On Mon, 26 Nov 2018, Yawar Amin wrote:
> Hi Julia, I agree that we need to simplify the life of the user. But that's
> the developer's job, not the language toolchain. Users should not need to
> know or care about OCaml (ideally), they should download and run binary
> packages or install them through their operating system package manager.
> Since it's not possible for many projects to provide all possible system
> binaries to users, the fallback should be for the user to build the package
> with clear instructions that they'll need to install opam and then
> `opam build` (e.g.).
Like the original poster, I would very much prefer something based on
make.
julia
>
> Regards,
>
> Yawar
>
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 11:59 AM Julia Lawall <julia.lawall@lip6.fr> wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, 26 Nov 2018, Yawar Amin wrote:
>
> > If anyone would like to chime in and say that OCaml build and
> packaging
> > system is not that complicated, I would recommend first
> looking
> > at https://github.com/rizo/awesome-ocaml#package-management
> . IMHO we need
> > to seriously look at consolidating efforts around OPAM for
> package
> > management, packaging, building, testing and running. All the
> serious
> > language-specific package managers do it, it's a proven
> strategy and it
> > simplifies life for the developer.
>
> I find it odd that simplifying the life of the developer is the
> highest
> priority. Doesn't one want to simplify the life of the user?
> Ideally the
> user who has never touched OCaml before in his life?
>
> As a simple example, the web page for installing OCaml says that
> the
> recommended way to install ocaml is to install opam. There is a
> link to a
> page explaining how to install opam. How should anyone even
> have
> confidence that they will end up with OCaml after following
> those
> instructions? Even step 1 of the installation process leads the
> user to
> confusion.
>
> julia
>
> >
> > This could be a typical workflow:
> >
> > cd some-ocaml-proj
> > opam install # Switches compiler if necessary and installs and
> locally
> > caches package dependencies
> > opam build
> > opam run # Automatically builds if necessary
> > opam test # Ditto
> > opam package # Ditto; --upload option can immediately upload
> to opam
> > opam doc # Builds documentation with ocamldoc or whatever
> > opam login -u user -p password
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Yawar
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 5:15 AM Oliver Bandel
> <oliver@first.in-berlin.de>
> > wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > a while ago it looked like there were not enough build-
> and
> > installation-tools
> > for OCaml. I remember some discussions about that.
> >
> > Now it seems to me that there are a lot of them.
> > So, developers can pick the one they know about.
> >
> > For all these tools there might be good reasons to use
> them, and
> > those
> > developers who looked at these tools and choose them for
> their
> > projects, will
> > know them well enough.
> >
> > The situation differs, if one wants to package the
> written
> > software,
> > and one needs to know many of those tools, just to
> compile the
> > stuff.
> > So, when one just wants to compile and install some
> software,
> > just for that, it would take much effort to learn the
> different
> > build-tools.
> >
> > So, packaging has become more complicated, even though
> for the
> > developers
> > these tools may save time.
> >
> > It would be nice if people who used one of the many new
> building
> > tools
> > could provide a Makefile that allows just to type
> > "make" and "make install", instead of expecting everyone
> who
> > wants to compile
> > the software to first learn just-another-build-tool.
> >
> > Also it would be good, to mention early, which
> installation
> > tools (make-dependencies)
> > are in use, and too mention needed packages (opam or
> others) to
> > just build the stuff.
> >
> > Thanks and regards,
> > Oliver Bandel
> >
> > --
> > Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and
> archives:
> > https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list
> > https://inbox.ocaml.org/caml-list
> > Forum: https://discuss.ocaml.org/
> > Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and archives:
> https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list
> https://inbox.ocaml.org/caml-list
> Forum: https://discuss.ocaml.org/
> Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
>
>
>
--
Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and archives:
https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list https://inbox.ocaml.org/caml-list
Forum: https://discuss.ocaml.org/
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs