OCaml Weekly News

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Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of May 28 to June 04, 20= 24.

v0.17 release of Jane Street packages

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-v0-17-release-of-ja= ne-street-packages/14717/1

Diana Kalinichenko announced

v0.17 release of Jane Street packages

Dear OCaml developers,

We are pleased to announce the v0.17 release of Jane Street packages!

This release comes with 15 new packages and a multitude of new features and= fixes.

Switch to OCaml 5.1

We are switching Base and all our packages (except sexplib0) t= o OCaml 5.1 and above. We are also switching sexplib0 to 4.14 = to take advantage of the Tail Recursion Modulo Cons optimization in the com= piler.

Core on OCaml 5.2

Due to some changes to Stdlib.Gc in OCaml 5.2, core.v0.1= 7.0 fails to compile with that language version. We will release a f= ix that allows using Core with OCaml 5.2 soon.

Torch and VCaml

Due to some issues with their builds, torch.v0.17.0 and = vcaml.v0.17.0 were omitted from the main v0.17 release. We will soon= submit those packages to opam.

Changes

Browse our GitHub repositories and look at the respective CHANGES.md files for changes sinc= e the v0.16 release. For examples, see changelogs for Base, Async_kernel<= /a>, and Bonsai.

New packages

async_log =E2=80=93= a logging library for Async code, moved from async_unix

capitalization= =E2=80=93 a library for case conventions and renaming identifiers

codicons =E2=80=93 i= cons from VS Code for use with Bonsai

gel =E2=80=93 a library t= o mark non-record fields global for use with our compiler extensions

hardcam= l_event_driven_sim =E2=80=93 a simulator library for Hardcaml

ocaml_int= rinsics_kernel =E2=80=93 a split from ocaml_intrinsics com= patible with javascript

ocaml_ope= napi_generator =E2=80=93 an OpenAPI 3 to OCaml client generator

ppx_diff =E2=80=93 a= ppx for generation of diffs and update functions for OCaml types.

ppx_embed_file= =E2=80=93 a ppx that allows embedding files directly into executables/libr= aries as strings or bytes

ppxlib_jane =E2= =80=93 utilities for working with Jane Street AST constructs

ppx_quick_test= =E2=80=93 a ppx providing an ergonomic wrapper for quickcheck tests, simil= ar to ppx_inline_test

ppx_string_conv =E2=80=93 deriving to_string~and ~of_string

uopt =E2=80=93 unsafe op= tion type that does not allocate, moved from core_kernel

versi= oned_polling_state_rpc =E2=80=93 helper functions for versioned P= olling_state_rpc.t

virtual_dom_= toplayer =E2=80=93 bindings for the floating_positioning j= avascript library

jsonschema2atd, Generate an ATD file from a JSON Schema / Open= API document

Archive: https://discuss.o= caml.org/t/ann-jsonschema2atd-generate-an-atd-file-from-a-json-schema-opena= pi-document/14718/1

Louis Roch=C3=A9 announced

Ahrefs has released jsonschema2atd, a cli tool to convert an OpenAPI or Jso= n Schema specification into an atd file.

Quite a lot of api out there are now publishing some kind of spec for their= expected input our output. It's often done through a a JSON Schema or Open= API document. The goal of this tool is to save time for large api by doing = a mechanical translation to an atd file instead of writing all the types by= hand.

Unfortunately the world is kind of a mess. Most of the specs we have seen a= re not following a specific version of openapi/jsonschema but contain a bit= of everything. jsonschema2atd does its best to do the right thing, but the= re are probably cases that aren't covered.

The generated code might also not be optimal. It often deserves some hand c= leanup and a bit of renaming. Hopefully it still gives a good head start.

Thanks to Egor Chemokhonenko for t= his work.

The code is available at https://github.com/ahrefs/jsonschema2atd

And there is a package that is published on opam https://ocaml.org/p/jsonschema2atd/latest

opam-repository policy change: checksums (no md5) and no extra= -files

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.o= rg/t/ann-opam-repository-policy-change-checksums-no-md5-and-no-extra-files/= 14720/1

Hannes Mehnert announced

Dear everyone,

the opam-repository policy just changed to not accept md5-only checksums= , and also to avoid extra-files in packages (use extra-source in= stead).

NOTE:

If you encounter issues during opam update, please make sure t= o have opam 2.1.6 installed, and gpatch (especial= ly on BSD systems and macOS). This may break silently, if you encounter iss= ues, please rm -rf ~/.opam/repo/default && opam update defaul= t See further notes in https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues/25961<= /a>

What has been achieved?

