[Caml-list] Attn: Development Editor, Latest OCaml Weekly News

Alan Schmitt
2024-04-02T14:31:31Z

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Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of March 26 to April
02, 2024.

Table of Contents
─────────────────

Odoc 3.0 planning
OCaml Platform Newsletter: February 2024
Your Feedback Needed on OCaml Home Page Wireframe!
OCaml Workshop 2024 at ICFP – announcement and call for proposals
down.0.2.0 and omod.0.4.0
stdlib-random 1.2
Other OCaml News
Old CWN

Odoc 3.0 planning
═════════════════

Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/odoc-3-0-planning/14360/1>

Jon Ludlam announced
────────────────────

For many years we've had a team here at Tarides working away on Odoc,
quietly adding new features, fixing bugs, speeding things up and
generally enabling OCaml package mantainers to write good
documentation. Up until recently, those improvements have mostly been
incremental, but with the recent addition of some larger new features
like search and source rendering we've found we need to think a bit
more broadly and consider how these changes will fit into the larger
ecosystem. We're also thinking of how to extend the abilities of Odoc
to handle more structure in the documentation, with better support for
images, an improved sidebar, and a better ability to link to the docs
of other packages.

We've therefore started the process that's going to lead to Odoc 3.0,
which will involve not only work on odoc itself, but also on
ocaml.org, the documentation pipeline that produces the docs for
ocaml.org, dune, and odig. It's being done incrementally, so we've
started with the core issues of how to structure your docs, how to do
references both within the docs and across packages, what the output
file structure will look like and how the breadcrumbs will reflect
that. What we've posted so far is by no means the final version, and
we'd love to get feedback on the suggestions we've got so far. Getting
this right is surprisingly complicated, so the more people we have
thinking about it, the better our chances of success!

So if you're interested in writing or reading docs, I encourage you to
head on over to [the discussion] we've just started on [ocaml/odoc]
and join in the conversation!

[the discussion] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/discussions/1097>

[ocaml/odoc] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/>

OCaml Platform Newsletter: February 2024
════════════════════════════════════════

Archive:
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ocaml-platform-newsletter-february-2024/14361/1>

Thibaut Mattio announced
────────────────────────

Welcome to the tenth edition of the OCaml Platform newsletter!

In this February 2024 edition, we are excited to bring you the latest
on the OCaml Platform, continuing our tradition of highlighting recent
developments as seen in [previous editions]. To understand the
direction we're headed, especially regarding development workflows and
user experience improvements, check out our [roadmap].

*Highlights:*
• The OCaml Platform tools have added support for OCaml 5.2. It's
available in the temporary releases
• [`Merlin 4.14-502~preview'] (@voodoos (Tarides))
• [`Ocaml-lsp-server 1.18.0~5.2preview'] (@voodoos (Tarides))
• [`Ppxlib 0.32.1~5.2preview'] (@NathanReb (partly funded by the
OCaml Software Foundation)).

*Releases:*
• [UTop 2.14.0]
• [Merlin 4.14]
• [Dune 3.14.0]
• [Ppxlib 0.31.2]
• [Dune 3.13.1]

[previous editions] <https://discuss.ocaml.org/tag/platform-newsletter>

[roadmap] <https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap>

[`Merlin 4.14-502~preview']
<https://ocaml.org/p/merlin/4.14-502~preview>

[`Ocaml-lsp-server 1.18.0~5.2preview']
<https://ocaml.org/p/ocaml-lsp-server/1.18.0~5.2preview>

