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

[Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org>]

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Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of October 27 to
November 03, 2026.

Table of Contents
─────────────────

k7 0.9.0: record and replay CLI outputs
dune tracing
console: making OCaml CLI tools look good!
imguiml 1.93.0
Introcaml 5.5.2
ocaml-ssl 0.8.1
Old CWN


k7 0.9.0: record and replay CLI outputs
═══════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-k7-0-9-0-record-and-replay-cli-outputs/18660/1>


Thomas Gazagnaire announced
───────────────────────────

  I'm happy to announce the release of [k7 0.9.0] a small tool to record
  and replay CLI animations.

  It's available on MacOS and Linux with `brew':

  ┌────
  │ brew install samoht/tap/k7
  └────

  or in opam:

  ┌────
  │ opam install k7
  └────

  The main feature vs. other similar tools is that it can use cram tests
  as input or output, so you can 1/ convert any cram test into an svg
  file; and 2/ ensure the svg that you use in your README files stays
  up-to-date with your code.

  Apart from this it's in pure OCaml with no browser or ffmpeg involved;
  it plays `.cast' and `.tape' files (from `asciinema' and `vhs') and
  write `.cast' files, but probably has fewer options than those tools,
  so feel free to open [an issue] if you find anything missing or not
  working.

  See more details in my post:
  <https://gazagnaire.org/blog/2026-10-26-k7.html>


[k7 0.9.0] <https://github.com/samoht/ocaml-k7>

[an issue] <https://github.com/samoht/ocaml-k7/issues>


dune tracing
════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/blog-dune-tracing/18670/1>


Raphaël Proust announced
────────────────────────

  Over the summer, @NatKarmios worked on `dune' for his internship at
  [Ahrefs](ahrefs.com).  He got [a couple of PRs merged into dune]. Then
  he wrote a new backend for traces and a matching perfetto extension.

  All of the details in his blog post: [Tracing Dune, with a side of
  graphs]

  TL;DR: you get a graph view of the build, some SQL querying
  capabilities, it scales to handle Ahrefs' monorepo

  We're using the new tracing capability internally. And we're planning
  on upstreaming it too.


[a couple of PRs merged into dune]
<https://github.com/ocaml/dune/pulls?q=is%3Apr+author%3ANatKarmios>

[Tracing Dune, with a side of graphs]
<https://tech.ahrefs.com/tracing-dune-with-a-side-of-graphs-56603d7794bc>


console: making OCaml CLI tools look good!
══════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-console-making-ocaml-cli-tools-look-good/18671/1>


Thomas Gazagnaire announced
───────────────────────────

  I'm happy to announce the release of [console 0.9.0], a set of widgets
  for building nice-looking command-line tools. The main design
  constraint I tried to follow is that the output should look good both
  for a human at an interactive terminal and for scripts run in CI or
  other non-interactive loops (like LLM agents). Live rows are redrawn
  in place and everything useful the program printed is still there when
  it ends; piped output tries to be relatively clean.

  <https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/2/21b202a69ab6ff219fa5fee2416d438bbae78d14.gif>

  You can use it with:

  ┌────
  │ opam install console console-eio
  └────

  The widgets in `console' are pure; `console-eio' is the driver that
  runs animations. There are a few limitation (including limited Windows
  support) but you can already use it to encode quite complex UX. For
  instance, here a few imitations of package manager frontends using
  console (recorded using [k7]):

  <https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/b/b18c267eea031cfb770f92fab15f9355882c96d4.gif>

  <https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/e/ed712dd72eba5421dc825b884e0dbb739b2befdc.gif>

  <https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/d/d7a8c56d42c8430f282e7afa9426bb315b52965f.gif>

  <https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/7/7ecc3d918f9968f61a15ef66e563487cd70335ee.gif>

  You can read more (including how it compares with notty, progress and
  printbox, here):
  <https://gazagnaire.org/blog/2026-11-02-console.html>.

  Feedback is very welcome before 1.0, on the [issue tracker] or here.


[console 0.9.0] <https://github.com/samoht/ocaml-console>

[k7] <https://gazagnaire.org/blog/2026-10-26-k7.html>

[issue tracker] <https://github.com/samoht/ocaml-console/issues>


imguiml 1.93.0
══════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-imguiml-1-93-0/18672/1>


Frédéric Bour announced
───────────────────────

  I'm happy to announce a new release of imguiml, the OCaml bindings to
  Dear ImGui.

  • Project page: <https://github.com/let-def/imguiml>
  • Documentation: <https://let-def.github.io/imguiml>

  I am taking over maintenance of the project from its original author,
  Emilien Lemaire.