A new lint check that errors on md5-only checksum specification has bee= n put into place https://github.com/ocurrent/opam-repo-ci/pull/304
A new lint check that errors if extra-files is present https://github.c= om/ocurrent/opam-repo-ci/pull/313
The existing extra-files, bundled in the opam-repository, = have been moved to opam-source-archives (https://github.com/ocaml/opam-source-archiv= es/pull/28)
The opam files in the opam-repository were changed to use extra-source = with the opam-source-archives repository https://= github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/commit/76eb35c8a78a891c7e5e27b5c32316d7add= 1f52d
All existing (and available) packages using only md5 have been upgraded= to use sha256 as well (https://github.com/ocaml/= opam-repository/commit/ea87c49e51ff29a459422419e1688938fd77a46f)
See the PR for the full changes https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/pull/2596= 0
See discussion at https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues/25876

These changes were automated using opam admin migrate-extrafiles and opam admin add-hashes (using the branch https://github.com/ha= nnesm/opam/tree/migrate-extra-files). There is a utility to check that = existing files and md5 checksums are still present in the new opam-reposito= ry https://githu= b.com/hannesm/opam-check-checksum.




Impact on users and developers


A lot of packages will want to be recompiled on opam upgrade (since checksum changed, extra-files/extra-source was modified) –=
 sorry for the extensive use of CPU time

If you need to include a patch or an extra file for your opam package, =
you will need to host it elsewhere. You can host it using a gist (https://gist.github.com), or on your serve=
r. All the extra-source will be cached by opam.ocaml.org=
.





The reasoning for this change


Apart from making the mental model of "how does opam-repository work" easie=
r (since there's no more any files subdirectory which includes=
 files that are added during the build), it also makes the approach to cryp=
tographically sign the repository much smoother (since we can now rely on n=
on-weak hash algorithms and don't need to compute more hashes, and not need=
 to add further hashes to the repository).



We needed to get both (weak hashes AND removing extra-files) through at som=
e point, it has been done today.







Camlkit – macOS/iOS/GNUstep toolkit for OCaml


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-camlkit-macos=
-ios-gnustep-toolkit-for-ocaml/14722/1




borisd announced


I am pleased to announce the alpha release of Camlkit.=20
Camlkit provides OCaml bindings to a collection of Cocoa frameworks on macO=
S, iOS, and GNUstep. Currently available are Foundation, AppKit, UIKit, Web=
Kit, CoreImage, Photos, and Vision.



The package camlkit for macOS/GNUstep development is available=
 from OPAM. The key libraries to add to your dune file are camlkit-ba=
se.foundation and camlkit-gui.appkit.



iOS development requires a cross-toolchain. The package is named camlkit-ios. UIKit is in the library camlkit-gui.uikit.



Other useful resources:


a st=
arter project template for iOS
a few example p=
orgrams



More information is available on the project's github page. Feedback and contributions are welcome. =
I hope we can make OCaml viable for GUI development and on mobile. Happy ha=
cking!









position for MoonBit advocate


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/job-part-time-positio=
n-for-moonbit-advocate/14726/1




Hongbo Zhang announced


MoonBit is ML language inspired by Rust, Go and OCaml, it was announced wit=
h a Wasm backen=
d, and recently we added a JavaScript backend, we plan to ship a native backend this y=
ear.



It is similar to OCaml, the main difference is that we have traits, zero-co=
st generics and modern tooling support. You are welcome to DM for more deta=
ils.









Why is there no tradition of CLI and TUI apps?


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/why-is-there-no-tr=
adition-of-cli-and-tui-apps/14628/17




Deep in this thread, Jazz announced


I once created a command-line bookmarking tool called Favemarks in OCaml using Janestreet's C=
ore Command.









Ppxlib dev meetings


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ppxlib-dev-meetings/12441/23




Continuing this thread, Patrick Ferris announced


The meeting notes are now available from the last meeting.



Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting. The next meeting is set for [d=
ate=3D2024-06-18 time=3D17:00:00 timezone=3D"Europe/London"], if that chang=
es we'll post to this thread. Hope to see you there!









Yojson 2.2.0


Archive: h=
ttps://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-yojson-2-2-0/14737/1




Marek Kubica announced


Hello fellow Camel-wranglers,



It's my pleasure to announce the release of Yojson 2.2.0 which you can find=
 in your neighborhood opam-rep=
ository.



The most important highlights include:



JSON5 support. Getting annoyed by da=
ngling commas being a problem or the inability to use comments? JSON5 is ba=
sically JSON but with the object syntax of ECMAScript 5.1 which allows some=
 additional features like unquoted keys, dangling commas or well, comments.=
 This has been in the works for years but finally made it to the finish-lin=
e. The new JSON5 parser requires sedlex and at least OCaml 4.0=
8, thus it is part of the yojson-five package. Its usage mimics the Yojson package;=
 there exist both Basic and Safe variants and the=
 AST matches the JSON variants.
No CPPO dependency anymore. Given the large amount of reverse-dependenc=
ies on Yojson, each dependency of Yojson is going to be a dependency of a l=
ot of packages, thus keeping the dependency cone small makes everything (sl=
ightly) faster. As such, instead of using CPPO as a compile-time dependency=
 we now use =C2=B5C=
PPO as a light-weight alternative. =C2=B5CPPO is meant for embedding as=
 part of the build process and supports a tiny subset of what CPPO supports=
 but without an extra package.