[`Ppxlib 0.32.1~5.2preview']
<https://ocaml.org/p/ppxlib/0.32.1~5.2preview>

[UTop 2.14.0] <https://ocaml.org/changelog/2024-02-27-utop-2.14.0>

[Merlin 4.14] <https://ocaml.org/changelog/2024-02-26-merlin-4.14>

[Dune 3.14.0] <https://ocaml.org/changelog/2024-02-12-dune.3.14.0>

[Ppxlib 0.31.2] <https://ocaml.org/changelog/2024-02-07-ppxlib-0.32.0>

[Dune 3.13.1] <https://ocaml.org/changelog/2024-02-05-dune-3.13.1>

*[Dune]* Exploring Package Management in Dune ([W4])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @rgrinberg (Tarides), @Leonidas-from-XIV (Tarides),
@gridbugs (Tarides), @kit-ty-kate (Tarides), @Alizter

*Why:* Unify OCaml tooling under a single command line for all
development workflows. This addresses one of the most important pain
points [reported by the community].

*What:* Prototyping the integration of package management into Dune
using opam as a library. We're introducing a `dune pkg lock' command
to generate a lock file and enhancing `dune build' to handle
dependencies in the lock file. More details in the [Dune RFC].

*Activities:*
• One of the main remaining blockers to make Dune package management
usable in real world project is to make some of the low level
dependencies, notably OCamlFind and the OCaml compiler,
relocatable. – [ocaml/ocamlfind#72]
• We experimented with a Coq-platform patch to make OCamlFind
relocatable, but we faced issues with packages using `topkg' due to
`ocamlbuild' build failures. This led to identifying an error with
directory symlink handling in Dune [ocaml/dune#9873],
[ocaml/dune#9937]
• To track the buildability of opam packages with Dune package
management, we worked on a GitHub action that effectively provides
us with a dashboard of opam packages coverage on a select set of
packages. The repository is available at
[gridbugs/dune-pkg-dashboard].
• Based on the findings from the above, several issues were opened on
the Dune issue tracker. All the known issues are now tracked in the
[Package Management MVP] milestone on Dune's issue tracker.
• We also focused on improving features that were previously
implemented. Noteworthy changes include the addition of [workspace
package pins] and enhancements for correct path handling in packages
– [ocaml/dune#9940]
• Work included updates and refactorings to improve source fetching,
particularly the removal of a rudimentary Git config parser in favor
of using `git config' directly ([ocaml/dune#9905]), and enhancements
to how Dune handles Git repositories, such as the checking out of
Git repos via `rev_store' ([ocaml/dune#10060]).
• Contributions also focused on refining and testing Dune's package
handling, including a fix to ensure that opam's untar code is not
used ([ocaml/dune#10085]), and improvements to Dune's handling of
recursive submodules in Git repos ([ocaml/dune#10130]).

[W4] <https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w4-build-a-project>

[reported by the community]
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/omba1d8vhljnrcn/OCaml-user-survey-2020.pdf?dl=0>

[Dune RFC] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/issues/7680>

[ocaml/ocamlfind#72] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocamlfind/pull/72>

[ocaml/dune#9873] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/issues/9873>

[ocaml/dune#9937] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/9937>

[gridbugs/dune-pkg-dashboard]
<https://github.com/gridbugs/dune-pkg-dashboard>

[Package Management MVP]
<https://github.com/ocaml/dune/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+milestone%3A%22Package+Management+MVP%22>

[workspace package pins] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/10072>

[ocaml/dune#9940] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/9940>

[ocaml/dune#9905] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/9905>

[ocaml/dune#10060] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/10060>

[ocaml/dune#10085] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/10085>

[ocaml/dune#10130] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/10130>

*[opam]* Native Support for Windows in opam 2.2 ([W5])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @rjbou (OCamlPro), @kit-ty-kate (Tarides), @dra27
(Tarides), @AltGr (OCamlPro)

*Why:* Enhance OCaml's viability on Windows by integrating native opam
and `opam-repository' support, fostering a larger community, and more
Windows-friendly packages.

*What:* Releasing opam 2.2 with native Windows support, making the
official `opam-repository' usable on Windows platforms.

