I’m preparing to release the next semi-annual version of DkML (the MSVC/Windows distribution for OCaml). Among other things new in this version, it has been completely decoupled from the deprecated fdopen repository (thanks @fdopen for doing it for so long!). And from my perspective Windows looks good for OCaml going forward:
- opam 2.2 will be able to stand up a Cygwin / OCaml compiler from the main opam repository
- opam CI + repository are getting mechanisms so that the number of safe-for-Windows packages should grow over time
- OCaml 5 will be getting full MinGW (GCC) and then MSVC support
- Many many packages have accepted MSVC patches
There is one structural problem with DkML … it is tightly coupled to my company (Diskuv) and that is not healthy. In particular, seemingly minor decisions on my part (ex. sticking with OCaml 4 for the foreseeable future) have a large blast radius on the OCaml community.
Are there any Windows users who want to use MSVC + OCaml 5 on a daily basis, and who are also willing to maintain the OCaml 5 part of the distribution? The DkML distribution will still be actively developed (ie. the repository, installer, ease-of-use shims, hosting, testing, and release system), so your maintenance responsibilities should not be excessive. If so, please contact me in the next few days so you can see what goes into the release process.
Thanks!