> I'm looking for an equivalent of
> 
> val output_value : out_channel -> 'a -> unit
> 
> that would output the representation of the element of type 'a into a
> 'string' instead of and 'out_channel' (for subsequent inclusion into a
> dbm database). I would like to avoid using a temp file followed by an
> 'input' call.

In the current release (OCaml 1.05), you can do that using
undocumented features, as follows:

        let output_value_to_string v = Obj.marshal(Obj.repr v)

The forthcoming release 1.06 will provide a nicer interface for this
feature.

Regards,

- Xavier Leroy