After various attempts at this problem a couple months ago, I settled for
the following (not ideal) solution. I suffix all modules I am extending with
a 2. Then I package them up in a module named Lib2, which is defined such
that doing "open Lib2" serves as a drop-in replacement for the Standard
Library. As follows:
---- File lib2.ml ----
module String = String2
module List = List2
include Pervasives2 (* note Pervasives2 is "included" *)

---- File string2.ml ----
include String
let f1 = ...
let f2 = ...

---- File list2.ml ----
include List
let f1 = ...
let f2 = ...

---- File pervasives2.ml ----
include Pervasives
let identity x = x
let (<<-) f g x = f (g x)
let (->>) f g x = g (f x)
...

This solution has at least the following flaws:
- one has to write "open Lib2" in every other file
- the module names String2, List2, etc. are visible but we really don't want
them


On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 3:50 PM, David Teller <David.Teller@univ-orleans.fr>
wrote:

> On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 20:07 +0100, David Allsopp wrote:
> > I don't quite following the motivation for needing module Inria: there's
> no
> > problem with writing:
> >
> > module String = struct
> >   include String
> >   (* Your functions here *)
> > end
>
> Doesn't work whenever the module is contained in its own file.
>
> (*File string.ml*)
> include String
> let _ = print_endline "Done"
> (*end of file string.ml*)
>
> $ ocamlbuild string.cmo
> Circular build detected
>  (string.cmi already seen in [ string.cmi; string.cmo ])
> Compilation unsuccessful after building 1 target (0 cached) in 00:00:00.
>
> $ ocamldep string.ml
> string.cmo: string.cmo
> string.cmx: string.cmx
>
> $ ocamlc string.ml
> File "string.ml", line 1, characters 8-14:
> Unbound module String
>
> etc.
>
> > but I think perhaps I've not understood the problem properly. That said,
> why
> > is defining module Inria clumsy? I copied the table of contents from the
> > StdLib page and with a couple of %s instructions got
> >
> > module Inria =
> > struct
> >   module Arg = Arg
> >   module Array = Array
> > (* 34 additional lines *)
> >   module StringLabels = StringLabels
> >   module Sys = Sys
> > end
> >
> > Which is exactly what you want, right?
>
> Auto-generating the module is not hard. It's getting everything to
> compile without having to hand-write a Makefile (e.g. with ocamlbuild).
> Indeed, module Inria depends on [the original] String, [the original]
> Sys, etc... and I wouldn't want ocamlbuild or ocamldep to decide
> compiling string.ml before inria.ml.
>
>
> Cheers,
>  David
>
> --
> David Teller
>  Security of Distributed Systems
>  http://www.univ-orleans.fr/lifo/Members/David.Teller
>  Angry researcher: French Universities need reforms, but the LRU act
> brings liquidations.
>
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