Some of the highlights in release 3.12 are:
* Polymorphic recursion is supported, using explicit type
declarations on the recursively-defined identifiers.
* First-class modules: module expressions can be embedded as
values of the core language, then manipulated like any other
first-class value, then projected back to the module level.
* New operator to modify a signature a posteriori: S with type
t := tau denotes signature S where the t type component is
removed and substituted by the type tau elsewhere.
* New notations for record expressions and record patterns:
{ lbl } as shorthand for { lbl = lbl }, and { ...; _ } marks
record patterns where some labels were intentionally omitted.
* Local open let open ... in ... now supported by popular demand.
* Type variables can be bound as type parameters to functions;
such types are treated like abstract types within the
function body, and like type variables (possibly generalized)
outside.
* The module type of construct enables to recover the module
type of a given module.
* Explicit method override using the method! keyword, with
associated warnings and errors.
Changelog:
Bug fixes:
- PR#4151: better documentation for min and max w.r.t. NaN
- PR#4421: ocamlbuild uses wrong compiler for C files
- PR#4710, PR#4720: ocamlbuild does not use properly configuration information
- PR#4750: under some Windows installations, high start-up times for Unix lib
- PR#4777: problem with scanf and CRLF
- PR#4783: ocamlmklib problem under Windows
- PR#4810: BSD problem with socket addresses, e.g. in Unix.getnameinfo
- PR#4813: issue with parsing of float literals by the GNU assembler
- PR#4816: problem with modules and private types
- PR#4818: missed opportunity for type-based optimization of bigarray accesses
- PR#4821: check for duplicate method names in classes
- PR#4823: build problem on Mac OS X
- PR#4836: spurious errors raised by Unix.single_write under Windows
- PR#4841, PR#4860, PR#4930: problem with ocamlopt -output-obj under Mac OS X
- PR#4847: C compiler error with ocamlc -output-obj under Win64
- PR#4856: ocamlbuild uses ocamlrun to execute a native plugin
- PR#4867, PR#4760: ocamlopt -shared fails on Mac OS X 64bit
- PR#4873: ocamlbuild ignores "thread" tag when building a custom toplevel
- PR#4890: ocamlbuild tries to use native plugin on bytecode-only arch
- PR#4896: ocamlbuild should always pass -I to tools for external libraries
- PR#4900: small bug triggering automatic compaction even if max_overhead = 1M
- PR#4902: bug in %.0F printf format
- PR#4910: problem with format concatenation
- PR#4922: ocamlbuild recompiles too many files
- PR#4923: missing \xff for scanf %S
- PR#4933: functors not handling private types correctly
- PR#4940: problem with end-of-line in DOS text mode, tentative fix
- PR#4953: problem compiling bytecode interpreter on ARM in Thumb mode.
- PR#4955: compiler crash when typing recursive type expression with constraint
- Module Printf: the simple conversion %F (without width indication) was not
treated properly.
- Makefile: problem with cygwin, flexdll, and symbolic links
- Various build problems with ocamlbuild under Windows with msvc
Feature wishes:
- PR#9: (tentative implementation) make ocamldebug use #linenum annotations
- PR#123, PR#4477: custom exception printers
- PR#3456: Obj.double_field and Obj.set_double_field functions
- PR#4003: destination directory can be given to Filename.[open_]temp_file
- PR#4647: Buffer.blit function
- PR#4685: access to Filename.dir_sep
- PR#4703: support for debugging embedded applications
- PR#4723: "clear_rules" function to empty the set of ocamlbuild rules
- PR#4921: configure option to help cross-compilers
(Changes that can break existing programs are marked with a "*" )
Language features:
- Addition of lazy patterns: "lazy <pat>" matches suspensions whose values,
after forcing, match the pattern <pat>.
- Introduction of private abbreviation types "type t = private <type-expr>",
for abstracting the actual manifest type in type abbreviations.