*Activities:*
• Addressed the issue where the Windows loader would display blocking
dialogue boxes upon failing to find DLLs, adhering to best practices
by suppressing these dialogs, and opting for exit codes
instead. This enhancement eliminates disruptive interruptions,
ensuring a more seamless operation for automated tasks and CI
environments. – [#5828]
• Fixed shell detection issues when opam is invoked via Cygwin's
`/usr/bin/env', enhancing compatibility and user experience for
those utilising Cygwin alongside `cmd' or PowerShell. – [#5797]
• Recommend Developer Mode on Windows. To optimise storage and align
with best practices, Developer Mode is recommended for enabling
symlink support. – [#5831]
• Resolved issues related to environment variable handling,
specifically fixing bugs where updates or additions to environment
variables would incorrectly remove or alter them. – [#5837]
• Addressed early loading of git location information, particularly
benefiting Windows users by ensuring correct retrieval and
application of git-related configurations. – [#5842]
• Disabled ACL in Cygwin. By setting `noacl' in `/etc/fstab' for
`/cygdrive' mount, this change avoids permission mismatch errors,
enhancing reliability and usability for Cygwin users. – [#5796]
• Introduced the ability to define the package manager path at
initialisation, improving customisation and integration capabilities
for Windows users. – [#5847]
• Added `winsymlinks:native' to the Cygwin environment variable,
improving compatibility within the Cygwin ecosystem. – [#5793]
• Fixed script generation issues related to path quoting, ensuring
smoother initialisation and setup processes, especially in
mixed-environment scenarios like Cygwin. – [#5841]
• Corrected the precedence and handling of `git-location'
configurations during initialisation, streamlining Git integration
and providing clearer control over Git settings. – [#5848]
• Extended the use of eval-variables to internal Cygwin installations
and adjusted the setup to better accommodate Windows-specific
requirements, enhancing flexibility and system compiler
integration. – [#5829]

[W5] <https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w5-manage-dependencies>

[#5828] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5828>

[#5797] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5797>

[#5831] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5831>

[#5837] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5837>

[#5842] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5842>

[#5796] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5796>

[#5847] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5847>

[#5793] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5793>

[#5841] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5841>

[#5848] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5848>

[#5829] <https://github.com/ocaml/opam/pull/5829>

*[​`odoc'​]* Unify OCaml.org and Local Package Documentation ([W25])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @jonludlam (Tarides), @julow (Tarides), @panglesd
(Tarides), Luke Maurer (Jane Street)

*Why:* Improving local documentation generation workflow will help
package authors write better documentation for their packages, and
consolidating the different `odoc' documentation generators will help
make continuous improvements to `odoc' available to a larger audience.

*What:* We will write conventions that drivers must follow to ensure
that their output will be functional. Once established, we will update
the Dune rules to follow these rules, access new `odoc' features
(e.g., source rendering), and provide similar functionalities to
docs.ocaml.org (a navigational sidebar, for instance). This will
effectively make Dune usable to generate OCaml.org package
documentation.

*Activities:*
• Work continued on the design for the new `odoc' drivers conventions
shared by Dune and OCaml.org, and we plan to publish the RFC in
March.
• We also started comparing and prototyping various approaches to add
sidebar support to `odoc'. Several prototypes have been developed
and discussed with the team, and we will resume work on the sidebar
implementation once the driver conventions have been adopted.

[W25]
<https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w25-generate-documentation>

*[​`odoc'​]* Add Search Capabilities to `odoc' ([W25])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @panglesd (Tarides), @EmileTrotignon (Tarides),
@julow (Tarides), @jonludlam (Tarides)

*Why:* Improve usability and navigability in OCaml packages
documentation, both locally and on OCaml.org, by offering advanced
search options like type-based queries.

*What:* Implementing a search engine interface in `odoc', complete
with a UI and a search index. Additionally, we're developing a default
client-side search engine based on Sherlodoc.

