Building MLj

[mlj@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Ian Stark)]

George Russell writes:
> The CM.set_root function used in the build.sml script is not
> available in SML110.7.  Do we really need this?

As well as replying directly to George, here is some general
information for the mlj-users list, as there may be others trying to
build MLj for themselves.  Remember that individual queries can
always be sent directly to mlj@dcs.ed.ac.uk .

Firstly, please note that you do not need SML of New Jersey to run
the MLj compiler.  It is only important for those who want to build
the compiler themselves from scratch, say for a different
architecture.  Indeed, if you do compile MLj for a machine not in
the standard distribution, please get in touch so that we can add it
to the download site.

The MLj compiler itself is written in Standard ML '97, and requires
the New Jersey compiler, version 110.  The compilation manager CM is
a standard part of that distribution, but some local installations
might drop it to save space.  Check with your system administrator
to see how you can access CM; here at Edinburgh, for example, we
have to use the switch "sml -97cm".  Building MLj also involves the
ML Yacc and Lex tools: again, these are standard parts of the New
Jersey distribution, but some sites may put them in odd places.  For
further information on SML of New Jersey and its accompanying tools,
see their web site.

             http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/

To adapt for such local quirks, you may need to edit one or more of
the files "build", "build.bat" and "src/build.sml" in the MLj
package.  Please tell us when this happens, so that we can put
appropriate flexibility into future releases of these scripts.

Ian Stark                         
                                  
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MLj 0.2 :  mlj@dcs.ed.ac.uk       http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/mlj
Personal:  Ian.Stark@ed.ac.uk     http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/stark

Ian Stark, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science,
           Division of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh
--------------------------------------------------------------------