Ubuntu Manpage: site-lib - [Location of package directories]

NAME

       site-lib - [Location of package directories]

STANDARD LAYOUT

       ...somewhere in the filesystem hierarchy...
          |
          \
            site-lib
            |
            +- (optional) stublibs
            +- (optional) postinstall
            +- (optional) postremove
            |
            +- package1
            |  |
            |  +- META
            |  +- archive files
            |  +- interface definitions
            |
            +- package2
            +
            :
            :
            \
               packageN

DESCRIPTION

       Every  installation  of "findlib" has a default location for package directories, which is
       normally a directory called "site-lib". The location  can  be  set  by  the  configuration
       variables path (used to look up packages), and destdir (used to install new packages); see
       findlib.conf.

       The  name  of  a  package  is  the  name  of  the  package  directory.  For  example,   if
       destdir=/usr/local/lib/ocaml/site-lib, the package p will be installed in the subdirectory
       /usr/local/lib/ocaml/site-lib/p. This subdirectory must contain  the  META  file  and  all
       other files belonging to the package. Package names must not contain the '.' character.

       The  variable destdir specifies the directory for new packages. You can only have one such
       directory at a time; but of course you can change  this  directory  in  findlib.conf.  The
       command  ocamlfind install puts new packages into this directory; it is recommended to use
       this command for installation because it ensures that the directory layout is right.

       For searching packages, findlib uses (only) the  variable  path  which  may  name  several
       locations to look at.

       For  systems with DLL support another directory may exist: stublibs.   If present, findlib
       will install DLLs into this directory that is shared by all packages at the same  site-lib
       location.  Findlib  remembers which DLL belongs to which package by special files with the
       suffix ".owner"; e.g. for the DLL "dllpcre.so" there is  another  file  "dllpcre.so.owner"
       containing  the  string "pcre", so findlib knows that the package "pcre" owns this DLL. It
       is not possible that a DLL is owned by several packages.

       If the stublibs directory does not exist, DLLs are  installed  regularly  in  the  package
       directories like any other file.

       For  special needs, a postinstall and/or a postremove script may be installed in the site-
       lib directory. These scripts are invoked after  installation  or  removal  of  a  package,
       respectively.

ALTERNATE LAYOUT

This is an alternate directory layout collecting all META files in one directory. You can
configure this layout by setting path to the absolute location of metaregistry. Findlib
recognizes that there are META files in this directory and uses them; it is not necessary
to include site-lib into the path.

In order to work, the META files must contain a directory directive pointing to the
corresponding package directory that resides below site-lib.

The command ocamlfind install copes with this layout, too. The variable destdir must
contain the absolute location of site-lib, and the variable metadir must contain the
absolute location of metaregistry. Note that ocamlfind install automatically adds a
directory directive to the META file, so you need not do it manually.