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OCAMLDEP(1) General Commands Manual OCAMLDEP(1)

ocamldep - Dependency generator for OCaml

ocamldep [ options ] filename ...

The ocamldep(1) command scans a set of OCaml source files (.ml and .mli files) for references to external compilation units, and outputs dependency lines in a format suitable for the make(1) 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 .depend is the file that should contain the dependencies.

Dependencies are generated both for compiling with the bytecode compiler ocamlc(1) and with the native-code compiler ocamlopt(1).

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

Show absolute filenames in error messages.
Generate dependencies on all required files, rather than assuming implicit dependencies.
Allow falling back on a lexer-based approximation when parsing fails.
For the following files, do not include delayed dependencies for module aliases. This option assumes that they are compiled using options "-no-alias-deps -w -49", and that those files or their interface are passed with the "-map" option when computing dependencies for other files. Note also that for dependencies to be correct in the implementation of a map file, its interface should not coerce any of the aliases it contains.
Dump the delayed dependency map for each map file.
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(1) the same -I options that are passed to the compiler.
Do not add current working directory to the list of include directories.
Process file as a .ml file.
Process file as a .mli file.
Read an propagate the delayed dependencies for module aliases in file, so that the following files will depend on the exported aliased modules if they use them.
Consider the given extension (with leading dot) to be a synonym for .ml.
Consider the given extension (with leading dot) to be a synonym for .mli.
Output raw dependencies of the form filename: Module1 Module2 ... ModuleN where Module1, ..., ModuleN are the names of the compilation units referenced within the file filename, but these names are not resolved to source file names. Such raw dependencies cannot be used by make(1), but can be post-processed by other tools such as Omake(1).
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(1) 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.)
Output one line per file, regardless of the length.
Assume that module module is opened before parsing each of the following files.
Cause ocamldep(1) to call the given command as a preprocessor for each source file.
Pipe abstract syntax tree through preprocessor command.
Generate dependencies for native plugin files (.cmxs) in addition to native compiled files (.cmx).
Under Unix, this option does nothing.
Sort files according to their dependencies.
Print version string and exit.
Print short version number and exit.
Display a short usage summary and exit.

ocamlc(1), ocamlopt(1).
The OCaml user's manual, chapter "Dependency generator".