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README

Overview

OCaml is an implementation of the ML language, based on the Caml Light dialect extended with a complete class-based object system and a powerful module system in the style of Standard ML.

OCaml comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly, generates compact code with moderate memory requirements, and is portable to essentially any 32 or 64 bit Unix platform. Performance of generated programs is quite good for a bytecoded implementation. This compiler can be used either as a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces standalone programs, or as an interactive, toplevel-based system.

The other compiler generates high-performance native code for a number of processors. Compilation takes longer and generates bigger code, but the generated programs deliver excellent performance, while retaining the moderate memory requirements of the bytecode compiler. The native-code compiler currently runs on the following platforms:

Tier 1 (actively used and maintained by the core OCaml team):

AMD64 (Opteron)

Linux, OS X, MS Windows

IA32 (Pentium)

Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, MS Windows

PowerPC

Linux, OS X

ARM

Linux

Tier 2 (maintained when possible, with help from users):

AMD64

FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD

IA32 (Pentium)

NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris 9

PowerPC

NetBSD

ARM

NetBSD

SPARC

Solaris, Linux, NetBSD

Other operating systems for the processors above have not been tested, but the compiler may work under other operating systems with little work.

Before the introduction of objects, OCaml was known as Caml Special Light. OCaml is almost upwards compatible with Caml Special Light, except for a few additional reserved keywords that have forced some renaming of standard library functions.

Contents

Changes

what’s new with each release

configure

configure script

CONTRIBUTING.md

how to contribute to OCaml

INSTALL.adoc

instructions for installation

LICENSE

license and copyright notice

Makefile

main Makefile

Makefile.nt

MS Windows Makefile

Makefile.shared

common Makefile

Makefile.tools

used by manual/ and testsuite/ Makefiles

README.adoc

this file

README.win32.adoc

info on the MS Windows ports of OCaml

VERSION

version string

asmcomp/

native-code compiler and linker

asmrun/

native-code runtime library

boot/

bootstrap compiler

bytecomp/

bytecode compiler and linker

byterun/

bytecode interpreter and runtime system

compilerlibs/

the OCaml compiler as a library

config/

autoconfiguration stuff

debugger/

source-level replay debugger

driver/

driver code for the compilers

emacs/

editing mode and debugger interface for GNU Emacs

experimental/

experiments not built by default

flexdll/

empty (see README.win32.adoc)

lex/

lexer generator

man/

man pages

manual/

system to generate the manual

middle_end/

the flambda optimisation phase

ocamldoc/

documentation generator

otherlibs/

several external libraries

parsing/

syntax analysis

stdlib/

standard library

testsuite/

tests

tools/

various utilities

toplevel/

interactive system

typing/

typechecking

utils/

utility libraries

yacc/

parser generator

Copyright

All files marked "Copyright INRIA" in this distribution are copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) and distributed under the conditions stated in file LICENSE.

Installation

See the file INSTALL for installation instructions on machines running Unix, Linux, OS X and Cygwin. For native Microsoft Windows, see README.win32.adoc.

Documentation

The OCaml manual is distributed in HTML, PDF, Postscript, DVI, and Emacs Info files. It is available at

The community also maintains the Web site http://ocaml.org, with tutorials and other useful information for OCaml users.

Availability

The complete OCaml distribution can be accessed at

Keeping in Touch with the Caml Community

There exists a mailing list of users of the OCaml implementations developed at INRIA. The purpose of this list is to share experience, exchange ideas (and even code), and report on applications of the OCaml language. Messages can be written in English or in French. The list has more than 1000 subscribers.

Messages to the list should be sent to:

You can subscribe to this list via the Web interface at

Archives of the list are available on the Web site above.

The Usenet news groups comp.lang.ml and comp.lang.functional also contains discussions about the ML family of programming languages, including OCaml.

The IRC channel #ocaml on Freenode also has several hundred users and welcomes questions.

The OCaml Community website is

Bug Reports and User Feedback

Please report bugs using the Web interface to the bug-tracking system at http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs

To be effective, bug reports should include a complete program (preferably small) that exhibits the unexpected behavior, and the configuration you are using (machine type, etc).

You can also contact the implementors directly at caml@inria.fr.

For information on contributing to OCaml, see the file CONTRIBUTING.md.