OCaml Weekly News

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Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of September 24 to Octob= er 01, 2024.

Dune Developer Preview Updates

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-dune-developer-preview-upd= ates/15160/7

ostera announced

Hello folks! :wave:=20

Call for Feedback

We'd like to welcome everyone to try and play with the Dune Developer Preview! :tada:=20

This experimental nightly release of dune includes a lot of improvements, i= ncluding the much expected package management features, and it can be insta= lled from that website or by using the new installation script:

$ curl https://dune.ci.dev/install | bash

In a few seconds you should be ready to OCaml by calling dune = =E2=80=93 you can watch a demo of this here: X, Mastodon.

Please try it out and let us know what you think :pray:=20

:calendar: You can book a feedback call with us here

:memo: You can submit feedback using this form

:bug: You can submit issues to Github on ocaml/dune

Changes since last update

The Dune shared cache has been enabled by default. We're starting off by ca= ching all downloads and dependencies.

We have improved support for dev tools. We're working to streamline this bu= t in the latest binary you can:

Configure your LSP (in Neovim, Vim, Emacs, etc) to call dune tool= s exec ocamllsp to get LSP support for your projects out of the box = =E2=80=93 this may take a little bit the first time it builds the LSP for a= compiler version, but its pretty much instant afterwards.
Call dune fmt to get your project formatted =E2=80=93 reme= mber to add an .ocamlformat file if you don't have one yet. An= empty one is enough.
Call dune ocaml doc to get documentation built

What's next?

We're looking forward to streamlining the DX, working on better dependency = locks, and looking into supporting Windows.

In particular, we're considering work on a few things:

dune create <repo> =E2=80=93 to let the community cr= eate templates that can be easily used from within dune
dune pkg fetch =E2=80=93 to prefetch packages and prepare = a repository for working in offline mode
dune build @deps - to build all dependencies, useful for s= taged builds in Dockerfiles
dune pkg add <name> - to make adding packages straig= htforward
a short-hand syntax for pins on github
and more!

If you've got any ideas, we'd love to hear them, so please open a feature r= equest on Github :pray:=20

Other updates

FunOCaml Presentation

At FunOCaml we had a last-minute opportunity to present the work bei= ng done on Dune and we used it to introduce the Developer Preview to the co= mmunity, and even tested Package Management live with suggestions from the = audience (thanks @anmonteiro and Paul-Elliot for participating!) =E2=80=93 = you can w= atch it on Twitch.
New design

We're working with @Claire_Vandenberghe on redesigning the Developer Previe= w website so that it'd feel like a seamless extension of OCaml.org =E2=80= =93 in this current iteration we've made it easier to get started and we're= putting the FAQ front and center.

We'll be iterating on this design in the coming weeks until it fits perfect= ly within the OCaml.org design system :art:=20

You can check the new website here: https:/= /dune.ci.dev=20
Upcoming Blog posts

In the near future we'll be publishing blog posts about the Developer Previ= ew and Package Management, which we're working on with @professor.rose :cla= p:

Uuidm 0.9.9

Archive: ht= tps://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-uuidm-0-9-9/15336/1

Daniel B=C3=BCnzli announced

There's a new release of Uu= idm, a library to handle universally unique identifiers (UUIDs).

This very old module has been slightly renovated implying a few deprecation= s, a quick star= t has been added to the docs and foremost new constructors and generato= rs were added to support the latest RFC 9562 V7 time and random based UUID definitions; thanks = to xen-api folks for getting the ball rolling on this. See the= release notes for the details.=20

Docs: online o= r odig doc uuidm
Install: opam install uuidm (PR)

A big thanks to my donors<= /a>.

first release of ppx_deriving_jsonschema

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-first-release-of= -ppx-deriving-jsonschema/15320/2

Louis Roch=C3=A9 announced

Released 0.0.2 on opam. It feels like the project is in a good shape now.

Changes:

support for nativeint, bytes, ref, unit
add ~variant_as_array for compatibility with ppx_deriving_yojson
support variant payloads
support polymorphic variants inheritance
fix encoding of tuples
change encoding of variants from enum to anyOf

I'm considering making variant_as_array the default in 0.0.3 a= s it would be more consistent with the ocaml ecosystem.

Bogue, the OCaml GUI

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-bogue-the-ocaml-gui/9099/62

sanette announced

I'm happy to announce a brand new version of Bogue, version 20240928, now availble on opam.




