CompilingWithSMLNJ

You can compile MLton with SML/NJ, however the resulting compiler will run much more slowly than MLton compiled by itself. We don’t recommend using SML/NJ as a means of porting MLton to a new platform or bootstrapping on a new platform.

If you do want to build MLton with SML/NJ, it is best to have a binary MLton package installed. If you don’t, here are some issues you may encounter when you run make smlnj-mlton.

You will get (many copies of) the error messages:

and

The Makefile calls mlton to determine dependencies, and can proceed in spite of this error.

If you don’t have an mllex executable, you will get the error message:

Building MLton requires mllex and mlyacc executables, which are distributed with a binary package of MLton. The easiest solution is to copy the front-end lexer/parser files from a different machine (ml.grm.sml, ml.grm.sig, ml.lex.sml, mlb.grm.sig, mlb.grm.sml).