Chapter 13 Dependency generator (ocamldep)

The ocamldep command scans a set of Objective Caml source files (.ml and .mli files) for references to external compilation units, and outputs dependency lines in a format suitable for the make utility. This ensures that make will compile the source files in the correct order, and recompile those files that need to when a source file is modified.

The typical usage is:

        ocamldep options *.mli *.ml > .depend

where *.mli *.ml expands to all source files in the current directory and .depend is the file that should contain the dependencies. (See below for a typical Makefile.)

Dependencies are generated both for compiling with the bytecode compiler ocamlc and with the native-code compiler ocamlopt.

13.1 Options

The following command-line option is recognized by ocamldep.

-I directory: Add the given directory to the list of directories searched for source files. If a source file foo.ml mentions an external compilation unit Bar, a dependency on that unit's interface bar.cmi is generated only if the source for bar is found in the current directory or in one of the directories specified with -I. Otherwise, Bar is assumed to be a module from the standard library, and no dependencies are generated. For programs that span multiple directories, it is recommended to pass ocamldep the same -I options that are passed to the compiler.
-native: Generate dependencies for a pure native-code program (no bytecode version). When an implementation file (.ml file) has no explicit interface file (.mli file), ocamldep generates dependencies on the bytecode compiled file (.cmo file) to reflect interface changes. This can cause unnecessary bytecode recompilations for programs that are compiled to native-code only. The flag -native causes dependencies on native compiled files (.cmx) to be generated instead of on .cmo files. (This flag makes no difference if all source files have explicit .mli interface files.)
-version: Print version and exit.

13.2 A typical Makefile

Here is a template Makefile for a Objective Caml program.

OCAMLC=ocamlc
OCAMLOPT=ocamlopt
OCAMLDEP=ocamldep
INCLUDES=                 # all relevant -I options here
OCAMLFLAGS=$(INCLUDES)    # add other options for ocamlc here
OCAMLOPTFLAGS=$(INCLUDES) # add other options for ocamlopt here

# prog1 should be compiled to bytecode, and is composed of three
# units: mod1, mod2 and mod3.

# The list of object files for prog1
PROG1_OBJS=mod1.cmo mod2.cmo mod3.cmo

prog1: $(PROG1_OBJS)
        $(OCAMLC) -o prog1 $(OCAMLFLAGS) $(PROG1_OBJS)

# prog2 should be compiled to native-code, and is composed of two
# units: mod4 and mod5.

# The list of object files for prog2
PROG2_OBJS=mod4.cmx mod5.cmx

prog2: $(PROG2_OBJS)
        $(OCAMLOPT) -o prog2 $(OCAMLFLAGS) $(PROG2_OBJS)

# Common rules
.SUFFIXES: .ml .mli .cmo .cmi .cmx

.ml.cmo:
        $(OCAMLC) $(OCAMLFLAGS) -c $<

.mli.cmi:
        $(OCAMLC) $(OCAMLFLAGS) -c $<

.ml.cmx:
        $(OCAMLOPT) $(OCAMLOPTFLAGS) -c $<

# Clean up
clean:
        rm -f prog1 prog2
        rm -f *.cm[iox]

# Dependencies
depend:
        $(OCAMLDEP) $(INCLUDES) *.mli *.ml > .depend

include .depend