path: root/README.win32

       Release notes on the MS Windows ports of OCaml
       ----------------------------------------------

There are no less than four ports of OCaml for MS Windows available:
  - a native Win32 port, built with the Microsoft development tools;
  - a native Win32 port, built with the 32-bit version of the gcc
    compiler from the mingw-w64 project, packaged in Cygwin
    (under the name mingw64-i686);
  - a port consisting of the Unix sources compiled under the Cygwin
    Unix-like environment for Windows;
  - a native Win64 port (64-bit Windows), built with the Microsoft
    development tools.

Here is a summary of the main differences between these ports:

                                      Native MS     Native MinGW        Cygwin

64 bits?                            Win32 or Win64    Win32 only      Win32 only

Third-party software required
  - for base bytecode system            none            none            none
  - for ocamlc -custom                  MSVC            Cygwin          Cygwin
  - for native-code generation          MSVC+MASM       Cygwin          Cygwin

Speed of bytecode interpreter           70%             100%            100%

Replay debugger                         yes (**)        yes (**)        yes

The Unix library                        partial         partial         full

The Threads library                     yes             yes             yes

The Graphics library                    yes             yes             no

Restrictions on generated executables?  none            none            yes (*)

(*) Cygwin-generated .exe files refer to a DLL that is distributed under
the GPL.  Thus, these .exe files can only be distributed under a license
that is compatible with the GPL.  Executables generated by MSVC or by
MinGW have no such restrictions.

(**) The debugger is supported but the "replay" functions are not enabled.
Other functions are available (step, goto, run...).

The remainder of this document gives more information on each port.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           The native Win32 port built with Microsoft Windows SDK
           ------------------------------------------------------

REQUIREMENTS:

This port runs under MS Windows 7 (32 and 64 bits), Vista, XP, and 2000.

The base bytecode system (ocamlc, ocaml, ocamllex, ocamlyacc, ...)
runs without any additional tools.

The native-code compiler (ocamlopt) requires the Microsoft Windows SDK
(item [1]) and the flexdll tool (item [2]).

Statically linking OCaml bytecode with C code (ocamlc -custom) also requires
items [1] and [2].

The LablTk GUI requires Tcl/Tk 8.5 (item [3]).


INSTALLATION:

The binary distribution is a self-installing executable archive.
Just run it and it should install OCaml automatically.

To run programs that use the LablTK GUI, the directory where the
DLLs tk85.dll and tcl85.dll were installed (by the Tcl/Tk
installer) must be added to the PATH environment variable.

To compile programs that use the LablTK GUI, the directory where the
libraries tk85.lib and tcl85.lib were installed (by the Tcl/Tk
installer) must be added to the library search path in the LIB
environment variable.  E.g. if Tcl/Tk was installed in C:\Tcl, add
"C:\Tcl\lib" to the LIB environment variable.

THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE:

[1] Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1.
    Can be downloaded for free from
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx
    under the name "Microsoft Windows 7 SDK".

[2] flexdll version 0.29 or later.
    Can be downloaded from http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html

[3] TCL/TK version 8.5.  Windows binaries are available as part of the
    ActiveTCL distribution at http://www.activestate.com/activetcl/downloads

RECOMPILATION FROM THE SOURCES:

The command-line tools can be recompiled from the Unix source
distribution (ocaml-X.YY.Z.tar.gz), which also contains the files modified
for Windows.

You will need the following software components to perform the recompilation:
- Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, or 7 (32 or 64 bits).
- Items [1], [2] and [3] from the list of recommended software above.
  Make sure to install the 32-bit version of TCL/TK, even if you are
  compiling on a 64-bit Windows.
- The Cygwin port of GNU tools, available from http://www.cygwin.com/
  Install at least the following packages (and their dependencies):
  diffutils, make, ncurses.

First, you need to set up your cygwin environment for using the MS
tools.  The following assumes that you have installed [1], [2], and [3]
in their default directories.  If this is not the case, you will need
to adjust the paths accordingly.

