1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
7 @c We use @&key, etc to escape & from TeX in lambda lists --
8 @c so we need to define them for info as well.
9 @macro &allow-other-keys
26 @dircategory Software development
28 * asdf: (asdf). Another System Definition Facility (for Common Lisp)
32 This manual describes ASDF, a system definition facility
33 for Common Lisp programs and libraries.
35 You can find the latest version of this manual at
36 @url{http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf.html}.
38 ASDF Copyright @copyright{} 2001-2011 Daniel Barlow and contributors.
40 This manual Copyright @copyright{} 2001-2011 Daniel Barlow and contributors.
42 This manual revised @copyright{} 2009-2011 Robert P. Goldman and Francois-Rene Rideau.
44 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
45 a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
46 ``Software''), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
47 without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
48 distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
49 permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
50 the following conditions:
52 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
53 included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
55 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
56 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
57 MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
58 NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
59 LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
60 OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
61 WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
68 @title ASDF: Another System Definition Facility
70 @c The following two commands start the copyright page.
72 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
76 @c Output the table of contents at the beginning.
79 @c -------------------
83 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
84 @top asdf: another system definition facility
93 * Defining systems with defsystem::
94 * The object model of ASDF::
95 * Controlling where ASDF searches for systems::
96 * Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files::
98 * Miscellaneous additional functionality::
99 * Getting the latest version::
104 * Function and Class Index::
108 @c --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
110 @c Defining systems with defsystem
112 @c * The defsystem form::
113 @c * A more involved example::
114 @c * The defsystem grammar::
115 @c * Other code in .asd files::
117 @c The object model of ASDF
124 @c * Predefined operations of ASDF::
125 @c * Creating new operations::
129 @c * Common attributes of components::
130 @c * Pre-defined subclasses of component::
131 @c * Creating new component types::
135 @c * Pre-defined subclasses of component::
136 @c * Creating new component types::
143 @c -------------------
145 @node Introduction, Loading ASDF, Top, Top
146 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
147 @chapter Introduction
148 @cindex ASDF-related features
150 @cindex Testing for ASDF
151 @cindex ASDF versions
155 ASDF is Another System Definition Facility:
156 a tool for specifying how systems of Common Lisp software
157 are comprised of components (sub-systems and files),
158 and how to operate on these components in the right order
159 so that they can be compiled, loaded, tested, etc.
161 ASDF presents three faces:
162 one for users of Common Lisp software who want to reuse other people's code,
163 one for writers of Common Lisp software who want to specify how to build their systems,
164 one for implementers of Common Lisp extensions who want to extend the build system.
165 @xref{Using ASDF,,Loading a system},
166 to learn how to use ASDF to load a system.
167 @xref{Defining systems with defsystem},
168 to learn how to define a system of your own.
169 @xref{The object model of ASDF}, for a description of
170 the ASDF internals and how to extend ASDF.
173 We have released ASDF 2.000 on May 31st 2010.
174 Subsequent releases of ASDF 2 have since then been included
175 in all actively maintained CL implementations that used to bundle ASDF 1,
176 plus some implementations that didn't use to,
177 and has been made to work with all actively used CL implementations and a few more.
178 @xref{FAQ,,``What has changed between ASDF 1 and ASDF 2?''}.
179 Furthermore, it is possible to upgrade from ASDF 1 to ASDF 2 on the fly.
180 For this reason, we have stopped supporting ASDF 1;
181 if you are using ASDF 1 and are experiencing any kind of issues or limitations,
182 we recommend you upgrade to ASDF 2
183 --- and we explain how to do that. @xref{Loading ASDF}.
185 Also note that ASDF is not to be confused with ASDF-Install.
186 ASDF-Install is not part of ASDF, but a separate piece of software.
187 ASDF-Install is also unmaintained and obsolete.
188 We recommend you use Quicklisp instead,
189 which works great and is being actively maintained.
190 If you want to download software from version control instead of tarballs,
191 so you may more easily modify it, we recommend clbuild.
194 @node Loading ASDF, Configuring ASDF, Introduction, Top
195 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
196 @chapter Loading ASDF
197 @vindex *central-registry*
200 @findex compile-system
202 @cindex system directory designator
207 @c * Installing ASDF::
211 @section Loading a pre-installed ASDF
213 Many Lisp implementations include a copy of ASDF.
214 You can usually load this copy using Common Lisp's @code{require} function:
220 As of the writing of this manual,
221 the following implementations provide ASDF 2 this way:
222 abcl allegro ccl clisp cmucl ecl sbcl xcl.
223 The following implementations don't provide it yet but will in a future release:
225 The following implementations are obsolete and most probably will never bundle it:
226 cormancl gcl genera mcl.
228 If the implementation you are using doesn't provide ASDF 2,
229 see @pxref{Loading ASDF,,Loading an otherwise installed ASDF} below.
230 If that implementation is still actively maintained,
231 you may also send a bug report to your Lisp vendor and complain
232 about their failing to provide ASDF.
234 NB: all implementations except clisp also accept
235 @code{(require "ASDF")}, @code{(require 'asdf)} and @code{(require :asdf)}.
236 For portability's sake, you probably want to use @code{(require "asdf")}.
239 @section Checking whether ASDF is loaded
241 To check whether ASDF is properly loaded in your current Lisp image,
242 you can run this form:
248 If it returns a string,
249 that is the version of ASDF that is currently installed.