- Subtyping is now allowed between a private abbreviation and its definition,
and between a polymorphic method and its monomorphic instance.
Compilers:
- The file name for a compilation unit should correspond to a valid
identifier (Otherwise dynamic linking and other things can fail, and
a warning is emitted.)
* Revised -output-obj: the output name must now be provided; its
extension must be one of .o/.obj, .so/.dll, or .c for the
bytecode compiler. The compilers can now produce a shared library
(with all the needed -ccopts/-ccobjs options) directly.
- -dtypes renamed to -annot, records (in .annot files) which function calls
are tail calls.
- All compiler error messages now include a file name and location, for
better interaction with Emacs' compilation mode.
- Optimized compilation of "lazy e" when the argument "e" is
already evaluated.
- Optimized compilation of equality tests with a variant constant constructor.
- The -dllib options recorded in libraries are no longer ignored when
-use_runtime or -use_prims is used (unless -no_auto_link is
explicitly used).
- Check that at most one of -pack, -a, -shared, -c, -output-obj is
given on the command line.
- Optimized compilation of private types as regular manifest types
(e.g. abbreviation to float, float array or record types with only
float fields).
Native-code compiler:
- New port: Mac OS X / Intel in 64-bit mode (configure with -cc "gcc -m64").
- A new option "-shared" to produce a plugin that can be dynamically
loaded with the native version of Dynlink.
- A new option "-nodynlink" to enable optimizations valid only for code
that is never dynlinked (no-op except for AMD64).
- More aggressive unboxing of floats and boxed integers.
- Can select which assembler and asm options to use at configuration time.
Run-time system:
- New implementation of the page table describing the heap (two-level
array in 32 bits, sparse hashtable in 64 bits), fixes issues with address
space randomization on 64-bit OS (PR#4448).
- New "generational" API for registering global memory roots with the GC,
enables faster scanning of global roots.
(The functions are caml_*_generational_global_root in <caml/memory.h>.)
- New function "caml_raise_with_args" to raise an exception with several
arguments from C.
- Changes in implementation of dynamic linking of C code:
under Win32, use Alain Frisch's flexdll implementation of the dlopen
API; under MacOSX, use dlopen API instead of MacOSX bundle API.
- Programs may now choose a first-fit allocation policy instead of
the default next-fit. First-fit reduces fragmentation but is
slightly slower in some cases.
Standard library:
- Parsing library: new function "set_trace" to programmatically turn
on or off the printing of a trace during parsing.
- Printexc library: new functions "print_backtrace" and "get_backtrace"
to obtain a stack backtrace of the most recently raised exception.
New function "record_backtrace" to turn the exception backtrace mechanism
on or off from within a program.
- Scanf library: fine-tuning of meta format implementation;
fscanf behaviour revisited: only one input buffer is allocated for any
given input channel;
the %n conversion does not count a lookahead character as read.
Other libraries:
- Dynlink: on some platforms, the Dynlink library is now available in
native code. The boolean Dynlink.is_native allows the program to
know whether it has been compiled in bytecode or in native code.
- Bigarrays: added "unsafe_get" and "unsafe_set"
(non-bound-checking versions of "get" and "set").
- Bigarrays: removed limitation "array dimension < 2^31".
- Labltk: added support for TK 8.5.
- Num: added conversions between big_int and int32, nativeint, int64.
More efficient implementation of Num.quo_num and Num.mod_num.
- Threads: improved efficiency of mutex and condition variable operations;
improved interaction with Unix.fork (PR#4577).
- Unix: added getsockopt_error returning type Unix.error.
Added support for TCP_NODELAY and IPV6_ONLY socket options.
- Win32 Unix: "select" now supports all kinds of file descriptors.
Improved emulation of "lockf" (PR#4609).
Tools:
- ocamldebug now supported under Windows (MSVC and Mingw ports),
but without the replay feature. (Contributed by Dmitry Bely
and Sylvain Le Gall at OCamlCore with support from Lexifi.)
