[MLton] Re: Bug#220046: mlton: Build-Depends on itself

[Stephen Weeks]

> I think it's worth it. Remember that ideally, we can build _most_ of
> Debian from source (by bootstrapping just from a small build environment
> that would need mlton otherwise).

I don't see how having MLton build-depend on SML/NJ gets us any closer
to this.  SML/NJ is also an SML compiler written in SML.  So it must
build-depend on some SML compiler in order to build from source.  Or
they must ship some kind of generated code or heap, which I think is
an even worse alternative.

All SML compilers that I know of are written in SML.  So, in order to
get into that world, some SML compiler must break the cycle.  I think
MLton is as good a choice as any.