Paste number 89718: Multiple Common Lisp Implementations on Win32 + ASDF setup HOWTO

;;;--------[ Multiple Common Lisp Implementations on Win32 + ASDF setup HOWTO

;;;--[ #x01 Get Emacs

http://ntemacs.sourceforge.net/

Install somewhere in your harddisk, preferably in C:\emacs

Emacs configuration file is .emacs, pronounced dot-emacs, and it's in C:\.emacs

Add it to your path (Windows XP instructions):
Right click on My Computer icon on desktop --> Properties --> Advanced 

Click on the "Environmental Variables" button just above the "OK" button.

In User Variables, scroll down to PATH, highlight, click "Edit", then type the path your
emacs binary directory, C:\emacs\bin, make sure to sperate it from the other items by a semi colon.

To test it, fire up a new DOS Command button, and type:

C:\echo %PATH%

See if emacs is in your path.

;;;--[ #x02 Get multiple Lisps

Having various Common Lisp implementations allow you to experiment.

SBCL:
http://www.sbcl.org/  or  http://ntemacs.sourceforge.net/

Closure Common Lisp:

http://trac.clozure.com/openmcl/browser/release/  [pick the latest version]
For Closure you just need two files, wx86cl.exe and wx86cl.image for 32-bit Windows or
wx86cl64.exe and wx86cl64.image for 64-bit Winddows

CLISP:

https://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=1355&sel_platform=8418

Install them all in simple directories in your root, just C:\sbcl, C:\ccl and C:\clisp.

;;;--[ #x03 Get SLIME

http://common-lisp.net/project/slime/

CVS snapshot is usually at http://common-lisp.net/project/slime/snapshots/slime-current.tgz

Extract it to C:\slime

;;;-- [ #x04 Edit your .emacs file

Below you will be editing your .emacs file. It has a line for the Lisp implementation you want to use by default
and this is the line you will be editin the most.

Edit your C:\.emacs file and add this to it:


  ;; SLIME
  (add-to-list 'load-path "C:/slime/")  ; your SLIME directory
  ;(setq inferior-lisp-program "C:/sbcl/sbcl.exe --core C:/sbcl/sbcl.core --sysinit C:/sbcl/sbclrc"	
  (setq inferior-lisp-program "C:/ccl/wx86cl.exe -l C:/ccl/cclrc.lisp")
  ;(setq inferior-lisp-program "clisp -i C:/clisp/.clisprc")
  (require 'slime)
  (slime-setup '(slime-fancy slime-asdf slime-banner))


The lines that begin with semi-colons are comments. You see that there are three lines that have 
(setq inferior-lisp-program ..) those choose which Lisp you want to run. In my case, the first two are commented
out and the third is not, because I am currently using Closure Common Lisp.

You can pass command-line arguments to your Lisp implementation via this Emacs interface; CLISP is called with a
C:\clisp\.clisprc configuration file, sbcl with a path to a core file and a configuration file C:\sbcl\sbclrc,
while Closure's configuration file is C:\ccl\cclrc\.lisp.

Nearly all Lisps understand Unix-style forward-slash paths. This is to avoid the double quoting; you can supply Win32
paths but you will need to do something like C:\\clisp\\.clisprc. Stick to Unix paths on Win32 and you should be fine.


;;;-- [ #x05 Establishing an ASDF policy.

SBCL ships with ASDF, but all others don't. ASDF is the de facto Common Lisp package management tool, it's just one
lisp file, asdf.lisp, but it's floating around in various forms, usually customized for a specific Lisp implementation.

My policy is to share 3rd party libraries and packages among all Lisps, EXCEPT ASDF. For ASDF, you are better off using 
the version most specific to your implementation.

Luckily, CLISP and Closure can use the standard ASDF version.

Generic ASDF is available in http://www.cliki.net/asdf with the downloadable tarball at:
 http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf.tar.gz

For this setup we will keep all Lisp packages in one directory, C:\lisplibs, but you can call it whatever you want.
Create that directory as well.

From now on, whenever you download a Lisp library, extract it to C:\lisplibs, and make sure each library is inside
its own directory. Don't extract naked files into the same directories; Lisp libraries have files with identical names
and will overwrite each other. The package.lisp file is found in most libraries, and it's not shareable. You overwrite
one, you lose.

We will now setup and launch the various Lisps one by one.


;;;-- [ #x06a Setup SBCL

Add your C:\sbcl SBCL directory to your path, as you did for Emacs in #x01.

Open a new DOS command window and type "sbcl", see if it's working right. Close it with Control-c or type (quit)
at the Lisp shell.

Open your .emacs file and comment out (put a semi-colon before) all the (setq inferior-lisp-program ..) except this:

 (setq inferior-lisp-program "C:/sbcl/sbcl.exe --core C:/sbcl/sbcl.core --sysinit C:/sbcl/sbclrc")
 
You will need to make sure the files supplied to SBCL exist; sbcl.core should be there, but we will need to create sbclrc.

Create the file C:/sbcl/sbclr and put this in it:

  (require :asdf)

  (dolist (dir (directory "C:/lisplibs/*/"))
    (pushnew (make-pathname :directory  (pathname-directory dir) :type "asd")
	   asdf:*central-registry*))

This loads the ASDF library management tool, and also finds out where your 3rd party Lisp libraries are. On Unix,
there is a single sbcl/site-systems directory where symbolic links to the library files (*.asd files) are kept. In Windows
we need to read the directory directly and add the paths to our central registry.

You can also add your own libraries to the central registry, I usually have this form as well:

   (push #p"C:/hacks/" asdf:*central-registry*)

You can add any directory to your ASDF central registry, but don't forget the path to the directory ends with a /.

Excellent!

Now fire up Emacs and type M-x slime

That's, press 'x' while holding the ALT key, and type slime then press ENTER.

Text should start scrolling by as Slime is compiled for SBCL and other magic happens. At the end of it, you will 
see what will become your new home, the slime repl!

  ; SLIME 2009-10-12
  CL-USER> 


;;;-- [ #x06b Setup Closure Common Lisp

It's the same thing. Edit your C:\.emacs file and comment out the inferior-lisp-program lines for sbcl and clisp.
Un comment the one for CCL.
 
  (setq inferior-lisp-program "C:/ccl/wx86cl.exe -l C:/ccl/cclrc.lisp")

Closure expects C:\ccl\cclrc.lisp initialization file. However, the DIRECTORY function in Common Lisp is not required
to return a directory listing or accept wild flags, so Closure's implemenation doesn't. There are 3rd party libraries
to remedy this, CL-FAD being my favorite.

So here is what I do:

  (require :asdf)

  (dolist (dir
	  (list #P"C:\\clisp\\zpng\\" 
                #P"C:\\clisp\\zpb-ttf\\"
                #P"C:\\clisp\\zlib\\"
		#P"C:\\clisp\\wildcard\\"

		;-- add more here
		))
     (pushnew dir  asdf:*central-registry*))

Add the path to each library you install in that list, in that format. Better yet, learn how to use CL-FAD. Mine is
actually auto-generated with CL-FAD, you can tell by the reverse-alphabetical listing of the files ;-)
  
Restart Emacs, and if you have commented out the CLISP and SBCL lines, Closure should fire up and start compiling Slime.

;;;-- [ #x06c Setup CLISP

CLISP is also the same.

Comment out the SBCL and CCL lines, uncomment CLISP's, and put this in your C:\clisp\.clisprc file

  (require :asdf)

  (dolist (dir (directory "C:/lisplibs/*/"))
    (dolist (asd (directory (make-pathname :directory dir :type "asd")))
      (pushnew asd asdf:*central-registry*)))
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