251 If it raises an error,
252 then either ASDF is not loaded, or
253 you are using an old version of ASDF.
255 You can check whether an old version is loaded
256 by checking if the ASDF package is present.
257 The form below will allow you to programmatically determine
258 whether a recent version is loaded, an old version is loaded,
262 (or #+asdf2 (asdf:asdf-version) #+asdf :old)
265 If it returns a version number, that's the version of ASDF installed.
266 If it returns the keyword @code{:OLD},
267 then you're using an old version of ASDF (from before 1.635).
268 If it returns @code{NIL} then ASDF is not installed.
270 If you are experiencing problems with ASDF,
271 please try upgrading to the latest released version,
272 using the method below,
273 before you contact us and raise an issue.
276 @section Upgrading ASDF
278 If your implementation does provide ASDF 2 or later,
279 and you want to upgrade to a more recent version,
280 just install ASDF like any other package
281 (see @pxref{Loading ASDF,,Loading an otherwise installed ASDF} below),
282 configure ASDF as usual (see @pxref{Configuring ASDF} below),
287 (asdf:load-system :asdf)
290 If on the other hand, your implementation only provides an old ASDF,
291 you will require a special configuration step and an old-style loading:
295 (push #p"@var{/path/to/new/asdf/}" asdf:*central-registry*)
296 (asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op :asdf)
299 Don't forget the trailing @code{/} at the end of your pathname.
301 Also, note that older versions of ASDF won't redirect their output,
302 or at least won't do it according to your usual ASDF 2 configuration.
303 You therefore need write access on the directory
304 where you install the new ASDF,
305 and make sure you're not using it
306 for multiple mutually incompatible implementations.
307 At worst, you may have to have multiple copies of the new ASDF,
308 e.g. one per implementation installation, to avoid clashes.
309 Note that to our knowledge all implementations that provide ASDF
310 provide ASDF 2 in their latest release, so
311 you may want to upgrade your implementation rather than go through that hoop.
313 Finally, note that there are some limitations to upgrading ASDF:
316 Any ASDF extension becomes invalid, and will need to be reloaded.
317 This applies to e.g. CFFI-Grovel, or to hacks used by ironclad, etc.
318 Starting with ASDF 2.014.8, ASDF will actually invalidate
319 all previously loaded systems when it is loaded on top of
320 a different ASDF version.
322 Until all implementations provide ASDF 2.015 or later,
323 it is safer if you upgrade ASDF and its extensions as a special step
324 at the very beginning of whatever script you are running,
325 before you start using ASDF to load anything else.
327 Until all implementations provide ASDF 2.015 or later,
328 it is unsafe to upgrade ASDF as part of loading a system
329 that depends on a more recent version of ASDF,
330 since the new one might shadow the old one while the old one is running,
331 and the running old one will be confused
332 when extensions are loaded into the new one.
333 In the meantime, we recommend that your systems should @emph{not} specify
334 @code{:depends-on (:asdf)}, or @code{:depends-on ((:version :asdf "2.010"))},
335 but instead that they check that a recent enough ASDF is installed,
338 (unless (or #+asdf2 (asdf:version-satisfies
339 (asdf:asdf-version) *required-asdf-version*))
340 (error "FOO requires ASDF ~A or later." *required-asdf-version*))
345 @section Loading an otherwise installed ASDF
347 If your implementation doesn't include ASDF,
348 if for some reason the upgrade somehow fails,
349 does not or cannot apply to your case,
350 you will have to install the file @file{asdf.lisp}
351 somewhere and load it with:
354 (load "/path/to/your/installed/asdf.lisp")
357 The single file @file{asdf.lisp} is all you normally need to use ASDF.
359 You can extract this file from latest release tarball on the
360 @url{http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/,ASDF website}.
361 If you are daring and willing to report bugs, you can get
362 the latest and greatest version of ASDF from its git repository.
363 @xref{Getting the latest version}.
365 For maximum convenience you might want to have ASDF loaded
366 whenever you start your Lisp implementation,
367 for example by loading it from the startup script or dumping a custom core
368 --- check your Lisp implementation's manual for details.
371 @node Configuring ASDF, Using ASDF, Loading ASDF, Top
372 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
374 @chapter Configuring ASDF
376 @section Configuring ASDF to find your systems
378 So it may compile and load your systems, ASDF must be configured to find
379 the @file{.asd} files that contain system definitions.
381 Since ASDF 2, the preferred way to configure where ASDF finds your systems is
382 the @code{source-registry} facility,
383 fully described in its own chapter of this manual.
384 @xref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems}.
386 The default location for a user to install Common Lisp software is under
387 @file{~/.local/share/common-lisp/source/}.
388 If you install software there, you don't need further configuration.
389 If you're installing software yourself at a location that isn't standard,
390 you have to tell ASDF where you installed it. See below.
391 If you're using some tool to install software (e.g. Quicklisp),
392 the authors of that tool should already have configured ASDF.
394 The simplest way to add a path to your search path,
395 say @file{/home/luser/.asd-link-farm/}
396 is to create the directory
397 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf.d/}
398 and there create a file with any name of your choice,
399 and with the type @file{conf},
400 for instance @file{42-asd-link-farm.conf}
403 @kbd{(:directory "/home/luser/.asd-link-farm/")}
405 If you want all the subdirectories under @file{/home/luser/lisp/}
406 to be recursively scanned for @file{.asd} files, instead use:
408 @kbd{(:tree "/home/luser/lisp/")}
410 Note that your Operating System distribution or your system administrator
411 may already have configured system-managed libraries for you.
