0007570: Toplevel "ocaml -plugin" is not usable

(0018005)
xleroy (administrator)
2017-06-27 16:04

Indeed, dynlink is not usable from the toplevel, because the toplevel provides its own dynlink-like mechanisms, see in particular the way the #load directive is implemented.

This said, the fact that no one noticed the issue until now suggests that there is no use for plugins inside the toplevel and that this functionality could also be removed.

(0018008)
octachron (developer)
2017-06-27 18:18

I gladly concede that the fact that I may be the first to stumble on this issue
clearly indicates that this is not a very sought after feature.

However, this may be partially due to the lack of documentation for compiler plugins up to now.

In term of use case, I was thinking that with plugins working uniformly across the compilers and the toplevel, it may be possible to offload the internationalization of errors and warnings messages to a plugin with just a handful of new hooks in the compiler.

(0018018)
frisch (developer)
2017-06-30 10:33

The toplevel already loads .cmo/.cma passed on the command-line. How would "-plugin" be different?

(0018401)
octachron (developer)
2017-09-29 19:53

One difference might be that the "-plugin" option can modify the arguments of ocamlc/ocamlopt, another point would be just for the sake of symmetry with ocamlc/ocamlopt. Anyway, since the feature is still not functional, I think it ought to be removed for now: https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/1381 [^] .

(0018414)
xleroy (administrator)
2017-09-30 11:05

"Resolved" by removing the ocaml -plugin option and its documentation.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2017-06-27 12:27	octachron	New Issue
2017-06-27 13:37	octachron	Description Updated	View Revisions
2017-06-27 16:04	xleroy	Note Added: 0018005
2017-06-27 16:04	xleroy	Status	new => acknowledged
2017-06-27 18:18	octachron	Note Added: 0018008
2017-06-30 10:33	frisch	Note Added: 0018018
2017-09-29 19:53	octachron	Note Added: 0018401
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Note Added: 0018414
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Status	acknowledged => resolved
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Resolution	open => reopened
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Fixed in Version	=> 4.06.0 +dev/beta1/beta2/rc1
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Target Version	=> 4.06.0 +dev/beta1/beta2/rc1
2017-09-30 11:05	xleroy	Resolution	reopened => fixed

Notes
(0018005) xleroy (administrator) 2017-06-27 16:04	Indeed, dynlink is not usable from the toplevel, because the toplevel provides its own dynlink-like mechanisms, see in particular the way the #load directive is implemented. This said, the fact that no one noticed the issue until now suggests that there is no use for plugins inside the toplevel and that this functionality could also be removed.

(0018008) octachron (developer) 2017-06-27 18:18	I gladly concede that the fact that I may be the first to stumble on this issue clearly indicates that this is not a very sought after feature. However, this may be partially due to the lack of documentation for compiler plugins up to now. In term of use case, I was thinking that with plugins working uniformly across the compilers and the toplevel, it may be possible to offload the internationalization of errors and warnings messages to a plugin with just a handful of new hooks in the compiler.

(0018018) frisch (developer) 2017-06-30 10:33	The toplevel already loads .cmo/.cma passed on the command-line. How would "-plugin" be different?

(0018401) octachron (developer) 2017-09-29 19:53	One difference might be that the "-plugin" option can modify the arguments of ocamlc/ocamlopt, another point would be just for the sake of symmetry with ocamlc/ocamlopt. Anyway, since the feature is still not functional, I think it ought to be removed for now: https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/1381 [^] .

(0018414) xleroy (administrator) 2017-09-30 11:05	"Resolved" by removing the ocaml -plugin option and its documentation.

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