Re: [Ocaml-lib-devel] Future of ExtLib

[<syl...@po...>]

Hello,

On Fri, Apr 09, 2004 at 08:59:51PM +0200, Nicolas Cannasse wrote:
> 
> The point about EmuC is :
> - do we write and maintain C stubs for each of the external librairies we
> might need
> or
> - do we use EmuC only and write stubs in OCaml using EmuC
> If we choose the EmuC way, then we have only one - quite small - C file to
> maintain. That's might still be quite big, so maybe we don't have to put
> EmuC in the default install at the beginning, but after we have stubs for
> let's say 5 or more librairies, it will be worth it.
> 
> Other choice is to keep away from C, but there is some times (zlib,
> cryptography, ipv6 support, and many others... ) that we can't or that the
> effort to write it again in ocaml is simply to big compare to writing stubs
> and maintaining EmuC. I don't want also to put C code into ExtLib, but maybe
> one day we'll have to :-)
> 

Well, i have nothing against emuc... I think it can come along extlib, but
i don't think it is good to have it in extlib ( just my point of view ).

However, have you considered some tools like camlidl ?

I use it to wrap some C stuff, and it is very simple and powerful ( but
it is not very flexible... ). It allows you to 
cp zlib.h camlzlib.idl
vim camlzlib.idl -> explain that this structure, should this one in
ocaml, this function returns, if the return is this, then it is an error
etc
camlidl camlzlib.idl -> camlzlib.c camlzlib.ml camlzlib.mli
compile

It is very easy to write stubs with it... 

I think it is a good tool to write easily C stub in Ocaml ( moreover it
is written by a guy you should know : X. Leroy )

http://caml.inria.fr/camlidl/

I don't say the solution is perfect, but i have so many problem using
C on different architecture comparing to ocaml portability ( which is
sometime partial -- essentially when it depends on C code ).

Kind regard
Sylvain Le Gall