Opam Switch to Multicore OCaml

OPAM has a great compiler switch feature that lets you simultaneously host several OCaml installations, each with its own compiler version and a set of installed packages. I wanted to use the power of opam switch for working with the experimental multicore OCaml compiler. The key advantage of doing this is that it lets you easily install packages from the OPAM repository, while sandboxing it from other OCaml installations on your system. The post will show how to create OPAM compiler switch for multicore OCaml.

Install opam-compiler-conf

The first step is to install Gabriel Scherer’s opam-compiler-conf script which lets you do opam switches on local installations:

$ git clone https://github.com/gasche/opam-compiler-conf $ cd opam-compiler-conf $ mkdir -p ~/.local/bin $ make BINDIR = ~/.local/bin install

This installs the opam-compiler-conf script under ~/.local/bin . Make sure this directory is under your search path. Now, $opam compiler-conf should give you the list of available commands.

Build multicore OCaml locally

Typing opam switch should list the compilers currently installed in your system and those that are available. For instance, here is my setup:

$ opam switch system C system System compiler ( 4.02.1 ) 4.02.1 I 4.02.1 Official 4.02.1 release 4.02.0 I 4.02.0 Official 4.02.0 release 4.01.0 I 4.01.0 Official 4.01.0 release -- -- 3.11.2 Official 3.11.2 release -- -- 3.12.1 Official 3.12.1 release -- -- 4.00.0 Official 4.00.0 release -- -- 4.00.1 Official 4.00.1 release # 66 more patched or experimental compilers, use '--all' to show

You can easily switch between the installations using opam switch [system-name] . Let us now install multicore OCaml as a new switch:

$ git clone https://github.com/ocamllabs/ocaml-multicore $ cd ocaml-multicore $ opam compiler-conf configure $ make world $ opam compiler-conf install $ eval ` opam config env `

The multicore compiler is now installed and has been made the current compiler:

$ opam switch system I system System compiler ( 4.02.1 ) 4.02.1+local-git-multicore C 4.02.1+local-git-multicore Local checkout of 4.02.1 at /Users/kc/ocaml-multicore 4.02.1 I 4.02.1 Official 4.02.1 release 4.02.0 I 4.02.0 Official 4.02.0 release 4.01.0 I 4.01.0 Official 4.01.0 release -- -- 3.11.2 Official 3.11.2 release -- -- 3.12.1 Official 3.12.1 release -- -- 4.00.0 Official 4.00.0 release -- -- 4.00.1 Official 4.00.1 release # 66 more patched or experimental compilers, use '--all' to show

This can be confirmed by:

$ ocamlc -version 4.02.1+multicore-dev0

which shows the current OCaml bytecode compiler version.

Working with the local switch

Every time you change the compiler source, you need to rebuild the compiler and reinstall the switch:

# Changed compiler source... $ make world $ opam compiler-conf reinstall