- ocamldoc: new option -no-module-constraint-filter to include functions
hidden by signature constraint in documentation.
- ocamlmklib and ocamldep.opt now available under Windows ports.
- ocamlmklib no longer supports the -implib option.
- ocamlnat: an experimental native toplevel (not built by default).
Camlp4:
* programs linked with camlp4lib.cma now also need dynlink.cma.
This changes the buildlink3.mk files to use an include guard for the
recursive include. The use of BUILDLINK_DEPTH, BUILDLINK_DEPENDS,
BUILDLINK_PACKAGES and BUILDLINK_ORDER is handled by a single new
variable BUILDLINK_TREE. Each buildlink3.mk file adds a pair of
enter/exit marker, which can be used to reconstruct the tree and
to determine first level includes. Avoiding := for large variables
(BUILDLINK_ORDER) speeds up parse time as += has linear complexity.
The include guard reduces system time by avoiding reading files over and
over again. For complex packages this reduces both %user and %sys time to
half of the former time.
Objective Caml 3.10.2:
----------------------
Bug fixes:
- PR#1217 (partial) Typo in ocamldep man page
- PR#3952 (partial) ocamlopt: allocation problems on ARM
- PR#4339 (continued) ocamlopt: problems on HPPA
- PR#4455 str.mli not installed under Windows
- PR#4473 crash when accessing float array with polymorphic method
- PR#4480 runtime would not compile without gcc extensions
- PR#4481 wrong typing of exceptions with object arguments
- PR#4490 typo in error message
- Random crash on 32-bit when major_heap_increment >= 2^22
- Big performance bug in Weak hashtables
- Small bugs in the make-package-macosx script
- Bug in typing of polymorphic variants (reported on caml-list)
* Bug fixes
* New features:
- made configure script work on PlayStation 3
- ARM port: brought up-to-date for Debian 4.0 (Etch)
- many other small changes and bugfixes in camlp4, ocamlbuild, labltk,
emacs files
By using /bin/ksh (${SH}), we get the desired value of $CWD in on of the
scripts called by the programs install procedure.
Fixes installation under solaris, other platforms unaffected.
- New language features
- New tools
- Faster type-checking of functor applications.
- Referencing an interface compiled with -rectypes from a module
not compiled with -rectypes is now an error.
- Revised the "fragile matching" warning.
- Print a stack backtrace on an uncaught exception.
- Stack overflow detection on MS Windows 32 bits.
- Stack overflow detection on MacOS X PPC and Intel.
- Intel/AMD 64 bits: generate position-independent code by default.
- Fixed bug involving -for-pack and missing .cmx files.
- Fixed bug causing duplication of literals.
- C/Caml interface functions take "char const *" arguments
instead of "char *" when appropriate.
- Faster string comparisons (fast case if strings are ==).
- Other
Bug fixes:
- ocamldoc: -using modtype constraint to filter module elements displayed in doc
- ocamldoc: error in merging of top dependencies of modules
- ocamldoc: -dot-colors has no effect
- ocamdloc: missing crossref in text from intro files
- compilers: segfault with recursive modules
- compilers: infinite loop when compiling objects
- compilers: bad error message when signature mismatch
- compilers: infinite loop with -rectypes
- compilers: contravariance bug in private rows
- compilers: unsafe cast with polymorphic exception
- native compiler: bad assembly code generated for AMD64
- native compiler: stack alignment problems on MacOSX/i386
- stdlib: crash in marshalling
- stdlib: crash when closing a channel twice
- stdlib: memory leak in Sys.readdir
- C interface: better definition of CAMLreturn
- otherlibs/unix: crash in gethostbyname
- tools: subtle problem with unset in makefile
- camlp4: install pa_o_fast.o
- camlp4: install more modules
New features:
- ocamldoc: name resolution in cross-referencing {!name}: if name is not
found, then it is searched in the parent module/class, and in the parent
of the parent, and so on until it is found.