413 The required @file{.conf} extension allows you to have disabled files
414 or editor backups (ending in @file{~}), and works portably
415 (for instance, it is a pain to allow both empty and non-empty extension on CLISP).
416 Excluded are files the name of which start with a @file{.} character.
417 It is customary to start the filename with two digits
418 that specify the order in which the directories will be scanned.
420 ASDF will automatically read your configuration
421 the first time you try to find a system.
422 You can reset the source-registry configuration with:
425 (asdf:clear-source-registry)
428 And you probably should do so before you dump your Lisp image,
429 if the configuration may change
430 between the machine where you save it at the time you save it
431 and the machine you resume it at the time you resume it.
434 @section Configuring ASDF to find your systems --- old style
436 The old way to configure ASDF to find your systems is by
437 @code{push}ing directory pathnames onto the variable
438 @code{asdf:*central-registry*}.
440 You must configure this variable between the time you load ASDF
441 and the time you first try to use it.
442 Loading and configuring ASDF presumably happen
443 as part of some initialization script that builds or starts
444 your Common Lisp software system.
445 (For instance, some SBCL users used to put it in their @file{~/.sbclrc}.)
447 The @code{asdf:*central-registry*} is empty by default in ASDF 2,
448 but is still supported for compatibility with ASDF 1.
449 When used, it takes precedence over the above source-registry@footnote{
450 It is possible to further customize
451 the system definition file search.
452 That's considered advanced use, and covered later:
454 @code{*system-definition-search-functions*}.
455 @xref{Defining systems with defsystem}.}.
457 For instance, if you wanted ASDF to find the @file{.asd} file
458 @file{/home/me/src/foo/foo.asd} your initialization script
459 could after it loads ASDF with @code{(require "asdf")}
463 (push "/home/me/src/foo/" asdf:*central-registry*)
466 Note the trailing slash: when searching for a system,
467 ASDF will evaluate each entry of the central registry
468 and coerce the result to a pathname@footnote{
469 ASDF will indeed call @code{EVAL} on each entry.
470 It will also skip entries that evaluate to @code{NIL}.
472 Strings and pathname objects are self-evaluating,
473 in which case the @code{EVAL} step does nothing;
474 but you may push arbitrary SEXP onto the central registry,
475 that will be evaluated to compute e.g. things that depend
476 on the value of shell variables or the identity of the user.
478 The variable @code{asdf:*central-registry*} is thus a list of
479 ``system directory designators''.
480 A @dfn{system directory designator} is a form
481 which will be evaluated whenever a system is to be found,
482 and must evaluate to a directory to look in.
483 By ``directory'' here, we mean
484 ``designator for a pathname with a supplied DIRECTORY component''.
486 at which point the presence of the trailing directory name separator
487 is necessary to tell Lisp that you're discussing a directory
490 Typically, however, there are a lot of @file{.asd} files, and
491 a common idiom was to have to put
492 a bunch of @emph{symbolic links} to @file{.asd} files
493 in a common directory
494 and push @emph{that} directory (the ``link farm'')
496 @code{asdf:*central-registry*}
497 instead of pushing each of the many involved directories
498 to the @code{asdf:*central-registry*}.
499 ASDF knows how to follow such @emph{symlinks}
500 to the actual file location when resolving the paths of system components
501 (on Windows, you can use Windows shortcuts instead of POSIX symlinks;
502 if you try aliases under MacOS, we are curious to hear about your experience).
504 For example, if @code{#p"/home/me/cl/systems/"} (note the trailing slash)
505 is a member of @code{*central-registry*}, you could set up the
506 system @var{foo} for loading with asdf with the following
507 commands at the shell:
510 $ cd /home/me/cl/systems/
511 $ ln -s ~/src/foo/foo.asd .
514 This old style for configuring ASDF is not recommended for new users,
515 but it is supported for old users, and for users who want to programmatically
516 control what directories are added to the ASDF search path.
519 @section Configuring where ASDF stores object files
520 @findex clear-output-locations
522 ASDF lets you configure where object files will be stored.
523 Sensible defaults are provided and
524 you shouldn't normally have to worry about it.
526 This allows the same source code repository may be shared
527 between several versions of several Common Lisp implementations,
528 between several users using different compilation options
529 and without write privileges on shared source directories, etc.
530 This also allows to keep source directories uncluttered
531 by plenty of object files.
533 Starting with ASDF 2, the @code{asdf-output-translations} facility
534 was added to ASDF itself, that controls where object files will be stored.
535 This facility is fully described in a chapter of this manual,
536 @ref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files}.
538 The simplest way to add a translation to your search path,
539 say from @file{/foo/bar/baz/quux/}
540 to @file{/where/i/want/my/fasls/}
541 is to create the directory
542 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/}
543 and there create a file with any name of your choice and the type @file{conf},
544 for instance @file{42-bazquux.conf}
547 @kbd{("/foo/bar/baz/quux/" "/where/i/want/my/fasls/")}
549 To disable output translations for source under a given directory,
550 say @file{/toto/tata/}
551 you can create a file @file{40-disable-toto.conf}
554 @kbd{("/toto/tata/")}
556 To wholly disable output translations for all directories,
557 you can create a file @file{00-disable.conf}
562 Note that your Operating System distribution or your system administrator
563 may already have configured translations for you.