  Open a Windows Command Prompt and enter the following command:
    set PFPATH=C:\Program Files
  If you are compiling on the 64-bit version of Windows 7, enter the
  following instead:
    set PFPATH=C:\Program Files (x86)

  Then enter the following commands:
    cd "%PFPATH%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin"
    set FLEXDLLDIR=%PFPATH%\flexdll
    vcvars32
    echo VCPATH="`cygpath -p '%Path%'`" >C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo LIB="%LIB%;C:\Tcl\lib" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo LIBPATH="%LIBPATH%" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo INCLUDE="%INCLUDE%;%FLEXDLLDIR%;C:\Tcl\include" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo FLPATH="`cygpath '%FLEXDLLDIR%'`" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo PATH="$VCPATH:$FLPATH:$PATH" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo export PATH LIB LIBPATH INCLUDE >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo export OCAMLBUILD_FIND=/usr/bin/find >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv

  Open a Cygwin shell and enter the following commands:
    tr -d '\r' </tmp/msenv >.msenv32
    echo '. $HOME/.msenv32' >>.bashrc

Now, close the Command Prompt and the shell and you're set up for
using the MS tools under Cygwin.


To recompile OCaml, start a new Cygwin shell and change to the top-level
directory of the OCaml distribution.  Then, do

        cp config/m-nt.h config/m.h
        cp config/s-nt.h config/s.h
        cp config/Makefile.msvc config/Makefile

Then, edit config/Makefile as needed, following the comments in this file.
Normally, the only variables that need to be changed are
        PREFIX      where to install everything
        TK_ROOT     where TCL/TK was installed

Finally, use "make -f Makefile.nt" to build the system, e.g.

        make -f Makefile.nt world
        make -f Makefile.nt bootstrap
        make -f Makefile.nt opt
        make -f Makefile.nt opt.opt
        make -f Makefile.nt install

NOTES:

* The VC++ compiler does not implement "computed gotos", and therefore
generates inefficient code for byterun/interp.c. Consequently, the
performance of bytecode programs is about 2/3 of that obtained under
Unix/GCC or Cygwin or Mingw on similar hardware.

* Libraries available in this port: "num", "str", "threads", "graphics",
"labltk", and large parts of "unix".

* The replay debugger is partially supported (no reverse execution).

CREDITS:

The initial port of Caml Special Light (the ancestor of OCaml) to
Windows NT was done by Kevin Gallo at Microsoft Research, who kindly
contributed his changes to the OCaml project.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           The native Win32 port built with Mingw
           --------------------------------------

REQUIREMENTS:

This port runs under MS Windows Seven, Vista, XP, and 2000.

The base bytecode system (ocamlc, ocaml, ocamllex, ocamlyacc, ...)
runs without any additional tools.

The native-code compiler (ocamlopt), as well as static linking of
OCaml bytecode with C code (ocamlc -custom), require
the Cygwin development tools, available at
        http://www.cygwin.com/
and the flexdll tool, available at
        http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html
You will need to install at least the following Cygwin packages (use
the Setup tool from Cygwin):

 mingw64-i686-binutils
 mingw64-i686-gcc
 mingw64-i686-gcc-core
 mingw64-i686-runtime


NOTES:

  - Do not use the Cygwin version of flexdll for this port.

  - There is another 32-bit gcc compiler, from the MinGW.org
    project, packaged in Cygwin under the name mingw-gcc.
    It is not currently supported by flexdll and OCaml.

  - The standard gcc compiler shipped with Cygwin used to
    support a "-mno-cygwin" option, which turned the compiler
    into a mingw compiler. This option was used
    by previous versions of flexdll and OCaml, but it is no
    longer available in recent version, hence the switch
    to another toolchain packaged in Cygwin.

  - The standalone mingw toolchain from the MinGW-w64 project
    (http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/) is not supported.
    Please use the version packaged in Cygwin instead.

The LablTk GUI requires Tcl/Tk 8.5.  Windows binaries are available
as part of the ActiveTCL distribution at
  http://www.activestate.com/activetcl/downloads
Note that you will need to install the 32-bit version of ActiveTCL,
even if you are on a 64-bit version of Windows.