*Activities:*
• The implementation and refinement of sherlodoc's integration with
odoc were our major focuses, this included making sherlodoc pass
opam CI on different architectures and adjusting the dune rules for
better usability – [ocaml/dune#9956]
• After the big sherlodoc PR was merged and sherlodoc released last
month, work continued on refining the dune rules for sherlodoc and
on adjusting the search bar's scope based on discussions with the
team.
• We implemented keyboard navigation in the search bar to improve its
usability – [ocaml/odoc#1088]

[W25]
<https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w25-generate-documentation>

[ocaml/dune#9956] <https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pull/9956>

[ocaml/odoc#1088] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/pull/1088>

*[​`odoc'​]* Improving `odoc' Performance ([W25])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @jonludlam (Tarides), @julow (Tarides), @gpetiot
(Tarides)

*Why:* Address performance issues in `odoc', particularly for
large-scale documentation, to enhance efficiency and user experience
and unlock local documentation generation in large code bases.

*What:* Profiling `odoc' to identify the main performance bottlenecks
and optimising `odoc' with the findings.

*Activities:*
• Performance improvements were achieved by addressing issues with
source location lookups for non-existent identifiers, significantly
improving link time for large codebases.
• Several PRs from the module-type-of work were opened, including
fixes and tests aimed at enhancing `odoc''s handling of transitive
library dependencies, shape lookup, and module-type-of expansions –
[ocaml/odoc#1078], [ocaml/odoc#1081]
• Improve the efficiency of finding `odoc' files in accessible paths,
cutting the time to generate documentation by two in some of our
tests – [ocaml/odoc#1075]

[W25]
<https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w25-generate-documentation>

[ocaml/odoc#1078] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/pull/1078>

[ocaml/odoc#1081] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/pull/1081>

[ocaml/odoc#1075] <https://github.com/ocaml/odoc/pull/1075>

*[Merlin]* Support for Project-Wide References in Merlin ([W19])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @voodoos (Tarides)

*Why:* Enhance code navigation and refactoring for developers by
providing project-wide reference editor features, aligning OCaml with
the editor experience found in other languages.

*What:* Introducing `ocamlmerlin server occurrences' and LSP
`textDocument/references' support, extending compiler's Shapes for
global occurrences and integrating these features in Dune, Merlin, and
OCaml LSP.

*Activities:*
• Continued investigations and improvements on Dune rules to address
configuration issues
• After adding support for OCaml 5.2 to `merlin-lib', we've rebased
the project-wide occurrences work over it.
• We also started work with the Jane Stree team to test project wide
references at scale in their monorepo. Following our initial
integration, we focused on refining Merlin's indexing and occurrence
query capabilities, including addressing bottlenecks and regressions
in shape reductions – [ocaml/ocaml#13001]

[W19] <https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w19-navigate-code>

[ocaml/ocaml#13001] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/13001>

*[Merlin]* Improving Merlin's Performance ([W19])
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

*Contributed by:* @pitag (Tarides), @Engil (Tarides)

*Why:* Some Merlin queries have been shown to scale poorly in large
codebases, making the editor experience subpar. Users report that they
sometimes must wait a few seconds to get the answer. This is obviously
a major issue that hurts developer experience, so we're working on
improving Merlin performance when it falls short.

*What:* Developing benchmarking tools and optimising Merlin's
performance through targeted improvements based on profiling and
analysis of benchmark results.

*Activities:*
• In `merlin-lib', we've continued the work on a prototype to process
the buffer in parallel with the query computation. Parallelism
refers to OCaml 5 parallelism (domains).

[W19] <https://ocaml.org/docs/platform-roadmap#w19-navigate-code>

Your Feedback Needed on OCaml Home Page Wireframe!
══════════════════════════════════════════════════

Archive:
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/your-feedback-needed-on-ocaml-home-page-wireframe/14366/1>

Claire Vandenberghe announced
─────────────────────────────

I'm reaching out to ask for a few minutes of your time to review the
wireframe designs for the OCaml Home, Industrial, and Academic pages.