564 In absence of any configuration, the default is to redirect everything
565 under an implementation-dependent subdirectory of @file{~/.cache/common-lisp/}.
566 @xref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems}, for full details.
568 The required @file{.conf} extension allows you to have disabled files
569 or editor backups (ending in @file{~}), and works portably
570 (for instance, it is a pain to allow both empty and non-empty extension on CLISP).
571 Excluded are files the name of which start with a @file{.} character.
572 It is customary to start the filename with two digits
573 that specify the order in which the directories will be scanned.
575 ASDF will automatically read your configuration
576 the first time you try to find a system.
577 You can reset the source-registry configuration with:
580 (asdf:clear-output-translations)
583 And you probably should do so before you dump your Lisp image,
584 if the configuration may change
585 between the machine where you save it at the time you save it
586 and the machine you resume it at the time you resume it.
588 Finally note that before ASDF 2,
589 other ASDF add-ons offered the same functionality,
590 each in subtly different and incompatible ways:
591 ASDF-Binary-Locations, cl-launch, common-lisp-controller.
592 ASDF-Binary-Locations is now not needed anymore and should not be used.
593 cl-launch 3.000 and common-lisp-controller 7.2 have been updated
594 to just delegate this functionality to ASDF.
596 @node Using ASDF, Defining systems with defsystem, Configuring ASDF, Top
597 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
601 @section Loading a system
603 The system @var{foo} is loaded (and compiled, if necessary)
604 by evaluating the following Lisp form:
607 (asdf:load-system :@var{foo})
610 On some implementations (namely recent versions of
611 ABCL, Clozure CL, CLISP, CMUCL, ECL, SBCL and SCL),
612 ASDF hooks into the @code{CL:REQUIRE} facility
613 and you can just use:
619 In older versions of ASDF, you needed to use
620 @code{(asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op :@var{foo})}.
621 If your ASDF is too old to provide @code{asdf:load-system} though
622 we recommend that you upgrade to ASDF 2.
623 @xref{Loading ASDF,,Loading an otherwise installed ASDF}.
625 Note the name of a system is specified as a string or a symbol,
627 If a symbol (including a keyword), its name is taken and lowercased.
628 The name must be a suitable value for the @code{:name} initarg
629 to @code{make-pathname} in whatever filesystem the system is to be found.
630 The lower-casing-symbols behaviour is unconventional,
631 but was selected after some consideration.
632 Observations suggest that the type of systems we want to support
633 either have lowercase as customary case (unix, mac, windows)
634 or silently convert lowercase to uppercase (lpns),
635 so this makes more sense than attempting to use @code{:case :common},
636 which is reported not to work on some implementations
639 @section Other Operations
641 ASDF provides three commands for the most common system operations:
642 @code{load-system}, @code{compile-system} or @code{test-system}.
644 Because ASDF is an extensible system
645 for defining @emph{operations} on @emph{components},
646 it also provides a generic function @code{operate}
647 (which is usually abbreviated by @code{oos}).
648 You'll use @code{oos} whenever you want to do something beyond
649 compiling, loading and testing.
651 Output from ASDF and ASDF extensions are supposed to be sent
652 to the CL stream @code{*standard-output*},
653 and so rebinding that stream around calls to @code{asdf:operate}
654 should redirect all output from ASDF operations.
656 Reminder: before ASDF can operate on a system, however,
657 it must be able to find and load that system's definition.
658 @xref{Configuring ASDF,,Configuring ASDF to find your systems}.
667 Load ASDF itself into your Lisp image, either through
668 @code{(require "asdf")} or else through
669 @code{(load "/path/to/asdf.lisp")}.
672 Make sure ASDF can find system definitions
673 thanks to proper source-registry configuration.
676 Load a system with @code{(load-system :my-system)}
677 or use some other operation on some system of your choice.
683 That's all you need to know to use ASDF to load systems written by others.
684 The rest of this manual deals with writing system definitions
685 for Common Lisp software you write yourself,
686 including how to extend ASDF to define new operation and component types.
689 @node Defining systems with defsystem, The object model of ASDF, Using ASDF, Top
690 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
691 @chapter Defining systems with defsystem
693 This chapter describes how to use asdf to define systems and develop
698 * The defsystem form::
699 * A more involved example::
700 * The defsystem grammar::
701 * Other code in .asd files::
704 @node The defsystem form, A more involved example, Defining systems with defsystem, Defining systems with defsystem
705 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
706 @section The defsystem form
708 Systems can be constructed programmatically
709 by instantiating components using @code{make-instance}.
710 Most of the time, however, it is much more practical to use
711 a static @code{defsystem} form.
712 This section begins with an example of a system definition,
713 then gives the full grammar of @code{defsystem}.
715 Let's look at a simple system.
716 This is a complete file that would
717 usually be saved as @file{hello-lisp.asd}:
722 (defsystem "hello-lisp"
723 :description "hello-lisp: a sample Lisp system."
725 :author "Joe User <joe@@example.com>"
726 :licence "Public Domain"
727 :components ((:file "packages")
728 (:file "macros" :depends-on ("packages"))
729 (:file "hello" :depends-on ("macros"))))
732 Some notes about this example:
737 The file starts with an @code{in-package} form
738 to use package @code{asdf}.
