Bug in Linker?

Shail Aditya (shail@au-bon-pain.lcs.mit.edu)
Fri, 27 Nov 92 22:21:18 EST

Date: Fri, 27 Nov 92 22:21:18 EST
From: shail@au-bon-pain.lcs.mit.edu (Shail Aditya)
Message-Id: <9211280321.AA27723@au-bon-pain.lcs.mit.edu>
To: caml-list@margaux
Subject: Bug in Linker?

Hello,

I have noticed a possible bug in the 0.5 release of the
camllight compiler (camlc) and linker that surfaces only sometimes,
but often enough to make me write this message.

Here is what happens:

I have a file foo_aux.ml in which I define a variable, say "bar". I
have another file foo.ml in which I open "foo_aux" and then use "bar"
inside it.

Now, I compile foo_aux.ml and foo.ml one by one in that sequence
(using the make facility). While compiling foo.ml, the compiler gives
me errors saying that "foo_aux__bar" is referenced before being
defined.

Surprisingly, the file foo.zo is still present. I link it with the
rest of the program and it works fine!! If I compile foo.ml again the
error message is produced again.

All I want to know is whether this is a known bug and I should not
worry. It does not bother me too much since the final program is able
to link properly and works fine even after the compiler tells me there
is something wrong.

I can give more details and actual examples if necessary.

Shail Aditya.