0005547: Enable the "-use-ocamlfind" option by default

Notes
(0007110) gasche (developer) 2012-03-20 10:50	I have discussed this with xclerc and he agrees on principle -- but we should try to get feedback from the original implementors, npouillard and Romain Bardoux, before making changes. I'm directly marking the issue "acknowledged" to avoid burdening the bug triagers. (Of course, feedback is still welcome.)

(0007116) dbuenzli (reporter) 2012-03-20 11:59	Just two things. 1) What happens if you don't have ocamlfind installed ? The tool should still work IMHO. 2) For me I still have to invoke it sometimes without the option because of PR 0005531

(0007246) william (reporter) 2012-03-29 17:50	For your information, I support this feature. - having the option activated by default would be very nice, and one could deactivate it with "-no-ocamlfind". - or activate it automatically when tag "package" is used This is related to bug 0005406

(0007568) meyer (developer) 2012-06-18 22:28	I agree with ubiquity of ocamlfind we should support it. So based on your observations here are the remarks: - ocamlbuild should still work if ocamlfind is not present and emit warning if any of the ocamlfind tags are used but findlib is not installed - this requires of course a check - ocamlbuild should not fallback to ocamlfind (sounds a bit complicated) when none of the features ocamlfind are used. I have reservation to this point. - it should show a nice error message if anybody tries to use any of these ocamlbuild tags, but again I am reserved about this - as one can imagine wants to override tags in the plugin, so extensibilty is maybe more important. - there should be switch - -no-ocamlfind, where we shouldn't look at all if ocamlfind is installed - of course it needs proper documentation and -use-ocamlfind switch marked as deprecated

(0007576) william (reporter) 2012-06-19 09:20 edited on: 2012-06-19 09:23	Hello, meyer, I would amend the behaviour that you imagined. The main principle would be not to have too many "automatic" features that often become a nightmare for both the developer and the user. What I would suggest : - "-no-ocamlfind" is used : ocamlbuild does not try to use ocamlfind, and warns if ocamlfind tags are used - "-no-ocamlfind" is not used : ocamlbuild tries to use ocamlfind, and makes an error if ocamlfind is not found, telling that ocamlfind is not found, and either to install findlib or to use "-no-ocamlfind" based on your remarks, two would be modified : - ocamlbuild should WORK WHITHOUT OCAMLFIND IF "-no-ocamlfind" IS USED and emit warning if any of the ocamlfind tags are used but findlib is not installed - this requires of course a check - ocamlbuild should not fallback to ocamlfind (sounds a bit complicated) when none of the features ocamlfind are used. I have reservation to this point. => not applicable And finally, the other possibility is do the exactly the opposite : - if no tag is given, ocamlbuild does not try to use ocamlfind, and warns if ocamlfind tags are used - if "use-ocamlfind" is given, use ocamlfind, and fails if ocamlfind is not found. In this case, there is mainly only warnings to add to the current ocamlbuild version. This is what I implemented locally (did not have time yet to provide patch). But I think this solution is not as good as the one with "-no-ocamlfind". Regards

(0007995) meyer (developer) 2012-09-01 15:19	Agreed. We'll mark the -use-ocamlfind switch as deprecated in this case.

(0008024) william (reporter) 2012-09-04 22:59	Related to this, It seems that ocamlbuild tries to simulate ocamlfind behaviour itself (in ocamlfind.ml), which does not feel sane... With this, even when ocamlfind is not activated (in 3.12.1, with "use-ocamlfind" not used), ocamlbuild manages to compile some packages calling ocamlfind! (though it fails in the end).

(0008025) meyer (developer) 2012-09-04 23:45	Indeed, this support is a bit outdated, I believe intentions were good, but it's confusing. I'll look into this area and consider depreceation or removal, with a reservation that some parts might be still useful.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2012-03-20 10:47	gasche	New Issue
2012-03-20 10:50	gasche	Note Added: 0007110
2012-03-20 10:50	gasche	Status	new => acknowledged
2012-03-20 10:51	gasche	Severity	minor => tweak
2012-03-20 11:59	dbuenzli	Note Added: 0007116
2012-03-29 17:50	william	Note Added: 0007246
2012-03-29 19:14	gasche	Relationship added	related to 0005406
2012-06-11 04:21	meyer	Assigned To	=> meyer
2012-06-11 04:21	meyer	Status	acknowledged => assigned
2012-06-18 22:28	meyer	Note Added: 0007568
2012-06-19 09:20	william	Note Added: 0007576
2012-06-19 09:22	william	Note Edited: 0007576	View Revisions
2012-06-19 09:23	william	Note Edited: 0007576	View Revisions
2012-09-01 15:19	meyer	Note Added: 0007995
2012-09-04 22:59	william	Note Added: 0008024
2012-09-04 23:45	meyer	Note Added: 0008025
2012-09-06 16:43	doligez	Target Version	=> 4.00.1+dev
2012-09-21 13:36	doligez	Severity	tweak => feature
2012-09-21 13:36	doligez	Target Version	4.00.1+dev =>