Re: We should start using -pack by default when building libraries, (was : Re: [Caml-list] Meta module in findlib and the need for namespaces)

[Sven LUTHER <luther@dpt-info.u-strasbg.fr>]

On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 04:36:19PM +0200, Xavier Leroy wrote:
> > > Note that dynlink.cma not only contains Meta, but also other modules
> > > with plain names: Misc, Config, Ident, Path, Types, i.e. names for
> > > which name clashes are much more likely than for cryptic names.
> > 
> > Well, is it not for exactly this kind of problems that the -pack option
> > was implemented ?
> 
> Yes, exactly.

:)))

> For other existing libraries, backward compatibility can deter using
> -pack, but I'd encourage authors of new libraries to use it in order
> to export only one compilation unit.

Could we consider making using -pack the standard for a future version of
ocaml (3.07) and add a -nopack version for those that don't want to use
it, especially when building .cmas ?

This would need a bit of discussion first, but mostly, i don't think
anyone would object to this, at least not very strongly.

That said ...

John Carr <jfc@MIT.EDU> Wrote :

| OCaml 3.06 does not support -pack when using native code on a system
| without the GNU linker.  If you release software that depends on -pack,
| I will not be able to use it.

Well, this would cause a problem, which need to be solved before -pack
is supported as standard. What are exactly the cases were it causes
problem, (AIX when not using the GNU linker, i guess, but also maybe
windows ?) and is there any chance this can be solved soonly ?

Alternatively, this could be a feature that could be enabled/disabled at
build time ?

Friendly,

Sven Luther

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