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And here is the pending effort for better experience of OCaml on Windows: https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191 https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191

by xvilka 11y ago

kxyvr 11y ago
For me, this has been the central issue for not moving many of my projects to OCaml. OPAM sort of works on Windows, but most of the packages I tried to pull broke and fixing them was difficult. Making OPAM work seamlessly on Windows would be a big win in my opinion.
- dhekir 11y ago
  I had some success using this MinGW-based OPAM repository: https://github.com/fdopen/opam-repository-mingw https://github.com/fdopen/opam-repository-mingw The packages that I needed and that didn't compile in the standard repository were working thanks to patches applied in his repository. Also, the maintainer was very prompt and helpful when dealing with my pull request. There are other forks of that repository, but when googling for "opam windows" they do not appear on the first page, which is unfortunate since they seem to me the best currently available option.
  - kxyvr 11y ago
    Thanks for the reference as I've not tried that. Unfortunately, that project just failed to install for me, but I put in a bug report for the maintainer. Ideally, there'd be an official Windows port and installer that doesn't depend on Cygwin. Certainly that takes time and effort to develop and maintain, so it's nice to see projects like this in the interim.
kevingadd 11y ago
Getting OCaml working at all on Windows was a hell nightmare early last year when we were setting it up for WebAssembly and that definitely soured people's opinions of it. We stuck with it because it had some dedicated fans in the working group (happily using it on linux, mostly) and it turned out to be worth the trouble, but otherwise we would have turned to some other language (F#, probably). So I'm really glad to see those problems are being taken seriously!
- pjmlp 11y ago
  I for one was quite disappointed to have bought the book "Real World OCaml" only to notice that it wasn't supported on Windows. So aside a short gig to port old Caml Light code that I had lying around into OCaml, I actually spend my ML like coding in F#.
  - systems 11y ago
    why did you buy the book, you can read it free online
    - baldfat 11y ago
      I usually buy online books to support the project. Not the person who bought this book.
      - pjmlp 11y ago
        Same with me. Sure I was disappointed, but sponsoring the people working on OCaml is more important.
    - nv-vn 11y ago
      I don't know about others, but having a physical book sometimes motivates me to read it more than a digital copy would.
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      I like to give money to the people for their efforts, so that they can work on technologies that I appreciate. The writers of the book have bills to pay.

And here is the pending effort for better experience of OCaml on Windows: https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191 https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191

by xvilka 11y ago

And here is the pending effort for better experience of OCaml on Windows: https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191 https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2191

kxyvr 11y ago

For me, this has been the central issue for not moving many of my projects to OCaml. OPAM sort of works on Windows, but most of the packages I tried to pull broke and fixing them was difficult. Making OPAM work seamlessly on Windows would be a big win in my opinion.

dhekir 11y ago
I had some success using this MinGW-based OPAM repository: https://github.com/fdopen/opam-repository-mingw https://github.com/fdopen/opam-repository-mingw The packages that I needed and that didn't compile in the standard repository were working thanks to patches applied in his repository. Also, the maintainer was very prompt and helpful when dealing with my pull request. There are other forks of that repository, but when googling for "opam windows" they do not appear on the first page, which is unfortunate since they seem to me the best currently available option.
- kxyvr 11y ago
  Thanks for the reference as I've not tried that. Unfortunately, that project just failed to install for me, but I put in a bug report for the maintainer. Ideally, there'd be an official Windows port and installer that doesn't depend on Cygwin. Certainly that takes time and effort to develop and maintain, so it's nice to see projects like this in the interim.

kevingadd 11y ago

Getting OCaml working at all on Windows was a hell nightmare early last year when we were setting it up for WebAssembly and that definitely soured people's opinions of it. We stuck with it because it had some dedicated fans in the working group (happily using it on linux, mostly) and it turned out to be worth the trouble, but otherwise we would have turned to some other language (F#, probably). So I'm really glad to see those problems are being taken seriously!

pjmlp 11y ago
I for one was quite disappointed to have bought the book "Real World OCaml" only to notice that it wasn't supported on Windows. So aside a short gig to port old Caml Light code that I had lying around into OCaml, I actually spend my ML like coding in F#.
- systems 11y ago
  why did you buy the book, you can read it free online
  - baldfat 11y ago
    I usually buy online books to support the project. Not the person who bought this book.
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      Same with me. Sure I was disappointed, but sponsoring the people working on OCaml is more important.
  - nv-vn 11y ago
    I don't know about others, but having a physical book sometimes motivates me to read it more than a digital copy would.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    I like to give money to the people for their efforts, so that they can work on technologies that I appreciate. The writers of the book have bills to pay.