Changes are mostly under the hood. We have nice improvements by @edwin : au=
tomatic monitor vsync is now enabled by default, for smoother animations, a=
nd most importantly we finally align with the latest version of ts=
dl. It will simplify maintenance, but it also implies that to=
o old versions of SDL will not work anymore. On the other hand we were =
kind of obliged to move forward, because tsdl.0.9.8 won't inst=
all on ocaml 5.2.



if you're on Ubuntu 20.04, installing Bogue with opam install bog=
ue will by default pull tsdl.1.1.0 in, which requires S=
DL >=3D 2.0.18, not shipped by the OS. A workaround is to explicitly req=
uire opam install tsdl.1.0.0 (or manually installing a newer S=
DL)
if your OS ships SDL < 2.0.10 you have no other choice than manually=
 installing a newer SDL (which is not that complicated)



Happy bogue-ing!







New release of Merlin


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-new-release-of-merlin/15358/1




vds announced


I am very pleased to announce a new release of Merlin for OCaml 5.2, 5.1 an=
d 4.14. This release brings a handful of fixes but also a handful of of new=
 commands:=20



signature_help and inlay_hint have been upstr=
eamed from ocaml-lsp-server
expand_node a command to get the ppxed-source when called =
on relevant annotations
=F0=9F=95=B5=EF=B8=8F=E2=80=8D=E2=99=80=EF=B8=8F search-by-type a sherlodoc-inspired synt=
ax to search for values in the environment, that superseeds polarity-=
search.




Only search-by-type has an Emacs binding right now (and one fo=
r vim on is in the wo=
rks), we hope to have some time to work on more client implementations =
in the near future.



demo1



demo2




Complete changelog:


Fri Sep 27 12:02:42 CEST 2024



merlin binary

A new WRAPPING_PREFIX configuration directive that can be =
used to tell Merlin
what to append to the current unit name in the presence of wrapping (ocaml/=
merlin#1788)
Add -unboxed-types and -no-unboxed-types as o=
caml ignored flags (ocaml/merlin#1795, fixes ocaml/merlin#1794)
destruct: Refinement in the presence of optional arguments (ocaml/merli=
n#1800 ocaml/merlin#1807, fixes ocaml/merlin#1770)
Implement new expand-node command for expanding PPX annotations (ocaml/=
merlin#1745)
Implement new inlay-hints command for adding hints on a sourcetree (oca=
ml/merlin#1812)
Implement new search-by-type command for searching values by types (oca=
ml/merlin#1828)
Canonicalize paths in occurrences. This helps deduplicate the results a=
nd
show more user-friendly paths. (ocaml/merlin#1840)
Fix dot-merlin-reader ignoring SOURCE_ROOT and STDLI=
B directives
(ocaml/merlin#1839, ocaml/merlin#1803)

editor modes

vim: fix python-3.12 syntax warnings in merlin.py (ocaml/merlin#1798)
vim: Dead code / doc removal for previously deleted MerlinPhrase comman=
d (ocaml/merlin#1804)
emacs: Improve the way that result of polarity search is displayed (oca=
ml/merlin#1814)
emacs: Add merlin-search-by-type, merlin-search-by-p=
olarity and change the
behaviour of merlin-search to switch between by-type or by-polarity
depending on the query (ocaml/merlin#1828)





cc @xvw @PizieDust










Releases of mirage-crypto 1.0.0, tls 1.0.0, x509 1.0.0, asn1-c=
ombinators 0.3.0, let's encrypt 1.0.0, awa 0.4.0, kdf 1.0.0, paf 0.7.0, git=
 3.17.0


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/rele=
ases-of-mirage-crypto-1-0-0-tls-1-0-0-x509-1-0-0-asn1-combinators-0-3-0-let=
s-encrypt-1-0-0-awa-0-4-0-kdf-1-0-0-paf-0-7-0-git-3-17-0/15359/1




Hannes Mehnert announced


Dear OCaml developers,



we're pleased to finally release a full stack of packages that do not rely =
on Cstruct.t/Bigarray, but use string / bytes instead. This brings us a mas=
sive performance boost (e.g. a factor of 3 in tls), and brings a easier to =
comprehend API. It also makes performance tooling work much more smoothly w=
ith our released packages. We announced this upcoming change earlier this y=
ear https=
://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-mirage-crypto-0-11-3-with-more-speed-for-ellipti=
c-curves-and-the-future-roadmap-of-mirage-crypto



For further details, please see the specific release pages:


mirage-crypto 1.0.0 (also 1.0.1, and 1.1.0) - cryptographic operatio=
ns in OCaml (symmetric ciphers, asymmetric ciphers (RSA, DSA, DH), fortuna =
(a cryptographic secure pseudo random number generator), elliptic curves (f=
rom fiat-crypto) &#=
x2013; the hash algorithms have been removed - use digestif instead
tl=
s 1.0.0 (also 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) - a Transport layer security implement=
ation (HTTPS) in OCaml, supporting TLS 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3
x=
509 1.0.0 (also 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, and 1.0.4) - X509 certificates (signin=
g requests, certificate revocation lists, PKCS12)
asn1-combinators 0.3.0 (also 0.3.1 and 0.3=
.2) - ASN.1 parser combinators
let's encrypt 1.0.0 - a client for https://letsencrypt.org - automated TLS certificate issuance
awa 0=
.4.0 - a SSH client and server implementation
kdf 1=
.0.0 - supporting different key derivation functions: hkdf (used in TLS=
), PBKDF2, SCRYPT
paf 0.7.0 - protocol-agnostic client (http / http2)
git=
 3.17.0 - an implementation of the version control system git https://git-scm.com
dns=
 9.0.0 (also 9.0.1) - an implementation of the domain name system



