Would it be interesting to use zig as compiler/linker for the object files ? If yes how do you configure ocaml to use zig as backend compiler ?

I managed to use partialy zig. But there might be better ways. This was the script i used to compile echo.ml : #!/usr/local/bin/zsh -v rm echo *.cm* *.s *.o ocamlopt -o echo -cc clang13 -verbose -dstartup -S -inline 20 -nodynlink echo.ml rm echo echo.o And to link #!/usr/local/bin/zsh -v zig cc …

I found a simpler solution: ocamlopt -cc "zig cc" echo.ml

When trying a specific target i get a weird error: E.g. zig cc --target=x86_64-freebsd-gnu “$@” zig build-exe -target x86_64-freebsd-gnu '-L/usr/home/x/.opam/4.13.1+options/lib/ocaml' '/tmp/camlstartup7ae26c.o' '/usr/home/x/.opam/4.13.1+options/lib/ocaml/std_exit.o' 'echo.o' '/usr/home/x/.opam/4…

It is more a feature request. ocamlopt should have a parameter specifying which kind of compiler/linker as gcc , clang, zig use different parameters on the command line and so ocamlopt knows just what to do.

-ccopt and -cclib will do that for you. check out ocamlopt -help or man ocamlopt note that you’re likely to not have working cross compilation beyond at the libc level if you’re lucky… because ocaml distribution bundles object files of its own which zig cc has to link. these files are in your nativ…

This would have been a nice use case. Bummer.

Using zig as compiler

Learning

mseri May 14, 2022, 6:33pm 2

There was a discussion here: Benefit of using zig cc?

Topic		Replies	Views
Benefit of using zig cc? Ecosystem build	13	4740	December 31, 2022
Early work experimenting with zig as a cross-compiler for OCaml Ecosystem cross-compilation	17	2618	May 7, 2025
[ANN] Building the OCaml Toolchain with Bazel - PoC Ecosystem announce , cross-compilation , bazel , toolchains	7	1217	November 10, 2022
How to specify the compiler used to compile the assembly Ecosystem	2	844	November 22, 2021
Chooosing the C compiler when building with opam Ecosystem	1	576	December 12, 2020

Using zig as compiler

Related topics