Happy de- and encoding!









Grace 0.2.0 =F0=9F=92=85, fancy diagnostics library for compil=
ers


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-grace=
-0-2-0-fancy-diagnostics-library-for-compilers/14741/1




"Alistair O'Brien announced


I'm excited to announce the release of grace 0.2.0, an OCaml library for building,=
 reporting and rendering beautiful compiler diagnostics :camel: :paintbrush=
:. Now available on opam-repository.



The three main features of this release include:


:books: UTF8 support: Source files can now contain Unicode chara=
cters, including emojis =E2=9A=A1=EF=B8=8F =F0=9F=8C=88 =F0=9F=9A=80, with =
proper rendering of ASCII art for errors.

:1234: Error Codes: Diagnostics can now include short, searchabl=
e error codes. Allowing compilers to integrate a Rust-like error code index.

=F0=9F=A4=8F Compact ANSI Errors: Grace_ansi_renderer now supports a pp_compact_diagnostic for concise error mess=
ages, displaying only the file location and the error message.










Tap into the power of Grace for your error reporting! Happy hacking =F0=9F=
=91=A8=E2=80=8D=F0=9F=92=BB




CHANGES:


fix(renderer): remove uncessary underlines when printing a unique 'mult=
i-line Top marker' (#31)
fix(renderer): replace unicode chars with ASCII in Config.ascii (#27)

feat(renderer): add NO_COLOR and TERM support=
 to Config (#8)
feat(core,renderer): add support for error codes (#30)
feat(renderer): add support for UTF8 encoding (#25)
feat(renderer): re-introduce support for compact diagnostic rendering (=
#28)
refactor(renderer)!: move grace.renderer library to =
grace.ansi_renderer (#29)





BREAKING CHANGE


Grace_rendering has been removed. Use Grace_ansi_ren=
derer instead.










First release of Slipshow on opam!


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-first-release-of-slipsh=
ow-on-opam/14743/1




Paul-Elliot announced


It is my pleasure to announce the first release of slipshow on opam.



Slipshow is a presentation tool to create presentation that are not based o=
n slides, but on more continuous transitions, similar to scrolling.









You can find more information and examples on the project repo and on the documentation.



How is that related to the OCaml community? While the "runtime"/"engine" is=
 still written in javascript (I did not know OCaml back then, but there is =
a plan to re=
write it), the compiler is written in OCaml! And I am really grateful for t=
he many authors of open source libraries, of very high quality, that I depe=
nd on and could do nothing without them :) Thanks a lot to al=
l OCaml library and tool authors!


$ opam update
$ opam install slipshow
# create and open ~source.md~ in your editor
$ slipshow --serve source.md



Hope it can be useful :D









Other OCaml News



From the ocaml.org blog


Here are links from many OCaml blogs aggregated at the ocaml.org blog.



Effective ML Through Merlin's Destruct Command<=
/li>









Old CWN


If you happen to miss a CWN, you can send me a message and I'll mail it to you, or go take a loo=
k at the archive or the <=
a href=3D"https://alan.petitepomme.net/cwn/cwn.rss">RSS feed of the archive=
s.



If you also wish to receive it every week by mail, you may subscribe to the=
 caml-list.




Alan Schmitt

OCaml Weekly News

Table of Contents

v0.17 release of Jane Street packages

Diana Kalinichenko announced

Switch to OCaml 5.1

Core on OCaml 5.2

Torch and VCaml

Changes

New packages

jsonschema2atd, Generate an ATD file from a JSON Schema / Open= API document

Louis Roch=C3=A9 announced

opam-repository policy change: checksums (no md5) and no extra= -files

Hannes Mehnert announced

NOTE:

What has been achieved?

Impact on users and developers

The reasoning for this change

Camlkit – macOS/iOS/GNUstep toolkit for OCaml

borisd announced

position for MoonBit advocate

Hongbo Zhang announced

Why is there no tradition of CLI and TUI apps?

Deep in this thread, Jazz announced

Ppxlib dev meetings

Continuing this thread, Patrick Ferris announced

Yojson 2.2.0

Marek Kubica announced

Grace 0.2.0 =F0=9F=92=85, fancy diagnostics library for compil= ers

"Alistair O'Brien announced

CHANGES:

BREAKING CHANGE

First release of Slipshow on opam!

Paul-Elliot announced

Other OCaml News

From the ocaml.org blog

Old CWN