Re: [Caml-list] Windows install

[Dmitry Bely <dmitry.bely@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 9:50 PM, Jon Harrop <jon@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
> I've been trying to install OCaml on Windows Vista using the OCaml 3.11.0
> binary (MSVC) install. I have Visual Studio 2010 installed which, I believe,
> satisfies the dependencies but I keep getting linker errors. Curiously,
> different errors each time I reinstall:

I used to build Ocaml from sources on Windows (it's pretty
straight-forward, just follow readme.win32 from Ocaml source
distribution). As for the errors:

> C:\Users\Jon\Documents\OCaml>ocamlopt test.ml -o test
> ** Fatal error: Cannot find file "libws2_32"
> File "caml_startup", line 1, characters 0-1:
> Error: Error during linking

Looks like you have installed the port based on the MinGW toolchain
(instead of MSVC one). Take the right one from
http://caml.inria.fr/download.en.html

> C:\Users\Jon\Documents\OCaml>ocamlopt test.ml -o test
> ** Fatal error: Cannot find file "C:\\Program Files\\Objective
> Caml\\bin\\flexdl
> l_msvc.obj"
> File "caml_startup", line 1, characters 0-1:
> Error: Error during linking

Ocaml on Windows requires Alain Frisch's FlexDLL package. Grab it from
http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html

> C:\Users\Jon\Documents\OCaml>ocamlopt test.ml -o test
> 'flexlink' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
> operable program or batch file.
> File "caml_startup", line 1, characters 0-1:
> Error: Error during linking

FlexDLL is missing.

> What's the easiest way to get a working OCaml install under Windows ATM?

Again, I would recommend to build from sources.

- Dmitry Bely