ocamlbuild - Man Page

ocamlbuild [ -Is  dir1,... ] [ -libs lib1,... ] [ -lflags flag1,... ] [ -pp flags ] [ -tags tag1,... ] [ -j  parallel-jobs ] target.native [ -- arg1 arg2 ... ]

(same options)

ocamlbuild(1) orchestrates the compilation process of your OCaml project.  It is similar in function to make(1) except that it is tailor-made to automatically compile most OCaml projects with very little user input.

ocamlbuild should be invoked in the root of a clean project tree (e.g., with no leftover compilation files).  Given one or more targets to compile, it scans the required subdirectories to gather information about the various files present, running tools such as ocamldep(1) to extract dependency information, and gathering optional files that fine-tune its behaviour. Target names are very significant.

ocamlbuild uses a set of target naming conventions to select the kind of objects to produce.  Target names are of the form base.extension where base is usually the name of the underlying OCaml module and extension denotes the kind of object to produce from that file -- a byte code executable, a native executable, documentation... Of course extensions such as .cmo, .cma, .cmi... map to their usual counterparts.  Here is a list of the most important ocamlbuild-specific extensions:

.native

Native code executable

.byte

Byte code executable

.inferred.mli

Interface inferred with ocamlc-i

.docdir/index.html

HTML documentation generated with ocamldoc

The following command-line options are recognized by ocamlbuild(1).

-version

Display the version

--version

same as -version

-vnum

Display the version number

--vnum

same as -vnum

-quiet

Make as quiet as possible

-verbose <level>

Set the verbosity level on a scale from 0 to 8 (included)

-documentation

Show rules and flags

-log <file>

Set log file

-no-log

No log file

-clean

Remove build directory and other files, then exit

-r

Traverse directories by default (true: traverse)

-I <path>

Add to include directories

-Is <path,...>

(same as above, but accepts a (comma or blank)-separated list)

-X <path>

Directory to ignore

-Xs <path,...>

(idem)

-lib <flag>

Link to this ocaml library

-libs <flag,...>

(idem)

-mod <module>

Link to this ocaml module

-mods <module,...>

(idem)

-pkg <package>

Link to this ocaml findlib package

-pkgs <package,...>

(idem)

-package <package>

(idem)

-syntax <syntax>

Specify syntax using ocamlfind

-lflag <flag>

Add to ocamlc link flags

-lflags <flag,...>

(idem)

-cflag <flag>

Add to ocamlc compile flags

-cflags <flag,...>

(idem)

-docflag <flag>

Add to ocamldoc flags

-docflags <flag,...>

(idem)

-yaccflag <flag>

Add to ocamlyacc flags

-yaccflags <flag,...>

(idem)

-lexflag <flag>

Add to ocamllex flags

-lexflags <flag,...>

(idem)

-ppflag <flag>

Add to ocaml preprocessing flags

-pp <flag,...>

(idem)

-tag <tag>

Add to default tags

-tags <tag,...>

(idem)

-plugin-tag <tag>

Use this tag when compiling the myocamlbuild.ml plugin

-plugin-tags <tag,...>

(idem)

-tag-line <tag>

Use this line of tags (as in _tags)

-show-tags <path>

Show tags that applies on that pathname

-ignore <module,...>

Don't try to build these modules

-no-links

Don't make links of produced final targets

-no-skip

Don't skip modules that are requested by ocamldep but cannot be built

-no-hygiene

Don't apply sanity-check rules

-no-plugin

Don't build myocamlbuild.ml

-no-stdlib

Don't ignore stdlib modules

-dont-catch-errors

Don't catch and display exceptions (useful to display the call stack)

-just-plugin

Just build myocamlbuild.ml

-byte-plugin

Don't use a native plugin but bytecode

-plugin-option

Use the option only when plugin is run

-sanitization-script

Change the file name for the generated sanitization script

-no-sanitize

Do not generate sanitization script

-nothing-should-be-rebuilt

Fail if something needs to be rebuilt

-classic-display

Display executed commands the old-fashioned way

-use-menhir

Use menhir instead of ocamlyacc

-use-jocaml

Use jocaml compilers instead of ocaml ones

-use-ocamlfind

Use the 'ocamlfind' wrapper instead of using Findlib directly to determine command-line arguments. Use -no-ocamlfind to disable. Implies -plugin-use-ocamlfind.

-no-ocamlfind

Don't use ocamlfind. Implies -plugin-no-ocamlfind.

-plugin-use-ocamlfind

Use the 'ocamlfind' wrapper for building myocamlbuild.ml

-plugin-no-ocamlfind

Don't use ocamlfind for building myocamlbuild.ml

-toolchain <toolchain>

Set the Findlib toolchain to use. The default toolchain is always used for building myocamlbuild.ml.

-j <N>

Allow N jobs at once (0 for unlimited)

-build-dir <path>

Set build directory (implies no-links)

-install-lib-dir <path>

Set the install library directory

-install-bin-dir <path>

Set the install binary directory

-where

Display the install library directory

-which <command>

Display path to the tool command

-ocamlc <command>

Set the OCaml bytecode compiler

-plugin-ocamlc <command>

Set the OCaml bytecode compiler used when building myocamlbuild.ml (only)

-ocamlopt <command>

Set the OCaml native compiler

-plugin-ocamlopt <command>

Set the OCaml native compiler used when building myocamlbuild.ml (only)

-ocamldep <command>

Set the OCaml dependency tool

-ocamldoc <command>

Set the OCaml documentation generator

-ocamlyacc <command>

Set the ocamlyacc tool

-menhir <command>

Set the menhir tool (use it after -use-menhir)

-ocamllex <command>

Set the ocamllex tool

-ocamlmklib <command>

Set the ocamlmklib tool

-ocamlmktop <command>

Set the ocamlmktop tool

-ocamlrun <command>

Set the ocamlrun tool

--

Stop argument processing, remaining arguments are given to the user program

-help

Display this list of options

--help

Display this list of options

The ocamlbuild manual, ocaml(1), make(1).
The OCaml user's manual, chapter Batch compilation .