As you can envision, there was a lot of coordination and releasing involved=
 in preparing these API-breaking changes. The list above likely misses vari=
ous packages that have been released to support the new mirage-crypto and t=
ls API.



There have already been various issues reported and fixed in the subsequent=
 minor releases. We encourage you to upgrade your software stack to the new=
 release series, and report issues while you encounter them (being it API q=
uestions, or correctness issues). Earlier releases are not maintained anymo=
re (due to lack of interest and lack of time), thus if you encounter issues=
 in earlier releases, please first update to the most recent releases (alth=
ough this may need some effort – a PR that uses the packages heavily=
 is https://gi=
thub.com/robur-coop/miragevpn/pull/279). If you're stuck or lack time t=
o port your code to the new API, we at robur offer commercial support in up=
grading your codebase. Reach out to us via email: team@robur.coop.



This work has been conducted by the robur co=
llective. Parts of this work was sponsored by Tarides.









ICFP 2023 OCaml Presentations on YouTube


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-icfp-2023-ocaml-=
presentations-on-youtube/13554/2




Anil Madhavapeddy announced


After a respectable pause, I've now imported these videos into the Watch.OC=
aml.org instance so we have a non-YouTube mirror. They're up on the OCaml Workshop 2023 c=
hannel now. Enjoy your ad-free viewing! :slight_smile:









Dune dev meeting


Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-dune-dev-meeting/14994/12




Etienne Marais announced


Hi Dune enthusiasts!  :camel:=20=20



We will hold our regular Dune dev meeting tomorrow, on Wednesday, Octobe=
r, 2nd at 16:00 CET. As usual, the session will be one hour long.



Whether you are a maintainer, a regular contributor, a new joiner or just c=
urious, you are welcome to join: these discussions are opened! The goal of =
these meetings is to provide a place to discuss the ongoing work together a=
nd synchronise between the Dune developers :smile:




:calendar: Agenda


The agenda is available on the meeting dedicated page . Feel free to ask if =
you want to add more items in it.





:computer: Links


Meeting link: zoom 
Calendar event: google calendar 
Wiki with information and previous notes: GitHub Wiki 










Other OCaml News



From the ocaml.org blog


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



[OCaML'23]=
 Modern DSL compiler architecture in OCaml our experience with Catala
[OCaML'23]=
 Eio 1.0 =E2=80=93 Effects-based IO for OCaml 5
[OCaML'23]=
 Less Power for More Learning: Restricting OCaml Features for Effective Tea=
ching
[OCaML'23]=
 Efficient OCaml compilation with Flambda 2
[OCaML'23]=
 Buck2 for OCaml Users & Developers
[OCaML'23]=
 Parallel Sequences in Multicore OCaml
[OCaML'23]=
 Building a lock-free STM for OCaml
[OCaML'23]=
 MetaOCaml Theory and Implementation
[OCaML'23]=
 Osiris: an Iris-based program logic for OCaml
[OCaML'23]=
 State of the OCaml Platform 2023
[OCaML'23]=
 Owi: an interpreter and a toolkit for WebAssembly written in OCaml
[OCaML'23]=
 Targeted Static Analysis for OCaml C Stubs: Eliminating gremlins from the =
code
Introducing Dune: The Essential B=
uild System for OCaml Developers
Summer of Internships: Projects From t=
he OCaml Compiler Team









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

Dune Developer Preview Updates

ostera announced

Call for Feedback

Changes since last update

What's next?

Other updates

Uuidm 0.9.9

Daniel B=C3=BCnzli announced

first release of ppx_deriving_jsonschema

Louis Roch=C3=A9 announced

Bogue, the OCaml GUI

sanette announced

New release of Merlin

vds announced

Complete changelog:

Releases of mirage-crypto 1.0.0, tls 1.0.0, x509 1.0.0, asn1-c= ombinators 0.3.0, let's encrypt 1.0.0, awa 0.4.0, kdf 1.0.0, paf 0.7.0, git= 3.17.0

Hannes Mehnert announced

ICFP 2023 OCaml Presentations on YouTube

Anil Madhavapeddy announced

Dune dev meeting

Etienne Marais announced

:calendar: Agenda

:computer: Links

Other OCaml News

From the ocaml.org blog

Old CWN