[Fedora-packaging] Issues with Ocaml and Static Linking

[Nigel Jones]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi everyone,

While putting in a couple of packages for Extras Review I've stumbled
into a couple of issues regarding how Ocaml links libraries and how the
Fedora Packaging Guidelines are set.

My packages in question are:
ocamlSDL (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=235804)
camlimages (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=235805)
freetennis (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=235815)

Basically, ocamlSDL and camlimages produce two sets of libraries (a set
of dynamic libraries, and another set for development etc), sadly when
other packages like freetennis build, they staticly link to libraries
such as camlimages/ocamlSDL.

I found it semi-suspect when I built freetennis, and hence why I asked
on bugzilla when I posted the three packages for review, however I did
some more questioning today and after a quick IRC discussion in #ocaml
was told:

12/04 13:39 < G> hmmm, .a .cma and .cmxa are all static ocaml libraries
right?
12/04 13:44 < Smerdyakov> Those are the two library extensions, yes.
12/04 13:44 < Smerdyakov> Native code OCaml doesn't support dynamic loading.
12/04 13:44 < Smerdyakov> I expect that bytecode uses the same files for
                          dynamic loading as static loading.

Looking at my installed files on my laptop, lablgl, lablgtk and labltk
(as well as the main ocaml package) store .a, .cma and .cmxa files in
/usr/lib/ocaml (and subfolders).

As I'm only new to Fedora packaging, could someone please advise on
where I should from here on the matter and what the position of FESCO is
on Ocaml static libraries, and where I should go from here.

Thanks,

Nigel Jones
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFGHZpipldg9bRmG6kRAk8IAJ9JepuGRc7m3AH35XFhRUKG+w1xYgCgis+F
BhyetHeiFfS5U9svDsy9Ufc=
=RmdN
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----