opam:tldr:24198
The command opam init is used to initialize the Opam package manager on your system.
Opam is a package manager for OCaml (Objective Caml) programming language. It helps in managing OCaml packages, dependencies, and different versions of OCaml compiler.
When you run opam init, it performs the following actions:
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It checks whether Opam is already initialized on your system. If it is already initialized, it will display a message stating that Opam is already initialized and provide instructions on how to reinitialize if desired.
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If Opam is not initialized, it starts the initialization process. It asks for your permission to create a new local Opam repository and related files in your home directory.
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Once you give permission, it creates the necessary directory structure and sets up the local repository.
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It then presents you with instructions to perform some additional configuration steps manually. These steps typically involve modifying shell environment variables, such as adding the Opam binary directory to your system's
PATHvariable, so that you can access Opam commands from any location in your terminal.
After running opam init, you will have Opam installed and ready for use on your system. You can then proceed to install OCaml packages using commands like opam install <package_name>.