From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: * X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL,DNS_FROM_RFC_ABUSE, DNS_FROM_RFC_WHOIS autolearn=disabled version=3.1.3 Received: from mail1-relais-roc.national.inria.fr (mail1-relais-roc.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.82]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE7B0BC6C for ; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:29:16 +0100 (CET) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AgAAAGLYnUfOvjGsoWdsb2JhbACQHQEBAQEBAQUEBgkIARebLA X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.25,262,1199660400"; d="scan'208";a="7349081" Received: from web54602.mail.re2.yahoo.com ([206.190.49.172]) by mail1-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr with SMTP; 28 Jan 2008 22:29:16 +0100 Received: (qmail 74853 invoked by uid 60001); 28 Jan 2008 21:29:15 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Message-ID; b=xxCZJIdy1dDR/p0az+J+LqhFPlf8G+aUTCaDrkPJO8GBAKhs/PD1yMhv37ExasEoRM/ftzkP0Qbml0lYsISs1v8E7ZWyvwaTBSnInAfMlrRPwKd8MsR0hIOpGRp+e0D/ABGj53Ae+IZ0M2zxQ9Z+4Tqme3wmesxYE8BVnYRomOM=; X-YMail-OSG: VUAPICYVM1lmw9a7.qs9UyBCjGaRg9bz.69c49LoaqsLt1lMjRbJ_sTrUeKzjy7RpA-- Received: from [82.155.248.154] by web54602.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:29:15 GMT Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:29:15 +0000 (GMT) From: Dario Teixeira Subject: Alterlib? (was "Re: The OCaml Community") To: "Hezekiah M. Carty" , Jon Harrop Cc: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr In-Reply-To: <3a360f590801281216r28ad06f1ufadf4d7ceb74b84c@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <354839.73879.qm@web54602.mail.re2.yahoo.com> X-Spam: no; 0.00; ocaml:01 ocaml:01 stdlib:01 camlp:01 stdlib:01 commas:01 inria's:01 tarball:01 ditch:98 campaign:98 tar:01 short:01 conventions:02 consistent:02 apis:03 > My understanding is that the benefits would come from having a richer, > community developed "official" OCaml distribution. So the stdlib > would stay in place, but extra items would be included as well. For > example, package ExtLib and some commonly useful Camlp4 extensions > along with the distribution .tar.gz/.exe/.dmg. If I understood the > meeting transcription in IRC, the official OCaml folks at INRIA would > bless this as the proper way to get and install OCaml once the > community structure is in place. Hi, For compatibility reasons, Stdlib must be part of any standard Ocaml distribution for the foreseeable future. However, this does not necessarily mean that the only community solution must be to provide an ExtLib that complements Stdlib. If it is felt that Stdlib+Extlib does not fit well together (different conventions, etc), there is always the option of creating "from scratch" a self-contained Alterlib that incorporates everything you would wish from a standard library. (note that I've written "from scratch" between commas because a lot of code from Extlib and other open-source libraries could be reused). Users who have heavily invested in Stdlib could continue using it; others, however, could very well choose to ditch it altogether and make sole use of Alterlib (with "-nopervasives", of course). In short, here are the options: a) modify Stdlib to suit the community's needs (complicated due to copyright issues and because INRIA does not have the manpower to effectively maintain all the additions); b) keep Stdlib and put all the community's needs into Extlib (in a sense this the current situation; has the advantage of being straightforward; has the disadvantage that the APIs might not always go well together); c) keep stdlib for compatibility reasons (INRIA's tarball must always include it), but provide a community built Alterlib that reimplements what's good about Stdlib together with stuff currently on Extlib (requires more work, but may result in a more modern, more consistent library) Do I read the situation correctly? Kind regards, Dario Teixeira ___________________________________________________________ Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/