Summary

The OCaml z3 bindings now work both in dynamic and static mode and the compiled libraries can be used by all linkers in the OCaml system, without any specific instructions other than specifying the dependency on the z3 library.

Using the libraries

Compiling binaries

The libraries can be linked statically with both ocamlc and ocamlopt compilers, e.g.,

ocamlfind ocamlc -thread -package z3 -linkpkg run.ml -o run

or

ocamlfind ocamlopt -thread -package z3 -linkpkg run.ml -o run

When bindings compiled with the --staticlib the produced binary will not have any dependencies on z3

$ ldd ./run
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fff9c9ed000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007fb56f09c000)
        libgmp.so.10 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007fb56ee1b000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007fb56ebfc000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fb56e85e000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fb56e65a000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fb56e442000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fb56e051000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fb570de9000)

The bytecode version will have a depedency on z3 and other external libraries (packed as dlls and usually installed in opam switch):

$ ocamlobjinfo run | grep 'Used DLL' -A5
Used DLLs:
        dllz3ml
        dllzarith
        dllthreads
        dllunix

But it is possible to compile a portable self-contained version of the bytecode executable using the -custom switch:

ocamlfind ocamlc -custom -thread -package z3 -linkpkg run.ml -o run

The build binary is now quite large but doesn't have any external dependencies (modulo the system dependencies):

$ du -h run
27M     run
$ ocamlobjinfo run | grep 'Used DLL' | wc -l
0
$ ldd run
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffee42c2000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007fdbdc415000)
        libgmp.so.10 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007fdbdc194000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007fdbdbf75000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fdbdbbd7000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fdbdb9d3000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fdbdb7bb000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fdbdb3ca000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fdbde026000)

Loading in toplevel

It is also possible to use the built libraries in toplevel and use them in ocaml scripts, e.g.,

$ ocaml
        OCaml version 4.09.0

 # #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 = ()
 # #require "z3";;
 /home/ivg/.opam/4.09.0/lib/zarith: added to search path
 /home/ivg/.opam/4.09.0/lib/zarith/zarith.cma: loaded
 /home/ivg/.opam/4.09.0/lib/z3: added to search path
 /home/ivg/.opam/4.09.0/lib/z3/z3ml.cma: loaded
 #

To use z3 in a script mode add the following preamble to a file with OCaml code:

  #!/usr/bin/env ocaml
  #use "topfind";;
  #require "z3";;

  (* your OCaml code *)

Then it is possible to run it as ./script (provided that the code is in a file named script and permissions are set with chmod a+x script).

Of course, such scripts will depend on ocaml installation that shall have z3 dependencies installed.

Using Dynlink

The built z3ml.cmxs file is a self-contained shared library that doesn't have any depndencies on z3 (the z3 code is included in it) and could be loaded with Dynlink.loadfile in runtime.

Installation

I did not touch the installation part in this PR, as I was using opam and installed artifacts as simple as:

ocamlfind install z3 build/api/ml/* build/libz3-static.a

assuming that the following configuration and building process

python2.7 scripts/mk_make.py --ml --staticlib
make -C build

Though the default installation script in the make file shall work.

Dynamic Library mode

The dynamic library mode is also supported provided that libz3.so is installed in a search path of the dynamic loader (or the location is added via the LD_LIBRARY_PATH) or stored in rpaths of the built binary.

Build Artifacts

In the static mode (--staticlib), the following files are built and installed:

• {z3,z3enums,z3native}.{cmi,cmo,cmx,o,mli}: the three compilation units (modules) that comprise Z3 bindings. The *.mli files are not necessary but are installed for the user convenience and documentation purposes. The *.cmi files enables access to the unit definitions. Finally, *.cmo contain the bytecode and *.cmx, *.o contain the native code. Files with the code are necessary for cross-module optimization but are not strictly needed as the code is also duplicated in the libraries.

• libz3-static.a (OR libz3.so if built not in the staticlib mode) contains the machine code of the Z3 library;

• z3ml.{a,cma,cmxa,cmxs} - the OCaml code for the bindings. File z3ml.a and z3ml.cmxa are static libraries with OCaml native code, which will be included in the final binary when ocamlopt is used. The z3 library code itself is not included in those three artifacts, but the instructions where to find it are. The same is truce for z3ml.a which includes the bytecode of the bindings as well as instructions how to link the final product. Finally, z3ml.cmxs is a standalone shared library that could be loaded in runtime use Dynlink.loadfile (which used dlopen on posix machines underneath the hood).

• libz3ml.a is the archived machine code for z3native_stubs.c, which is made by ocamlmklib: ar rcs api/ml/libz3ml.a api/ml/z3native_stubs.o it is needed to build statically linked binaries and libraries that use z3 bindings.

• dllz3ml.so is the shared object that contains z3native_stubs.o as well as correct ldd entries for C++ and Z3 libraries to enable proper static and dynamic linking. The file is built with ocamlmklib on posix systems as

gcc -shared -o api/ml/dllz3ml.so api/ml/z3native_stubs.o -L. -lz3-static -lstdc++

It is used by ocaml, ocamlrun, and ocamlc to link z3 and c++ code into the OCaml runtime and enables usage of z3 bindings in non-custom runtimes (default runtimes).

The dllz3ml.so is usually installed in the stubs library in opam installation ($(opam config var lib)/stublibs), it is done automatically by ocamlfind so no special treatment is needed.

Technical Details

The patch itself is rather small. First of all, we have to use -l<lib> instead of -cclib -l<lib> in ocamlmklib since the latter will pass the options only to the ocaml{c,opt} linker and will not use the passed libraries when shared and non-shared versions of the bindings are built (libz3ml.a and dllz3ml.so). They were both missing either z3 code itself and ldd entries for stdc++ (and z3 if built not in --staticlib mode).

Having stdc++ entry streamlines the compilation process and makes dynamic loading more resistant to the inclusion order.

Finally, we had to add -L. to make sure that the built artifacts are correctly found by gcc.

I specifically left the cygwin part of the code intact as I have no idea what the original author meant by this, neither do I use or tested this patch in the cygwin or mingw environemt. I think that this code is rather outdated and shouldn't really work. E.g., in the --staticlib mode adding z3linkdep (which is libz3-static.a) as an argument to ocamlmklib will yield the following broken archive

ar rcs api/ml/libz3ml.a libz3-static.a api/ml/z3native_stubs.o

and it is not allowed (or supported) to have .a in archives (though it doesn't really hurt as most of the systems will just ignore it).

But otherwise, cygwin, mingw shall behave as they did (the only change that affects them is -L. which I believe should be benign).

Other notes

On Windows, there are no less than four different ports of OCaml. The Z3 build system assumes that either the win32 or the win64 port is installed. This means that OCaml will use `cl' as the underlying C compiler and not the cygwin or mingw compilers.

OCamlfind: When ocamlfind is found, the `install' target will install the Z3 OCaml bindings into the ocamlfind site-lib directory. The installed package is linked against the (dynamic) libz3 and it adds $(PREFIX)/lib to the library include paths. On Windows, there is no $(PREFIX), so the build directory is used instead (see META.in).