quicklisp/quicklisp-projects — Issue #221: Getting xcvb in quicklisp
Author: fare
Created: 2011-10-25 19:56:24+00:00
State: open

Dear Zach,

Are there any obstacles to getting xcvb in quicklisp?

git://common-lisp.net/projects/xcvb/xcvb.git

While my main use of XCVB is currently from the shell command-line,
one can as well use it from the Lisp REPL, with equivalent syntax:
shell:	xcvb simple-build --build exscribe
Lisp:	(xcvb:cmd 'simple-build :build 'exscribe)

The advantage of running this from a shell are more process isolation
in case loading or running XCVB carries any unwanted state.
The advantage of running this from a Lisp are that you've got your
interactive development environment at hand, though you have to load
all of XCVB and its many dependencies.

XCVB can be built using ASDF as well as using itself.
Its dependencies can be built using ASDF or using XCVB.
I have repositories with branches of many software
(including but not limited to all XCVB dependencies) to allow
them to be built using XCVB. But it is not necessarily to use
these branches to compile or run XCVB itself — you just can't
benefit from XCVB compiling deterministically and/or in parallel
those particular projects, but you can still use it for the rest.
XCVB knows how to fall back to ASDF for things it can't build,
and there's a bridge allowing ASDF to call XCVB
for native XCVB systems (if any).

Which reminded me to commit to the XCVB driver code to allow
the XCVB-driver to work in a setting where XCVB is part of current image.
Just (setf xcvb-driver:*xcvb-program* t) to have it run in-image
(as loaded by... ASDF, if not already present)
rather than as an external program.

Thanks a lot for Quicklisp!