739 You could instead start your definition by using
740 a qualified name @code{asdf:defsystem}.
743 If in addition to simply using @code{defsystem},
744 you are going to define functions,
745 create ASDF extension, globally bind symbols, etc.,
746 it is recommended that to avoid namespace pollution between systems,
747 you should create your own package for that purpose,
748 for instance replacing the above @code{(in-package :asdf)} with:
751 (defpackage :foo-system
754 (in-package :foo-system)
758 The @code{defsystem} form defines a system named @code{hello-lisp}
759 that contains three source files:
760 @file{packages}, @file{macros} and @file{hello}.
763 The file @file{macros} depends on @file{packages}
764 (presumably because the package it's in is defined in @file{packages}),
765 and the file @file{hello} depends on @file{macros}
766 (and hence, transitively on @file{packages}).
767 This means that ASDF will compile and load @file{packages} and @file{macros}
768 before starting the compilation of file @file{hello}.
771 The files are located in the same directory
772 as the file with the system definition.
773 ASDF resolves symbolic links (or Windows shortcuts)
774 before loading the system definition file and
775 stores its location in the resulting system@footnote{
776 It is possible, though almost never necessary, to override this behaviour.}.
777 This is a good thing because the user can move the system sources
778 without having to edit the system definition.
780 @c FIXME: Should have cross-reference to "Version specifiers" in the
781 @c defsystem grammar, but the cross-referencing is so broken by
782 @c insufficient node breakdown that I have not put one in.
784 Make sure you know how the @code{:version} numbers will be parsed! They
785 are parsed as period-separated lists of integers. I.e., in the example,
786 @code{0.2.1} is to be interpreted, roughly speaking, as @code{(0 2 1)}.
787 In particular, version @code{0.2.1} is interpreted the same as
788 @code{0.0002.1} and is strictly version-less-than version @code{0.20.1},
789 even though the two are the same when interpreted as decimal fractions.
790 @cindex version specifiers
795 @node A more involved example, The defsystem grammar, The defsystem form, Defining systems with defsystem
796 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
797 @section A more involved example
799 Let's illustrate some more involved uses of @code{defsystem} via a
800 slightly convoluted example:
805 :components ((:module "mod"
806 :components ((:file "bar")
809 :perform (compile-op :after (op c)
811 :explain (compile-op :after (op c)
812 (explain-something c)))
816 The @code{:module} component named @code{"mod"} is a collection of three files,
817 which will be located in a subdirectory of the main code directory named
818 @file{mod} (this location can be overridden; see the discussion of the
819 @code{:pathname} option in @ref{The defsystem grammar}).
821 The method-form tokens provide a shorthand for defining methods on
822 particular components. This part
825 :perform (compile-op :after (op c)
827 :explain (compile-op :after (op c)
828 (explain-something c))
834 (defmethod perform :after ((op compile-op) (c (eql ...)))
836 (defmethod explain :after ((op compile-op) (c (eql ...)))
837 (explain-something c))
840 where @code{...} is the component in question.
841 In this case @code{...} would expand to something like
844 (find-component (find-system "foo") "mod")
847 For more details on the syntax of such forms, see @ref{The defsystem
849 For more details on what these methods do, @pxref{Operations} in
850 @ref{The object model of ASDF}.
852 @c The following plunge into the weeds is not appropriate in this
853 @c location. [2010/10/03:rpg]
854 @c note that although this also supports @code{:before} methods,
855 @c they may not do what you want them to ---
856 @c a @code{:before} method on perform @code{((op compile-op) (c (eql ...)))}
857 @c will run after all the dependencies and sub-components have been processed,
858 @c but before the component in question has been compiled.
860 @node The defsystem grammar, Other code in .asd files, A more involved example, Defining systems with defsystem
861 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
862 @section The defsystem grammar
864 @c FIXME: @var typesetting not consistently used here. We should either expand
865 @c its use to everywhere, or we should kill it everywhere.
869 system-definition := ( defsystem system-designator @var{system-option}* )
871 system-option := :defsystem-depends-on system-list
875 module-option := :components component-list
876 | :serial [ t | nil ]
877 | :if-component-dep-fails component-dep-fail-option
880 | :pathname pathname-specifier
881 | :default-component-class class-name
882 | :perform method-form
883 | :explain method-form
884 | :output-files method-form
885 | :operation-done-p method-form
886 | :depends-on ( @var{dependency-def}* )
887 | :in-order-to ( @var{dependency}+ )
890 system-list := ( @var{simple-component-name}* )
892 component-list := ( @var{component-def}* )
894 component-def := ( component-type simple-component-name @var{option}* )
896 component-type := :system | :module | :file | :static-file | other-component-type
898 other-component-type := symbol-by-name (@pxref{The defsystem grammar,,Component types})
900 dependency-def := simple-component-name
902 | ( :version simple-component-name version-specifier)
904 dependency := (dependent-op @var{requirement}+)
905 requirement := (required-op @var{required-component}+)
906 | (feature feature-name)
907 dependent-op := operation-name
908 required-op := operation-name | feature
910 simple-component-name := string
913 pathname-specifier := pathname | string | symbol
915 method-form := (operation-name qual lambda-list @&rest body)
916 qual := method qualifier
918 component-dep-fail-option := :fail | :try-next | :ignore
922 @subsection Component names
924 Component names (@code{simple-component-name})
925 may be either strings or symbols.