  What's new:

  • Updated to *Dear ImGui 1.93.0*, with docking support.
  • The bindings now work on *arm64* (and probably s390).
  • Fonts are now rendered with the system *FreeType* instead of
    `stb_truetype', providing higher-quality rendering and better
    compatibility with modern font formats.
  • ImGui is now built with support for 32-bit characters, so *Emojis*
    are supported.

  Disclaimer: "Claude" was used in this port, notably to rebase onto the
  latest version of ImGui and to fix the build on arm64.


Introcaml 5.5.2
═══════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/introcaml-5-5-2/18673/1>


Frédéric Bour announced
───────────────────────

  We're happy to announce a new alpha release of Introcaml, an extension
  of OCaml that brings polymorphic printing. It allows printing and
  inspecting values of any type, without writing printer functions. See
  the [first announcement] for an introduction.

  Introcaml is developed at [Shogan.ai].

  This release ports Introcaml to OCaml 5.5.2. To try it:

  ┌────
  │ opam switch create 5.5.2+introcaml
  └────


[first announcement]
<https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-introcaml-alpha-polymorphic-printing-and-introspection-for-ocaml/18407>

[Shogan.ai] <https://shogan.ai>

What's new
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

◊ JSON printer

  A generic JSON printer is available in `Introspect.Json.*', intended
  for debugging (and piping through [jq] :sweat_smile:):

  ┌────
  │ # Introspect.Json.to_channel stdout [
  │     `Point {x = 5; y = 0};
  │     `String "foo";
  │     `List [Result.Ok true; Result.Error false]
  │   ];;
  │ [{"Point":{"x":5,"y":0}},{"String":"foo"},{"List":[{"Ok":true},{"Error":false}]}]
  │ - : unit = ()
  │ # 
  └────


  [jq] <https://jqlang.org/>


◊ Debugging flags

  • `-dblock-desc' shows descriptors in `-dlambda' and similar output.
  • `-verbose' reports descriptor collisions at link time.


Compatibility
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  Object files and executables (exec, cmo, cma, cmx, cmxa, cmxs) now use
  Introcaml-specific magic numbers (`Caml1999?901'). cmi, cmt and ast
  files keep the upstream format.


◊ js_of_ocaml support

  Although this was done in the js_of_ocaml repository, I think it is
  relevant to point the work we did @hhugo to bring full compatibility
  with Introcaml. js_of_ocaml can now be installed in Introcaml switches
  and javascript builds can now be instrumented. This brings polymorphic
  printing to OCaml programs compiled with js_of_ocaml, at no observable
  runtime cost (in our experiments).

  There is also opt-in integration with the browser's JavaScript console
  (`console.log') and debugger, though this appears to be Chrome-only as
  far as I can tell. See [how to enable it].


  [how to enable it]
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-js-of-ocaml-wasm-of-ocaml-6-5/18632/3>


Bug fixes
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  • *Descriptor collisions:* descriptors are hashed better, reducing
     collisions. When they still collide, values are printed raw instead
     of with the wrong names.
  • *Descriptor representation:* the representation is simpler and more
     portable.
  • *Missing descriptors:* I fixed a few cases where descriptors were
     omitted or lost during compilation (large native allocations,
     `#load' in the toplevel).
  • *Float arrays and records:* this fixes bugs reported by @vouillon
     ([#5], [#6], [#7]), paving the way toward compatibility with
     wasm_of_ocaml.
  • *Printing:* `~steps' now bounds long lists and arrays, and printing
     is domain-safe.

  Introcaml also received the "Claude treatment" to catch bugs I missed
  :clown_face:.


[#5] <https://github.com/let-def/ocaml/issues/5>

[#6] <https://github.com/let-def/ocaml/issues/6>

[#7] <https://github.com/let-def/ocaml/issues/7>


ocaml-ssl 0.8.1
═══════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-ocaml-ssl-0-8-1/18674/1>


Romain Beauxis announced
────────────────────────

  Hi all!

  `ocaml-ssl' version [0.8.1] was just released and added to the `opam'
  registry.

  [Version 0.8.0] was released a few weeks back with a bunch of bugfixes
  and cleanups and 0.8.1 now also adds support for SSL v4.

  All projects using `ocaml-ssl' should now consider updating to this
  latest version.

  As usual, feel free to suggest patches and etc. Also, the package
  could definitely use more workforce is you're interested in stepping
  in.

  Thanks,

  - Romain


[0.8.1] <https://github.com/savonet/ocaml-ssl/releases/tag/v0.8.1>

[Version 0.8.0]
<https://github.com/savonet/ocaml-ssl/releases/tag/v0.8.0/>


Old CWN
═══════

  If you happen to miss a CWN, you can [send me a message] and I'll mail
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  [Alan Schmitt]


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[Alan Schmitt] <https://alan.petitepomme.net/>


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