INSTALLATION:

The binary distribution is a self-installing executable archive.
Just run it and it should install OCaml automatically.

To run programs that use the LablTK GUI, the directory where the
DLLs tk85.dll and tcl85.dll were installed (by the Tcl/Tk
installer) must be added to the PATH environment variable.

To compile programs that use the LablTK GUI, the directory where the
libraries tk85.lib and tcl85.lib were installed (by the Tcl/Tk
installer) must be added to the library search path in the LIB
environment variable.  E.g. if Tcl/Tk was installed in C:\tcl, add
"C:\tcl\lib" to the LIB environment variable.


RECOMPILATION FROM THE SOURCES:

You will need the following software components to perform the recompilation:
- Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, or Seven.
- Cygwin: http://cygwin.com/
  Install at least the following packages (and their dependencies, as
  computed by Cygwin's setup.exe):
     mingw64-i686-binutils
     mingw64-i686-gcc
     mingw64-i686-gcc-core
     mingw64-i686-runtime
     diffutils
     make
     ncurses
- Tcl/Tk version 8.5 (see above).
- The flexdll tool (see above).  Do not forget to add the flexdll directory
  to your PATH

The standalone mingw toolchain from the MinGW-w64 project
(http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/) is not supported.  Please use the
version packaged in Cygwin instead.

Start a new Cygwin shell and unpack the source distribution
(ocaml-X.YY.Z.tar.gz) with "tar xzf".  Change to the top-level
directory of the OCaml distribution.  Then, do

        cp config/m-nt.h config/m.h
        cp config/s-nt.h config/s.h
        cp config/Makefile.mingw config/Makefile

Then, edit config/Makefile as needed, following the comments in this file.
Normally, the only variables that need to be changed are
        PREFIX      where to install everything
        TK_ROOT     where Tcl/Tk was installed

Finally, use "make -f Makefile.nt" to build the system, e.g.

        make -f Makefile.nt world
        make -f Makefile.nt bootstrap
        make -f Makefile.nt opt
        make -f Makefile.nt opt.opt
        make -f Makefile.nt install


NOTES:

* Libraries available in this port: "num", "str", "threads", "graphics",
  "labltk", and large parts of "unix".

* The replay debugger is partially supported (no reverse execution).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                  The Cygwin port of OCaml
                  ------------------------

REQUIREMENTS:

This port requires the Cygwin environment from Cygnus/RedHat, which
is freely available at:
          http://www.cygwin.com/

It also requires the flexdll tool, available at:
          http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html

This port runs under all versions of MS Windows supported by Cygwin.


INSTALLATION:

We do not distribute binaries for this port, but they can be found
in the Cygwin distribution (use the Setup tool from Cygwin and select
the OCaml packages).  Alternatively, recompile from the source distribution.


RECOMPILATION FROM THE SOURCES:

Before starting, make sure that the gcc version installed by cygwin
is not 4.5.3 (it has a bug that affects OCaml).  If needed, use cygwin's
setup.exe to downgrade to 4.3.4.

You will need to recompile (and install) flexdll from source with
Cygwin's C compiler because the official binary version of flexdll
doesn't handle Cygwin's symbolic links and sometimes fails to
launch the C compiler.

In order to recompile flexdll, you first need to configure, compile,
and install OCaml without flexdll support (configure with options
-no-shared-libs -no-tk -no-camlp4), then modify the flexdll Makefile
to change line 51 from:
  LINKFLAGS = -ccopt "-link version_res.o"
to:
  LINKFLAGS = -cclib version_res.o

Then "make CHAINS=cygwin" and add the flexdll directory to your PATH.
Make sure to add it before "/usr/bin" or you will get cygwin's flexlink.

Then, in OCaml's source directory, type:
  make clean
  make distclean
and follow the instructions for Unix machines given in the file INSTALL.