After conducting user interviews with OCaml enthusiasts, we've
gathered valuable insights on what information newcomers find most
helpful when visiting the OCaml home.

As a result, we've been working on restructuring these three major
pages to better cater to user needs.

(*Please note that these wireframes primarily focus on navigation,
layout, and content, rather than the User Interface (UI).*)

Your feedback is crucial at this stage, so please feel free to leave
comments directly on Figma, via email, or let's schedule a quick call
to discuss. Thank you for taking part in this review.

*Figma Link*:
<https://www.figma.com/file/eLNSdvayxqvvfBsRsdbJXN/OCaml-Home-Page?type=design&node-id=5%3A2500&mode=design&t=hHclskuVpoOzKP2u-1>

OCaml Workshop 2024 at ICFP – announcement and call for proposals
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Archive:
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ocaml-workshop-2024-at-icfp-announcement-and-call-for-proposals/14371/1>

Sonja Heinze announced
──────────────────────

This year, [ICFP] (the International Conference on Functional
Programming) is going to take place in beautiful Milan.

<https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rJIS7LPAT.jpg>

Such as every year since 2012, on the last day of that conference,
i.e. on *September 7th (Saturday)*, we'll hold a workshop on
OCaml. The workshop is intended to cover all different kinds of
aspects of the OCaml programming language as well as the OCaml
ecosystem and its community, such as scientific and/or
research-oriented, engineering and/or user-oriented, as well as social
and/or community-oriented.

[ICFP] <https://icfp24.sigplan.org/>

Call for talk proposals
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

The [call for talk proposals] for the workshop is open.

[call for talk proposals]
<https://icfp24.sigplan.org/home/ocaml-2024#Call-for-Papers>

◊ Dates

Here are the important dates:

• Talk proposal submission deadline: May 30th (Thursday)
• Author notification: July 4th (Thursday)
• Workshop: September 7th (Saturday)

◊ Submissions

Submissions are typically around 2 pages long (flexible), describing
the motivations of the work and what the presentation would be about.

We encourage everyone who might be interested in giving a talk to
submit a proposal! We truly mean everyone, and also have strongly
anyone in mind who belongs to a group that's traditionally
underrepresented at OCaml workshops, e.g. due to your gender(s) or
non-gender, where you're from or based or whatever other kinds of
characteristics you might have. You should all be able to find all
information you'll need to submit a proposal on the official [call for
talk proposals]. However, if you have any question, don't hesitate to
ask us.

[call for talk proposals]
<https://icfp24.sigplan.org/home/ocaml-2024#Call-for-Papers>

◊ Quota on accepted talks per affiliation

Even though none of us is a fan of quotas, last year's workshop
experimented with a quota of a maximum of four talks given by speakers
with the same company/university/institute affiliation. In order to
guarantee a coverage of a diverse range of topics and perspectives,
we'll experiment with the same affiliation quota again.

Do not hesitate to submit your talk proposal in any case: quotas, if
needed, will be taken into account by the PC after reviewing all
submissions, so there's no reason to self-select upfront.

About the workshop itself
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

So far, we've only talked about talk proposals and formalities. The
really exciting part will be the workshop itself! It's going to be a
whole-day workshop and, similarly to previous years, it's likely going
to have four sessions of about four talks each. It's a rather informal
and interactive environment, where people engage in all kinds of
conversations about OCaml during the breaks and after the workshop.

◊ Hybrid attendance and cost for speakers

We're aiming to make the workshop hybrid with the same streaming
modalities as last year, meaning that *talks as well as participation
can be either in-person or remote*, and *remote attendance will be
free*. To promote a good atmosphere, communication and engagement, we
prefer to have most talks in-person, but remote talks will be most
welcome as well.

