Re: [Caml-list] [community poll for PR#5312] Do some OCaml Windows users still use the @responsefile feature?

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

> One could probably make it work, but it would
> involve modifying the compiler programs to say "turn @-files
> processing off, I'll process them myself" and it seems that it's not
> worth the effort?

I think that could only be done if there was a way to disable @-files
expansion in the runtime (not only for the compiler programs), so in
any case one would need to implement your "step 1".

> In any case, does the staged feature-abandonment proposal make sense?

I'm not the qualified person to answer -- I just wrote and sent this poll
request to lighten the OCaml maintainers work -- but it looks
reasonable as a perfectionist scenario. Due to the lack of workforce,
we may end up with a "reduced effort" solution such as simply removing
the feature and duly noting it in the Changelog. We'll see, and it depends
on what other feedback there is.

By looking at the code (byterun/main.c and asmrun/main.c), it looks
simpler to enable/disable the @-expansion based on CAMLRUNPARAM as
Dimtry suggested, but that's a detail.

Thanks for your feedback!

Regarding your larger remark on Ocaml on Windows, the situation is
unfortunate -- due mostly to the lack of Windows-informed people ready
to step up and help fixing the issues -- but there have been efforts
of people trying to make the situation better. For example, Jonathan
Protzenko has a Windows installer for 3.12 that should work out of the
box -- for the compilers only, of course, this doesn't fix the larger
issue of third-party OCaml software. I'm sure he, and other people
working on OCaml/Windows, would welcome precise feedback on things
that don't work; the bugtracker is the right place to report issues on
the ocaml compilers -- there is a specific "ocaml windows" category --
and for third-party programs you should not hesitate to contact the
authors, or ask the caml-list.
  http://protz.github.com/ocaml-installer/
  http://caml.inria.fr/mantis/my_view_page.php

On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 4:10 PM, Jeff Schultz <jws@csse.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 05, 2012 at 03:31:55PM +0100, Gabriel Scherer wrote:
>> > It looks to me like you could simply disable the feature for arguments
>> > following -w.
>>
>> If I understand the situation correctly, this approach is not
>> currently an option, as the @responsefile expansion is done by the
>> OCaml runtime -- affects all programs, before they process their
>> arguments -- while the "-w" exception would only make sense for the
>> compiler toolchains; there is no reason why an user program (that
>> currently can use the @responsefile feature) would suddenly stop
>> expanding @-files after a "-w", an option which may have completely
>> different semantics in this program command-line interface.
>
> Oh, that's a pity.  One could probably make it work, but it would
> involve modifying the compiler programs to say "turn @-files
> processing off, I'll process them myself" and it seems that it's not
> worth the effort?
>
> In any case, does the staged feature-abandonment proposal make sense?
>
>
>    Jeff Schultz