927 @subsection Component types
929 Component type names, even if expressed as keywords, will be looked up
930 by name in the current package and in the asdf package, if not found in
931 the current package. So a component type @code{my-component-type}, in
932 the current package @code{my-system-asd} can be specified as
933 @code{:my-component-type}, or @code{my-component-type}.
935 @subsection Defsystem depends on
937 The @code{:defsystem-depends-on} option to @code{defsystem} allows the
938 programmer to specify another ASDF-defined system or set of systems that
939 must be loaded @emph{before} the system definition is processed.
940 Typically this is used to load an ASDF extension that is used in the
943 @subsection Pathname specifiers
944 @cindex pathname specifiers
946 A pathname specifier (@code{pathname-specifier})
947 may be a pathname, a string or a symbol.
948 When no pathname specifier is given for a component,
949 which is the usual case, the component name itself is used.
951 If a string is given, which is the usual case,
952 the string will be interpreted as a Unix-style pathname
953 where @code{/} characters will be interpreted as directory separators.
954 Usually, Unix-style relative pathnames are used
955 (i.e. not starting with @code{/}, as opposed to absolute pathnames);
956 they are relative to the path of the parent component.
957 Finally, depending on the @code{component-type},
958 the pathname may be interpreted as either a file or a directory,
960 a file type may be added corresponding to the @code{component-type},
961 or else it will be extracted from the string itself (if applicable).
963 For instance, the @code{component-type} @code{:module}
964 wants a directory pathname, and so a string @code{"foo/bar"}
965 will be interpreted as the pathname @file{#p"foo/bar/"}.
966 On the other hand, the @code{component-type} @code{:file}
967 wants a file of type @code{lisp}, and so a string @code{"foo/bar"}
968 will be interpreted as the pathname @file{#p"foo/bar.lisp"},
969 and a string @code{"foo/bar.quux"}
970 will be interpreted as the pathname @file{#p"foo/bar.quux.lisp"}.
971 Finally, the @code{component-type} @code{:static-file}
972 wants a file without specifying a type, and so a string @code{"foo/bar"}
973 will be interpreted as the pathname @file{#p"foo/bar"},
974 and a string @code{"foo/bar.quux"}
975 will be interpreted as the pathname @file{#p"foo/bar.quux"}.
977 ASDF does not interpret the string @code{".."} to designate the parent
978 directory. This string will be passed through to the underlying
979 operating system for interpretation. We @emph{believe} that this will
980 work on all platforms where ASDF is deployed, but do not guarantee this
981 behavior. A pathname object with a relative directory component of
982 @code{:up} or @code{:back} is the only guaranteed way to specify a
985 If a symbol is given, it will be translated into a string,
986 and downcased in the process.
987 The downcasing of symbols is unconventional,
988 but was selected after some consideration.
989 Observations suggest that the type of systems we want to support
990 either have lowercase as customary case (Unix, Mac, windows)
991 or silently convert lowercase to uppercase (lpns),
992 so this makes more sense than attempting to use @code{:case :common}
993 as argument to @code{make-pathname},
994 which is reported not to work on some implementations.
996 Pathname objects may be given to override the path for a component.
997 Such objects are typically specified using reader macros such as @code{#p}
998 or @code{#.(make-pathname ...)}.
999 Note however, that @code{#p...} is a shorthand for @code{#.(parse-namestring ...)}
1000 and that the behavior of @code{parse-namestring} is completely non-portable,
1001 unless you are using Common Lisp @code{logical-pathname}s
1002 (@pxref{The defsystem grammar,,Using logical pathnames}, below).
1003 Pathnames made with @code{#.(make-pathname ...)}
1004 can usually be done more easily with the string syntax above.
1005 The only case that you really need a pathname object is to override
1006 the component-type default file type for a given component.
1007 Therefore, pathname objects should only rarely be used.
1008 Unhappily, ASDF 1 didn't properly support
1009 parsing component names as strings specifying paths with directories,
1010 and the cumbersome @code{#.(make-pathname ...)} syntax had to be used.
1012 Note that when specifying pathname objects,
1013 ASDF does not do any special interpretation of the pathname
1014 influenced by the component type, unlike the procedure for
1015 pathname-specifying strings.
1016 On the one hand, you have to be careful to provide a pathname that correctly
1017 fulfills whatever constraints are required from that component type
1018 (e.g. naming a directory or a file with appropriate type);
1019 on the other hand, you can circumvent the file type that would otherwise
1020 be forced upon you if you were specifying a string.
1022 @subsection Version specifiers
1023 @cindex version specifiers
1026 Version specifiers are parsed as period-separated lists of integers. I.e., in the example,
1027 @code{0.2.1} is to be interpreted, roughly speaking, as @code{(0 2 1)}.
1028 In particular, version @code{0.2.1} is interpreted the same as
1029 @code{0.0002.1} and is strictly version-less-than version @code{0.20.1},
1030 even though the two are the same when interpreted as decimal fractions.
1032 System definers are encouraged to use version identifiers of the form
1033 @var{x}.@var{y}.@var{z} for major version, minor version (compatible
1034 API) and patch level.
1036 @xref{Common attributes of components}.
1039 @subsection Using logical pathnames
1040 @cindex logical pathnames
1042 We do not generally recommend the use of logical pathnames,
1043 especially not so to newcomers to Common Lisp.