NOTES:

- There is a problem with cygwin's port of gcc version 4.5.3.  You should
  use cygwin's setup program to downgrade to 4.3.4 before compiling OCaml.
- The replay debugger is fully supported.
- When upgrading from 3.12.0 to 3.12.1, you will need to remove
  /usr/local/bin/ocamlmktop.exe before typing "make install".
- In order to use the "graph" and "labltk" libraries, you will need
  to use Cygwin's setup.exe to install the xinit, libX11-devel, tcl,
  and tcl-tk packages before compiling OCaml.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       The native Win64 port built with Microsoft Windows SDK
       ------------------------------------------------------

REQUIREMENTS:

This port runs under MS Windows XP 64, Windows Server 64, and
Windows 7 64 on Intel64/AMD64 machines.

The base bytecode system (ocamlc, ocaml, ocamllex, ocamlyacc, ...)
runs without any additional tools.

Statically linking OCaml bytecode with C code (ocamlc -custom) requires the
Microsoft Platform SDK compiler (item [1] in the section
"third-party software" below) and the flexdll tool (item [2]).

The native-code compiler (ocamlopt) requires the Microsoft compiler
and the Microsoft assembler MASM64 (item [1]) and the flexdll tool (item [2]).

The LablTk GUI is not available in this version.

INSTALLATION:

There is no binary distribution yet.  Please compile from sources as
described below.


THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE:

[1] Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1.
    Can be downloaded for free from
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx
    under the name "Microsoft Windows 7 SDK".

[2] flexdll version 0.29 or later.
    Can be downloaded from http://alain.frisch.fr/flexdll.html


RECOMPILATION FROM THE SOURCES:

The command-line tools can be recompiled from the Unix source
distribution (ocaml-X.YZ.tar.gz), which also contains the files modified
for Windows.

You will need the following software components to perform the recompilation:
- Windows XP 64, Windows Server 64, or Windows 7 64.
- Items [1] and [2] from the list of recommended software above.
- The Cygwin port of GNU tools, available from http://www.cygwin.com/
  Install at least the following packages: diffutils, make, ncurses.

First, you need to set up your cygwin environment for using the MS
tools.  The following assumes that you have installed [1] and [2]
in their default directories.  If this is not the case, you will need
to adjust the paths accordingly.

  Open a Windows Command Prompt and enter the following commands:
    set PFPATH=C:\Program Files (x86)
    cd "%PFPATH%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin"
    vcvars64
    echo VCPATH="`cygpath -p '%Path%'`" >C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo LIB="%LIB%;C:\Tcl\lib" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo LIBPATH="%LIBPATH%" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo INCLUDE="%INCLUDE%;C:\Tcl\include" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo FLPATH="`cygpath '%PFPATH%\flexdll'`" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo PATH="${VCPATH}:$PATH:${FLPATH}" >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo export PATH LIB LIBPATH INCLUDE >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv
    echo export OCAMLBUILD_FIND=/usr/bin/find >>C:\cygwin\tmp\msenv

  Open a Cygwin shell and enter the following commands:
    tr -d '\r' </tmp/msenv >.msenv64
    echo '. $HOME/.msenv64' >>.bashrc

Now, close the Command Prompt and the shell and you're set up for
using the MS tools under Cygwin.


To recompile OCaml, start a new Cygwin shell and change to the top-level
directory of the OCaml distribution.  Then, do

        cp config/m-nt.h config/m.h
        cp config/s-nt.h config/s.h
        cp config/Makefile.msvc64 config/Makefile

Then, edit config/Makefile as needed, following the comments in this file.
Normally, the only variable that need to be changed is
        PREFIX      where to install everything

Finally, use "make -f Makefile.nt" to build the system, e.g.

        make -f Makefile.nt world
        make -f Makefile.nt bootstrap
        make -f Makefile.nt opt
        make -f Makefile.nt opt.opt
        make -f Makefile.nt install


NOTES:

* Libraries available in this port: "num", "str", "threads", "graphics",
  and large parts of "unix".

* The replay debugger is partially supported (no reverse execution).

* The graphical browser ocamlbrowser is not supported.