Which OS and tools give me the most I can get out of OCAML’s available libraries and Windows support? I’m on Windows and have 5.30 installed, but it appears that Linux / MaxOS has superior support. Should I invest in a Linux setup or WSL2 on Windows?
Regards,
Anthony
Windows support in the ecosystem is getting there 
It depends on what you want to achieve, but the main tools and libraries support it. You should use the latest version of everything.
I would word it differently. “Should I invest in a Windows setup to provide feedback to make it more robust, or should I be lazy and use WSL2?” Windows support is good enough to be usable and without major problems, but there are small problems. Installing WSL is trivial.
Edit: by “usable” I mean not restricted to Windows hackers, usable by everyone, including me: I switched from WSL to Windows (default cygwin install) a week ago.
Thank you, Rucikir. I, do, appear to have the latest of everything, however,I was trying to apply some examples from a book that had used some Janestreet libraries which don’t work in Windows so I have been somewhat disappointed that I don’t have full support. I thought that maybe I should be using Linux or WSL/2.
Anthony
Thank you, Rucikir. I, do, appear to have the latest of everything, however,I was trying to apply some examples from a book that had used some Janestreet libraries which don’t work in Windows so I have been somewhat disappointed that I don’t have full support. I thought that maybe I should be using Linux or WSL/2.
Anthony
I want to leverage all that’s available, however. I have seen while learning that not all libraries work in Windows as well as some wonkiness with Windows/VSCode use. There appears to be much more “been there, done that” advice in non-windows support of OCAML. My favorite toolset has always been Jetbrains which has pretty much been at the forefront of many language toolsets and for which I only see very weak support of OCAML.
lukstafi, Thank you for your reply.
Anthony
I think WSL+VSCode Remote+Cross compiling for Windows is still a very reasonable path, if you’re already comfortable e.g. using bash. If it would be your first foray into Linux, trying the native path first seems like a good idea
WardBrian-
I’m familiar with bash. Do you suggest WLS 1 or 2 ???
Thank you,
Anthony
I am a WSL1 hold-out due to the known filesystem performance issues with WSL2. If you need GUI applications, WSL2 is the better choice, so you can just try to keep your work only in the WSL filesystem rather than the normal Windows one. But with VSCode Remote, it works out either way.
Some Jane Street libraries generally don’t support Windows intentionally, so it’s not actually reflective of OCaml Windows support.
Despite the issue with cross-OS data access, you’ll generally have a much better time with WSL2.
OK. I just want to make sure that I have all I need to become an expert in the language. I’m really liking this as it gives me another way to problem solve as opposed to the imperative languages. For some reason, it seems more of a natural way of thinking, for me. I can’t stop thinking of OCAML and even bought a hoodie with the Camel logo.
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JaneStreet Base works on Windows, and you should try to use Base rather than Core anyway because Base is more lightweight.
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I use WSL2. It’s really seamless and the very poor filesystem performance is only across OS boundaries. The filesystems are transparent across OSes so it’s trivial to do copying (occasional source code file, PDFs etc.) and the slowdown isn’t bad enough for me to notice. Simply have the working dir in the WSL filesystem and there’s no slowdown I think.
This is correct. My particular workflow was set up during WSL1 and so it relies heavily on accessing files that I would like to stay on my C: drive for other reasons, which is slower in WSL2. If you’re starting from scratch it’s much easier to avoid issues if you’re just aware of this problem
I can add my 2 pennies and say that I’m happy OCaml user on Windows via WSL2.
I’m not building native GUI Windows apps, so my life is easier.
I’m mostly creating CLI or TUI applications, with the focus on dev tooling. VSCode and WSL2 work more than great hear, I haven’t experienced any issues so far.
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Chshersh-
If you could point me to the steps for a similar setup, it would be much appreciated!!!
I’m currently setup natively in windows with VSCode, however, I’m thinking your setup might be what I’m looking for.
Thank you!
Anthony
bluddy,
Thank your for your input. I’m going to try setup a WSL2 development environment as soon as I better understand all that I need to do.
Much Appreciated!
Anthony
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I’m now setup with WSL2 and VSCode with little to no setup issues. It’s working well, out of the box! I’m sure that there’s more things to enhance this setup but for now I’m a happy camper 
Thanks to All!
Anthony
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I’ve now moved over my 50+ files over from windows to wsl2 and it’s awesome. so much easier to to get things done for me