We know that giving the talk in-person comes with an economic
cost. We're very happy to announce that thanks to the [OCaml Software
Foundation], *registration fees will be covered for speakers* in case
they can't get them funded by other means (e.g. their employer).

We will do our best to provide the best workshop experience possible
for remote participants, within the constraints of the hybrid
format. While attending in-person does come with advantages, it also
comes with an environmental cost, and we strongly support
transitioning to a less plane-intensive organization for conferences
and community events :deciduous_tree: .

[OCaml Software Foundation] <https://ocaml-sf.org/>

◊ Related events

The day before the OCaml workshop, i.e. Sep 6th (Friday), is the day
of the [ML workshop], with focus on more theoretical aspects of OCaml
and the whole family of ML languages in general. The ML workshop [has
already been announced on the OCaml discuss] and tends to be very
interesting for OCaml lovers as well.

We're looking forward to the the talk submissions and to the workshop!
Let us know if you have any questions. @Armael and @pitag

[ML workshop] <https://icfp24.sigplan.org/home/mlworkshop-2024>

[has already been announced on the OCaml discuss]
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/call-for-presentations-ml-2024-acm-sigplan-ml-family-workshop/14284>

down.0.2.0 and omod.0.4.0
═════════════════════════

Archive:
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-down-0-2-0-and-omod-0-4-0/14380/1>

Daniel Bünzli announced
───────────────────────

It's my pleasure to announce new releases for [down] and [omod] which
provide a nice `ocaml' toplevel user experience upgrade. Simply add to
your `.ocamlinit':

┌────
│ #use "down.top"
│ #use "omod.top"
└────

And enjoy all the benefits you can learn about in the [down manual]
and in the [omod tutorial].

These are mainly maintenance releases but if you ever though that down
was a bit slow when pasting code, it now (well for almost two years…)
implements [bracketed pastes]. Thanks to @emillon for the reference.

[down] <https://erratique.ch/software/down>

[omod] <https://erratique.ch/software/omod>

[down manual] <https://erratique.ch/software/down/doc/manual.html>

[omod tutorial] <https://erratique.ch/software/omod/doc/tutorial.html>

[bracketed pastes] <https://cirw.in/blog/bracketed-paste>

stdlib-random 1.2
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Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-stdlib-random-1-2/14381/1>

octachron announced
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The library `stdlib-random' is a small compatibility library that
provides compiler-independent implementations of the PRNGs used in the
history of the standard library `Random':

• stdlib-random.v3: implement the PRNG used in OCaml 3.07 to 3.11
• stdlib-random.v4: implement the PRNG used in OCaml 3.12 to 4.14
• stdlib-random.v5: implement the PRNG currently used in OCaml 5
• stdlib-random.v5o: implement the PRNG currently used in OCaml 5 in
pure OCaml

This library is targeted toward programs that need a deterministic and
stable behaviour of the `Random' module across OCaml versions.

The newly released version 1.2.0 updates all implementations to
provide the new `int_in_range' function (and its `int32_in_range',
`nativeint_in_range', `int64_in_range' variants) that will be
available in OCaml 5.2.0.

Note however that the implementations on the pre-OCaml 5 PRNGs are not
optimal, since I prioritised the maintenance cost over performance,
but that could be changed if required.

Other OCaml News
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>From the ocaml.org blog
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Here are links from many OCaml blogs aggregated at [the ocaml.org
blog].

• [NetHSM: Bringing Open Source to the World of Hardware Security
Modules]
• [Frama-Clang v0.0.15 for Frama-C 28.0 Nickel]

[the ocaml.org blog] <https://ocaml.org/blog/>

[NetHSM: Bringing Open Source to the World of Hardware Security Modules]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2024-03-27-nethsm-bringing-open-source-to-the-world-of-hardware-security-modules>

[Frama-Clang v0.0.15 for Frama-C 28.0 Nickel]
<https://frama-c.com/fc-plugins/frama-clang.html>

Old CWN
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[Alan Schmitt]

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