- ocamldoc: new option -short-functors to use a short form to display
functors in html generator
- ocamlprof: added "-version" option
and add a new helper target and script, "show-buildlink3", that outputs
a listing of the buildlink3.mk files included as well as the depth at
which they are included.
For example, "make show-buildlink3" in fonts/Xft2 displays:
zlib
fontconfig
iconv
zlib
freetype2
expat
freetype2
Xrender
renderproto
Changes from 3.09.1:
----
Bug fixes:
- Makefile: problem with "make world.opt"
- compilers: problem compiling several modules with one command line
- compilers,ocamldoc: error message that Emacs cannot parse
- compilers: crash when printing type error
- compilers: -dtypes wrong for monomorphic type variables
- compilers: wrong warning on optional arguments
- compilers: crash when wrong use of type constructor in let rec
- compilers: better wording of "statement never returns" warning
- runtime: inefficiency of signal handling
- runtime: crashes with I/O in multithread programs
- camlp4: empty file name in error messages
- camlp4: stack overflow
- otherlibs/labltk: ocamlbrowser ignores its command line options
- otherlibs/unix: Unix.times wrong under Mac OS X
- otherlibs/unix: wrong doc for execvp and execvpe
- otherlibs/win32unix: random crash in Unix.stat
- stdlib: update_mod not found under Windows
- stdlib: Filename.dirname/basename wrong on Win32
- stdlib: incomplete documentation of Pervasives.abs
- stdlib: Printf bugs
- tools/checkstack.c missing include
- yacc: crash when given argument "-"
New features:
- ported to MacOS X on Intel
- configure: added support for GNU Hurd
RECOMMENDED is removed. It becomes ABI_DEPENDS.
BUILDLINK_RECOMMENDED.foo becomes BUILDLINK_ABI_DEPENDS.foo.
BUILDLINK_DEPENDS.foo becomes BUILDLINK_API_DEPENDS.foo.
BUILDLINK_DEPENDS does not change.
IGNORE_RECOMMENDED (which defaulted to "no") becomes USE_ABI_DEPENDS
which defaults to "yes".
Added to obsolete.mk checking for IGNORE_RECOMMENDED.
I did not manually go through and fix any aesthetic tab/spacing issues.
I have tested the above patch on DragonFly building and packaging
subversion and pkglint and their many dependencies.
I have also tested USE_ABI_DEPENDS=no on my NetBSD workstation (where I
have used IGNORE_RECOMMENDED for a long time). I have been an active user
of IGNORE_RECOMMENDED since it was available.
As suggested, I removed the documentation sentences suggesting bumping for
"security" issues.
As discussed on tech-pkg.
I will commit to revbump, pkglint, pkg_install, createbuildlink separately.
Note that if you use wip, it will fail! I will commit to pkgsrc-wip
later (within day).
order. Remove "@unexec rmdir" lines made redundant by the reordering.
Also, use a more succinct way to match ${OPSYS} + ${MACHINE_ARCH} by
just checking ${MACHINE_PLATFORM}.
* Bug fixes
* New features:
- otherlibs/labltk: browser uses menu bars instead of menu buttons
Changes 3.09.0:
Language features:
- Introduction of private row types, for abstracting the row in object
and variant types.
Type checking:
- Polymorphic variants with at most one constructor [< `A of t] are no
longer systematically promoted to the exact type [`A of t]. This was
more confusing than useful, and created problems with private row
types.
Native-code compiler (ocamlopt):
* Revised implementation of the -pack option (packing of several compilation
units into one). The .cmx files that are to be packed with
"ocamlopt -pack -o P.cmx" must be compiled with "ocamlopt -for-pack P".
In exchange for this additional constraint, ocamlopt -pack is now
available on all platforms (no need for binutils).
* Fixed wrong evaluation order for arguments to certain inlined functions.
* Other (see 'Changes')
