ATDGEN(1)

✨ atdgen — the ATD compiler & code generator bestie 💖

okay so real talk, this is the atdgen(1) manual page from the User Manuals section, and we're about to make it make sense. sit down, hydrate, let's go 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

atdgen [options...] [atd-file]

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so atdgen reads your ATD type definitions and generates OCaml code — both .ml and .mli files, like a whole matching set, no cap — for the following lil guys:

• type definitions (option -t) 👑
• serializers and deserializers for Biniou (option -b) 🦋
• serializers and deserializers for JSON (option -j) ✨
• record-creating functions supporting default fields (option -v) 🎀
• user-specified data validators (option -v) ✅

and listen, if you give it no mode option (-t, -b, -j or -v), it just assumes -t -b. manifesting both, iconic behavior honestly.

unless -o is present, the <prefix> for the generated files is derived from the atd-file argument. and if you omit the atd-file argument entirely? atdgen reads ATD sources from standard input. and if you additionally don't pass -o, it behaves as if you gave it -o -. it's giving "we'll figure it out" 💅

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -t — produce files <prefix>_t.mli and <prefix>_t.ml containing OCaml type definitions for the ATD input 🌸
• -b — produce files <prefix>_b.mli and <prefix>_b.ml containing OCaml serializers and deserializers for the Biniou data format 🦋
• -j — produce files <prefix>_j.mli and <prefix>_j.ml containing OCaml serializers and deserializers for the JSON data format ✨
• -v — produce files <prefix>_v.mli and <prefix>_v.ml containing OCaml functions for creating records and validators, see also option -validate. 👑
• -dep — output dependencies in makefile-format for all possible atdgen output files, then exit 🚪
• -list — output a space-separated list of all possible atdgen output files, then exit 📝
• -o <prefix> — set the <prefix> for the options -t, -b and -j. and if <prefix> is -, atdgen writes code in the form of

struct ... end : sig ... end

straight to standard output. so fancy 💅

• -biniou — [deprecated] same as -t -b, i.e., produce serializers and deserializers for Biniou and OCaml type definitions (this is the default, btw)
• -json — [deprecated] same as -t -j, i.e., produce serializers and deserializers for JSON and OCaml type definitions.
• -j-std — standard JSON: convert tuples and variants into standard JSON and refuse to print NaN and infinities. this option implies -json unless another mode is specified. ⚠️
• -std-json — [deprecated] same as -j-std
• -j-pp <func> — apply the OCaml function <func> of type (string -> string) to the input of each *_of_string function generated by atdgen (JSON mode). (this was intended for UTF-8 validation of the input, which is not performed by atdgen. so don't @ me 🙈)
• -j-defaults — output JSON record fields even if their value is known to be the default. no gatekeeping 💖
• -j-strict-fields — call !Ag_util.Json.unknown_field_handler for every unknown JSON field found in the input instead of simply skipping them. the initial value of this reference prints a message and raises a Failure exception. 😭
• -j-custom-fields <func> — call function <func> of type (string -> unit) for every unknown JSON field found in the input instead of simply skipping them. see also -j-strict-fields. 🔥
• -validate — [deprecated] same as -t -v, produce data validators from <ocaml validator="x"> annotations where x is a user-written validator to be applied on a specific node. this is typically used in conjunction with -extend because user-written validators depend on the type definitions. 🧚
• -extend MODULE — assume that all type definitions are provided by the specified module unless otherwise annotated. type aliases are created for each type, e.g. type t = Module.t 🪄
• -open MODULE1,MODULE2,... — list of modules to open (comma-separated or space-separated) 🚪✨
• -nfd — do not dump OCaml function definitions 🙅♀️
• -ntd — do not dump OCaml type definitions 🙅♀️
• -pos-fname FILENAME — source file name to use for error messages (default: input name) 📍
• -pos-lnum LINENUM — source line number of the first line of the input (default: 1) 🔢
• -rec — keep OCaml type definitions mutually recursive 🔁
• -version — print version and exit 📦
• -help | --help — display this list of options 🆘

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• the Atdgen reference manual, /usr/share/doc/libatdgen-ocaml-dev/atdgen-manual.{html,pdf} 📚
• the Atdgen tutorial on the Atdgen website, http://mjambon.com/atdgen 🌐

👑 AUTHOR 👑

this manual page was written by Sylvain Le Gall <gildor@debian.org> and Hendrik Tews <hendrik@askra.de>, specifically for the Debian project (and may be used by others). absolute legends, fr fr 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one's from the ATDGEN manual, version vibes of May 2013, ATDGEN(1) — go forth and generate that code, you've got this 💖✨🎀🦋