Here's some code from ocaml-2.02/toplevel/toploop.ml:

[...]

(* Toplevel initialization. Performed here instead of at the
   beginning of loop() so that user code linked in with ocamlmktop
   can call directives from Topdirs. *)

let _ =
  Sys.interactive := true;
  Symtable.init_toplevel();
  Clflags.thread_safe := true;
  Compile.init_path()

let load_ocamlinit () =
  if Sys.file_exists ".ocamlinit" then ignore(use_silently ".ocamlinit")

(* The interactive loop *)

[...]

(* Execute a script *)

let run_script name =
  Compile.init_path();
  toplevel_env := Compile.initial_env();
  Format.set_formatter_out_channel stderr;
  use_silently name


So, in script mode, Compile.init_path() is called twice, defeating the
purpose of hoisting it into pre-main code in the first place, as the
first comment explains it.  I think this is a bug.

Also, I don't see any reason why script mode should omit calling
.ocamlinit.  It does present a security risk, I think, but that
applies to the interactive case as well, and should be best handled by
adding a command line option to the toplevel to disable it.

Here's a patch (without the new option :-)

--- /home/itz/toploop.ml	Tue Apr  6 00:57:59 1999
+++ /usr/src/ocaml-2.02/toplevel/toploop.ml	Sat Apr  3 23:33:31 1999
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@
 (* Execute a script *)
 
 let run_script name =
-  Compile.init_path();
   toplevel_env := Compile.initial_env();
   Format.set_formatter_out_channel stderr;
+  load_ocamlinit ();
   use_silently name


-- 
Ian T Zimmerman                        <itz@transbay.net>
I came to the conclusion that what was wrong about the guillotine
was that the condemned man had no chance at all, absolutely none.
Albert Camus, _The Outsider_