Re: [Ocaml-lib-devel] Filename and file manipulation

[Nicolas C. <war...@fr...>]

Just a little additionnal suggestion about SysUtil :

SysUtil is heavily relying on the Unix module for its implementation, and
that's ok. But only one feature ( the Match pattern to match the filename
using a regexp) is using the Str module. In order to reduce dependencies, I
think you should abstract the Match, using an user define regexp matching.
For exemple :

in SysUtil.mli :
---

val configure_regexp : make:(string -> 'a) -> test:('a -> bool) -> unit

in SysUtil.ml :
-----
let regexp_make= ref (fun _ -> failwith "Regexp is not configured")
let regexp_test = ref (fun x _ -> failwith "Regexp is not configured"; x =
0) (* we need to give a type here for ungeneralized variables *)

let configure_regexp ~make ~test =
    regexp_make := Obj.magic make; (* we need to cast here because the type
we need is slighty different *)
    regexp_test := Obj.magic test

* and in testing Match :
    let reg = !regexp_make str in
    fun x -> !regexp_test reg x

Then the user could write :

SysUtil.configure_regexp Str.regexp Str.string_match
before making any Match

( we can also use only one function with currying trick :
    SysUtil.configure_regexp (fun reg -> let reg = Str.regexp reg in
(Str.String.match reg))
but it's then less comprehensible for the user )

Regards,
Nicolas Cannasse