1044 However, we do support the use of logical pathnames by old timers,
1045 when such is their preference.
1047 To use logical pathnames,
1048 you will have to provide a pathname object as a @code{:pathname} specifier
1049 to components that use it, using such syntax as
1050 @code{#p"LOGICAL-HOST:absolute;path;to;component.lisp"}.
1052 You only have to specify such logical pathname
1053 for your system or some top-level component.
1054 Sub-components' relative pathnames,
1055 specified using the string syntax for names,
1056 will be properly merged with the pathnames of their parents.
1057 The specification of a logical pathname host however is @emph{not}
1058 otherwise directly supported in the ASDF syntax
1059 for pathname specifiers as strings.
1061 The @code{asdf-output-translation} layer will
1062 avoid trying to resolve and translate logical pathnames.
1063 The advantage of this is that
1064 you can define yourself what translations you want to use
1065 with the logical pathname facility.
1066 The disadvantage is that if you do not define such translations,
1067 any system that uses logical pathnames will behave differently under
1068 asdf-output-translations than other systems you use.
1070 If you wish to use logical pathnames you will have to configure the
1071 translations yourself before they may be used.
1072 ASDF currently provides no specific support
1073 for defining logical pathname translations.
1075 Note that the reasons we do not recommend logical pathnames are that
1076 (1) there is no portable way to set up logical pathnames before they are used,
1077 (2) logical pathnames are limited to only portably use
1078 a single character case, digits and hyphens.
1079 While you can solve the first issue on your own,
1080 describing how to do it on each of fifteen implementations supported by ASDF
1081 is more than we can document.
1082 As for the second issue, mind that the limitation is notably enforced on SBCL,
1083 and that you therefore can't portably violate the limitations
1084 but must instead define some encoding of your own and add individual mappings
1085 to name physical pathnames that do not fit the restrictions.
1086 This can notably be a problem when your Lisp files are part of a larger project
1087 in which it is common to name files or directories in a way that
1088 includes the version numbers of supported protocols,
1089 or in which files are shared with software written
1090 in different programming languages where conventions include the use of
1091 underscores, dots or CamelCase in pathnames.
1094 @subsection Serial dependencies
1095 @cindex serial dependencies
1097 If the @code{:serial t} option is specified for a module,
1098 ASDF will add dependencies for each child component,
1099 on all the children textually preceding it.
1100 This is done as if by @code{:depends-on}.
1104 :components ((:file "a") (:file "b") (:file "c"))
1110 :components ((:file "a")
1111 (:file "b" :depends-on ("a"))
1112 (:file "c" :depends-on ("a" "b")))
1116 @subsection Source location
1118 The @code{:pathname} option is optional in all cases for systems
1119 defined via @code{defsystem},
1120 and in the usual case the user is recommended not to supply it.
1122 Instead, ASDF follows a hairy set of rules that are designed so that
1126 will load a system from disk
1127 and have its pathname default to the right place.
1129 This pathname information will not be overwritten with
1130 @code{*default-pathname-defaults*}
1131 (which could be somewhere else altogether)
1132 if the user loads up the @file{.asd} file into his editor
1133 and interactively re-evaluates that form.
1136 If a system is being loaded for the first time,
1137 its top-level pathname will be set to:
1141 The host/device/directory parts of @code{*load-truename*},
1144 @code{*default-pathname-defaults*}, otherwise.
1147 If a system is being redefined, the top-level pathname will be
1151 changed, if explicitly supplied or obtained from @code{*load-truename*}
1152 (so that an updated source location is reflected in the system definition)
1154 changed if it had previously been set from @code{*default-pathname-defaults*}
1156 left as before, if it had previously been set from @code{*load-truename*}
1157 and @code{*load-truename*} is currently unbound
1158 (so that a developer can evaluate a @code{defsystem} form
1159 from within an editor without clobbering its source location)
1162 @subsection if-component-dep-fails option
1164 This option is only appropriate for module components (including
1165 systems), not individual source files.
1167 For more information about this option, @pxref{Pre-defined subclasses of component}.
1169 @node Other code in .asd files, , The defsystem grammar, Defining systems with defsystem
1170 @section Other code in .asd files
1172 Files containing @code{defsystem} forms
1173 are regular Lisp files that are executed by @code{load}.
1174 Consequently, you can put whatever Lisp code you like into these files
1175 (e.g., code that examines the compile-time environment
1176 and adds appropriate features to @code{*features*}).
1177 However, some conventions should be followed,
1178 so that users can control certain details of execution
1179 of the Lisp in @file{.asd} files:
1183 Any informative output
1184 (other than warnings and errors,
1185 which are the condition system's to dispose of)
1186 should be sent to the standard CL stream @code{*standard-output*},
1187 so that users can easily control the disposition
1188 of output from ASDF operations.
1192 @node The object model of ASDF, Controlling where ASDF searches for systems, Defining systems with defsystem, Top
1193 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1194 @chapter The object model of ASDF
1196 ASDF is designed in an object-oriented way from the ground up.
1197 Both a system's structure and the operations that can be performed on systems
1199 ASDF is extensible to new operations and to new component types.
1200 This allows the addition of behaviours:
1201 for example, a new component could be added for Java JAR archives,
1202 and methods specialised on @code{compile-op} added for it
1203 that would accomplish the relevant actions.
1205 This chapter deals with @emph{components}, the building blocks of a system,
1206 and @emph{operations}, the actions that can be performed on a system.
