accept (and autocomplete) log levels.
- Added `Command.async_or_error` and renamed `Command.async_basic` to
  `Command.async`, leaving `async_basic` a deprecated alias for the
  new name.

  `Command.async_or_error` is similar to `Command.basic` and
  `Command.async`, but accepts a `unit Or_error.t Deferred.t` type.
- Added `Persistent_rpc_connection.current_connection`, so that one
  can detect whether one is currently connected.

  ```ocaml
  val current_connection : t -> Rpc.Connection.t option
  ```

## async_inotify

- Upgraded library to use inotify 2.0

## async_kernel

- Renamed `Monitor.errors` to `Monitor.detach_and_get_error_stream`
  and `Monitor.error` as `Monitor.get_next_error`.

  The use of `detach` in the name is intended to make clear that
  errors do not propagate to the parent.

  Added several other non-stream =Monitor= functions to capture common
  use cases of `Monitor.detach_and_get_error_stream`:

  ```ocaml
  detach_and_get_next_error
  detach_and_iter_errors
  detach
  ```

## bignum

- Improved the performance of binprot deserialization by removing the
  allocation of an intermediate type.

## core

- Fixed a bug in `Bigstring.really_recv` if `recv` doesn't receive all
  the data it wants.

  This bug has been around forever; it may not have caused trouble
  because `Bigstring.really_recv` (1) is barely used (the only use is
  in `Bigstring.unmarshal_from_sock`) and (2) passes `recv` the
  `MSG_WAITALL` flag, so it will read the full amount unless it gets
  interrupted by a signal.
- Fixed `Bigstring.read`'s handling of `EINTR` so that it retries
  rather than returning zero.

  This fixes a bug introduced in 111.09 in the interaction between
  `Bigstring.read` and `Async.Reader`.  Prior to 111.09,
  `Bigstring.read` would raise on `EINTR`, and `Async.Reader` would
  propagate the exception.  From 111.09 to 111.16, `Bigstring.read`
  would return zero, which would confuse `Async.Reader` into thinking
  it reached EOF when it hadn't.  From 111.17, `Bigstring.read` will
  retry and not return zero when not at EOF.

  We believe the bug was rare, because otherwise we would have
  frequently seen `EINTR` exceptions prior to 111.09.
- Added `Command.Spec.apply` and `pair`, which allow one to program
  more with `Spec.param` rather than `Spec.t`.

  ```ocaml
  val apply : ('a -> 'b) param -> 'a param -> 'b param
  val pair : 'a param -> 'b param -> ('a * 'b) param
  ```
- Added `Command.Spec.file`, which builds an `Arg_type` value with the
  same autocompletion as `Spec.file`.

  ```ocaml
  (** [file] defines an [Arg_type.t] that completes in the same way as
      [Command.Spec.file], but perhaps with a different type than [string]
or with an
      autocompletion key. *)
  val file
    :  ?key:'a Univ_map.Multi.Key.t
    -> (string -> 'a)
    -> 'a t
  ```

## core_extended

- Added some functions to `Splay_tree`:
  * `length`
  * `keys`
  * `data`
  * `to_alist`
  * `delete_{after,before}`
  * `map`
  * `map_range`
  * `split`.

## core_kernel

- In `Bigstring`, made many operations use compiler primitives new in
  OCaml 4.01.

  Exposed `Bigstring.get` and `set` as compiler primitives in the
  interface.

  Added `Bigstring.unsafe_get_int64_{le,be}_trunc`.
- Made `Error` round trip `exn`, i.e. `Error.to_exn (Error.of_exn exn)
  = exn`.
- Added to `failwiths` an optional `?here:Lexing.position` argument.
- Added `with typerep` to `Flags.S`.
- Optimized `List.dedup []` to return immediately.
- Added `data` argument to polymorphic type
`Hashtbl_intf.Creators.create_options`.

  This allows implementations of `Hashtbl_intf.Creators` to have
  constructor arguments that depend on the type of both key and data
  values.  For example:

  ```ocaml
  module type Hashtbl_creators_with_typerep =
    Hashtbl_intf.Creators
    with type ('key, 'data, 'z) create_options
      =  typerep_of_key:'key Typerep.t
      -> typerep_of_data:'data Typerep.t
      -> 'z
  ```
- Improved the interface for getting `Monad.Make` to define `map` in
  terms of `bind`.

  Instead of passing a `map` function and requiring everyone who wants
  to define `map` using `bind` to call a special function, we use a
  variant type to allow the user to say what they want:

  ```ocaml
  val map : [ `Define_using_bind
            | `Custom of ('a t -> f:('a -> 'b) -> 'b t)
            ]
  ```
- Improved the performance of many `Dequeue` functions.

  Previously, many `Dequeue.dequeue`-type functions worked by raising
  and then catching an exception when the dequeue is empty.  This is
  much slower than just testing for emptiness, which is what the code
  now does.

  This improves the performance of `Async.Writer`, which uses
  `Dequeue.dequeue_front`.

## patdiff

- Removed latex output.

## patience_diff

- Exposed `Patience_diff.matches`.

## sexplib

- Make the camlp4 dependency optional

---

We hope you find it useful!

-- Ben Millwood, on behalf of the Core team