Feature request: Stdlib.Random.int62

[UnixJunkie]

Dear maintainers,

From reading the documentation for Random.int, I understand it
could be named Random.int30.
But, nowadays we have 64 bits integers, so we might want
to have a Random.int62 that would give us a random
integer for the 64 bits era.

That is to say: Random.int is from the OCaml 32 bits era.
I pledge for the addition of Random.int62, which would be its counterpart
for the 64 bits era.

If people are interested, I will try to send a PR.

The interface would be:

val Random.int62: int -> int

Best regards,
F.

[dra27]

Not sure why it needs a new function (especially as that would have to fail on 32-bit systems) - I've pushed a tentative extension of Random.int but I'm not sure if there's a history as to why it was constrained to 2^30 in the first place.

[UnixJunkie]

Why a new function: to not change the behavior of the existing one and hence satisfy upward compatibility.
The newly introduced function would indeed have to fail on 32-bit systems, however if this is documented, I don't see any problem with that.

[github-actions]

This issue has been open one year with no activity. Consequently, it is being marked with the "stale" label. What this means is that the issue will be automatically closed in 30 days unless more comments are added or the "stale" label is removed. Comments that provide new information on the issue are especially welcome: is it still reproducible? did it appear in other contexts? how critical is it? etc.

[Octachron]

Fixed by #9489