Hello gasche, Actually i didn't even known about the @responsefile feature. My ocaml 3.12.1 console programs still run under Windows98se, Win98 can no more compile yet it can run. So ocaml windows support is quite long-term. I don't mind whether the @responsefile feature is removed or not. I won't be affected.
Thanks for the consideration, - Damien Guichard (SpiceGuid) Le 05/03/2012 à 11:46:08, Gabriel Scherer <gabriel.sche...@gmail.com> à écrit : >In the process of discussing bug #5312, the caml team would like to >know if people still have use of the @responsefile feature under >windows. If not, it could be removed from the runtime -- that is from >all OCaml programs. > > http://caml.inria.fr/mantis/view.php?id=5312 > >@responsefile is a feature/convention under Windows to provide files >containing command-line argument options; when a tool parses >command-line options and encounters a file name prefixed by a '@' >character, it expands its contents as if it were part of the >command-line invocation. This is used to circumvent the historically >fairly ridiculous limit on command-line length in the old 'cmd.com'. > >The OCaml toolchain copes with @responsefile in two places -- as far >as I know, but I'm not familiar with anything Windows. First, when the >compiler invokes external tools (linkers, etc.) under Windows, it uses >a @responsefile if the command-line length exceeds a fixed limit -- >curently 4096, used to be 256 and annoy users. > >Second, under Windows only, the OCaml runtime considers @-prefixed >arguments as responsefile file names, and expands them during its >initialization phase. This is silently done by the OCaml *runtime*, so >all OCaml programs are affected; the compilers, but also the user >programs. Did you know that you shouldn't use '@' in your command-line >parameters syntax if you want your program to work on Windows? > >The first use has been problematic in the past because some of the >underlying toolchains (Cygwin, mingw...) did not support >@responsefiles. The second case is now problematic as the @-syntax >conflicts with the warning-as-error syntax of the compiler: as >reported by Dmitry Grebeniuk, "-w @a" under windows complains about >a missing file "a", while it really should mark all warnings as >errors -- a very bad idea for future compatibility when new warnings >are added, by the way; don't use that in released OCaml software. > >According to our Windows spies, the command-line restrictions are >nowadays very reasonable: 8K for cmd.com, and 32K internally. Maybe >the @responsefile feature has outlived its use, and this bug could be >fixed by simply removing the @-files expansion phase of the runtime. > >This change would however affect all user programs, so it should not >be taken lightly; it could break your programs. > >What do OCaml Windows user think? Do you still rely on @reponsefile? >Please complain if you do -- or your users do -- and don't hesitate to >pass the question to off-list OCaml Windows users. > >Some links: > - previous angry discussions about @responsefile: > http://caml.inria.fr/mantis/view.php?id=1877 > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/ml-archives/caml-list/2001/04/ba5a929cb6f14c1148929855a9b55765.en.html > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/ml-archives/caml-list/2007/08/a3cee429c9fe0dd9181975bc1d44b777.en.html > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/ml-archives/caml-list/2007/08/2e8f9b99ab8c61568b09ce28b5c27cc1.en.html > - documentation about the compiler warning options: > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-ocaml/manual022.html > - a warning against using "-warn a -warn-error a" -- unrelated, but can't hurt > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/ml-archives/caml-list/2009/11/91883440c8a0481a4233758946e5c3bf.en.html > >-- >Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and archives: >https://sympa-roc.inria.fr/wws/info/caml-list >Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners >Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs > -- Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and archives: https://sympa-roc.inria.fr/wws/info/caml-list Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
