Can ocaml-top load external libraries?

Question

I'm learning OCaml following the tutorial http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/oreilly-book/html/index.html. I'd like to try some examples using list functions of 'core' library. I start ocaml-top (http://www.typerex.org/ocaml-top.html) and get the following error when open 'Core.Std':

# open Core.Std

Characters 0-13:
  open Core.Std;;
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Error: Unbound module Core

The file ~/.ocamlinit contains the following lines (added from Ocaml and Opam: unbound module Core):

(* Added by OPAM. *)
let () =
  try Topdirs.dir_directory (Sys.getenv "OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH")
  with Not_found -> ()
;;
#use "topfind"
#camlp4o
#thread
#require "core"
#require "core.top"
#require "core.syntax"

Executing ocaml from command line works fine (it loads a lot of .cma files on init) and there is no problem opening 'Core.Std'. I can compile the module with:

$ ocamlfind ocamlc -thread -package core calc.ml

I've created my own toplevel linked with 'core', and works fine too:

$ ocamlfind ocamlmktop -o coretop -thread -package core

But ocaml-top can't open 'Core.Std'. Launching ocaml-top with my toplevel doesn't open 'Core.Std'

$ ocaml-top -ocaml /home/thelinuxkitten/coretop

Inserting the contents of ~/.ocamlinit at ocaml-top's prompt

(* Added by OPAM. *)
let () =
try Topdirs.dir_directory (Sys.getenv "OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH")
with Not_found -> ()
;;
#use "topfind";;
#camlp4o;;
#thread;;
#require "core";;
#require "core.top";;
#require "core.syntax";;

produces the following output in the evaluation panel:

     OCaml version 4.01.0


# let () =
  try Topdirs.dir_directory (Sys.getenv "OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH")
  with Not_found -> ()


# #use "topfind"

- : unit = ()
Findlib has been successfully loaded. Additional directives:
  #require "package";;      to load a package
  #list;;                   to list the available packages
  #camlp4o;;                to load camlp4 (standard syntax)
  #camlp4r;;                to load camlp4 (revised syntax)
  #predicates "p,q,...";;   to set these predicates
  Topfind.reset();;         to force that packages will be reloaded
  #thread;;                 to enable threads

- : unit = ()

# #camlp4o

    Camlp4 Parsing version 4.01.0


# #thread
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/dynlink.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/camlp4: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/camlp4/camlp4o.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/threads: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/unix.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/threads/threads.cma: loaded


# #require "core"
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/bigarray.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/bin_prot: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/bin_prot/bin_prot.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/variantslib: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/variantslib/variantslib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/sexplib: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/sexplib/sexplib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/fieldslib: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/fieldslib/fieldslib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_bench: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_bench/pa_bench_lib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/oUnit: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/oUnit/oUnitAdvanced.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/oUnit/oUnit.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_ounit: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_ounit/pa_ounit_lib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/typerep_kernel: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/typerep_kernel/typerep_kernel.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core_kernel: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core_kernel/raise_without_backtrace.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core_kernel/core_kernel.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_test: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_test/pa_test.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core/core.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core/core_top.cma: loaded


# #require "core.top"


# #require "core.syntax"
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/core/core_top.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/type_conv: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/type_conv/pa_type_conv.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/sexplib/pa_sexp_conv.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/fieldslib/pa_fields_conv.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/variantslib/pa_variants_conv.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/comparelib: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/comparelib/comparelib.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/comparelib/pa_compare.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/bin_prot/pa_bin_prot.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/custom_printf: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/custom_printf/pa_custom_printf.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_pipebang: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/pa_pipebang/pa_pipebang.cma: loaded
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/herelib: added to search path
/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/herelib/pa_herelib.cma: loaded


# 

I've installed OCaml, core and ocaml-top with OPAM

$ opam config env
CAML_LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/stublibs:/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/lib/ocaml/stublibs"; export CAML_LD_LIBRARY_PATH;
OPAMROOT="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam"; export OPAMROOT;
PERL5LIB="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/perl5:"; export PERL5LIB;
OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/lib/toplevel"; export OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH;
MANPATH="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/man:/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/brlcad/share/man"; export MANPATH;
PATH="/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/.opam/system/bin:/home/thelinuxkitten/ocamlbrew/ocaml-4.01.0/bin:/home/thelinuxkitten/debian/script:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/usr/brlcad/bin"; export PATH;

ocaml-top's web have a simplest documentation. So, my question is: Anyone knowns if ocaml-top can load and open external libs like 'core'?

Thanks

Answer 1

Notice how .ocamlinit has #use "topfind" before it issues other directives. That's because topfind is an ocaml script that adds support for that #require directives.

Answer 2

Following the recommends of ygrek I've typed the contents of .ocamlinit in ocaml-top's prompt, and then the evaluation of 'open Core.Std;;' works. It seems, like said Ashish Agarwal, that ocaml-top doesn't read .ocamlinit.

ocaml-top can load/open external libraries, but the initialization of the integrated ocaml's interpreter must be done manually.

Thanks

Answer 3

First, make sure that your .profile or .bashrc contains the following:

eval `opam config env`

Then open the file ~/.opam/system/share/ocaml-top/toplevel_init.ml. This file is read by ocaml-top when it starts. Insert the following lines:

let () =
  try Topdirs.dir_directory (Sys.getenv "OCAML_TOPLEVEL_PATH")
  with Not_found -> ()
;;

#use "topfind"
#thread
#require "core"
#require "core.top"
#require "core.syntax"