Re: [Caml-list] Parse error with camlp4 while sources compile

[Gabriel Scherer <gabriel.scherer@gmail.com>]

Camlp4 uses a different parser technology than the OCaml compiler, so
it warns about syntax errors in a different way. It happens sometimes
to be wrong, but it is most of the time right, and gives relatively
good error message. (In case there is a discrepancy between what the
compiler accepts and Camlp4 accept, I recommend that you write code
accepted by both.)

module A (AO : a) : sig
> Parse error: [module_type] expected after ":" (in [module_declaration])

Module type names, as module names, must start with an uppercase
letter. Rename the signature into A or ASig, and you will be fine (for
this particular error).

On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 5:30 PM, Andrea Giugliano <ag400@leicester.ac.uk> wrote:
> Dear list,
>
> I am trying to test my ocaml application using a test coverage tool called
> bisect (http://bisect.x9c.fr/index.html).
> This tool uses camlp4 to instrument the source code, i.e. adding the check
> points to say that the source code has been explored by the tests.
> When I try to instrument my application, I get the following error from
> camlp4:
>
> Parse error: [module_type] expected after ":" (in [module_declaration])
> Error while running external preprocessor
>
> Is it possible that camlp4 does not support the functor feature of OCaml?
> Has anyone had this error before?
>
> I googled for the error string and similar errors, but I could not find
> anything promising.
> I also searched the archives of this mailing list and the wg-camlp4 mailing
> list, but nothing similar was present.
> The following source files raise the same error (they successfully compile
> though!):
>
> (* test.mli -------------- *)
>
> module type a = sig
>     type t
> end
>
> module A (AO : a) : sig
>     val f : AO.t -> bool
> end
>
> (* test.ml --------------- *)
>
> module type a = sig
>     type t
> end
>
> module A (AO : a) = struct
>     let f ( x : AO.t) = true
> end
>
> let _ = print_endline "test"
> (* ------------------------- *)
>
> I attached them and the Makefile that I am using to create the executable.
> If you want to reproduce the error, you need to have installed Ocaml 4.01,
> ocamlfind and the last version of bisect
> (the most comfortable installation is through OPAM:
>     opam install ocamlfind
>     opam install bisect).
> Thanks for your attention,
>
> Andrea Giugliano
>
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