1215 @node Operations, Components, The object model of ASDF, The object model of ASDF
1216 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1220 An @dfn{operation} object of the appropriate type is instantiated
1221 whenever the user wants to do something with a system like
1224 @item compile all its files
1225 @item load the files into a running lisp environment
1226 @item copy its source files somewhere else
1229 Operations can be invoked directly, or examined
1230 to see what their effects would be without performing them.
1231 @emph{FIXME: document how!}
1232 There are a bunch of methods specialised on operation and component type
1233 that actually do the grunt work.
1235 The operation object contains whatever state is relevant for this purpose
1236 (perhaps a list of visited nodes, for example)
1237 but primarily is a nice thing to specialise operation methods on
1238 and easier than having them all be @code{EQL} methods.
1240 Operations are invoked on systems via @code{operate}.
1242 @deffn {Generic function} @code{operate} @var{operation} @var{system} @&rest @var{initargs}
1243 @deffnx {Generic function} @code{oos} @var{operation} @var{system} @&rest @var{initargs}
1244 @code{operate} invokes @var{operation} on @var{system}.
1245 @code{oos} is a synonym for @code{operate}.
1247 @var{operation} is a symbol that is passed, along with the supplied
1248 @var{initargs}, to @code{make-instance} to create the operation object.
1249 @var{system} is a system designator.
1251 The @var{initargs} are passed to the @code{make-instance} call
1252 when creating the operation object.
1253 Note that dependencies may cause the operation
1254 to invoke other operations on the system or its components:
1255 the new operations will be created
1256 with the same @var{initargs} as the original one.
1261 * Predefined operations of ASDF::
1262 * Creating new operations::
1265 @node Predefined operations of ASDF, Creating new operations, Operations, Operations
1266 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1267 @subsection Predefined operations of ASDF
1269 All the operations described in this section are in the @code{asdf} package.
1270 They are invoked via the @code{operate} generic function.
1273 (asdf:operate 'asdf:@var{operation-name} :@var{system-name} @{@var{operation-options ...}@})
1276 @deffn Operation @code{compile-op} @&key @code{proclamations}
1278 This operation compiles the specified component.
1279 If proclamations are supplied, they will be proclaimed.
1280 This is a good place to specify optimization settings.
1282 When creating a new component type,
1283 you should provide methods for @code{compile-op}.
1285 When @code{compile-op} is invoked,
1286 component dependencies often cause some parts of the system
1287 to be loaded as well as compiled.
1288 Invoking @code{compile-op}
1289 does not necessarily load all the parts of the system, though;
1290 use @code{load-op} to load a system.
1293 @deffn Operation @code{load-op} @&key @code{proclamations}
1295 This operation loads a system.
1297 The default methods for @code{load-op} compile files before loading them.
1298 For parity, your own methods on new component types should probably do so too.
1301 @deffn Operation @code{load-source-op}
1303 This operation will load the source for the files in a module
1304 even if the source files have been compiled.
1305 Systems sometimes have knotty dependencies
1306 which require that sources are loaded
1307 before they can be compiled.
1308 This is how you do that.
1310 If you are creating a component type,
1311 you need to implement this operation --- at least, where meaningful.
1315 @deffn Operation @code{test-op}
1317 This operation will perform some tests on the module.
1318 The default method will do nothing.
1319 The default dependency is to require
1320 @code{load-op} to be performed on the module first.
1321 The default @code{operation-done-p} is that the operation is @emph{never} done
1323 we assume that if you invoke the @code{test-op},
1324 you want to test the system, even if you have already done so.
1326 The results of this operation are not defined by ASDF.
1327 It has proven difficult to define how the test operation
1328 should signal its results to the user
1329 in a way that is compatible with all of the various test libraries
1330 and test techniques in use in the community.
1333 @c @deffn Operation test-system-version @&key minimum
1335 @c Asks the system whether it satisfies a version requirement.
1337 @c The default method accepts a string, which is expected to contain of a
1338 @c number of integers separated by #\. characters. The method is not
1339 @c recursive. The component satisfies the version dependency if it has
1340 @c the same major number as required and each of its sub-versions is
1341 @c greater than or equal to the sub-version number required.
1344 @c (defun version-satisfies (x y)
1345 @c (labels ((bigger (x y)
1346 @c (cond ((not y) t)
1348 @c ((> (car x) (car y)) t)
1349 @c ((= (car x) (car y))
1350 @c (bigger (cdr x) (cdr y))))))
1351 @c (and (= (car x) (car y))
1352 @c (or (not (cdr y)) (bigger (cdr x) (cdr y))))))
1355 @c If that doesn't work for your system, you can override it. I hope
1356 @c you have as much fun writing the new method as @verb{|#lisp|} did
1357 @c reimplementing this one.
1360 @c @deffn Operation feature-dependent-op
1362 @c An instance of @code{feature-dependent-op} will ignore any components
1363 @c which have a @code{features} attribute, unless the feature combination
1364 @c it designates is satisfied by @code{*features*}. This operation is
1365 @c not intended to be instantiated directly, but other operations may
1370 @node Creating new operations, , Predefined operations of ASDF, Operations
1371 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1372 @subsection Creating new operations
1374 ASDF was designed to be extensible in an object-oriented fashion.
1375 To teach ASDF new tricks, a programmer can implement the behaviour he wants
1376 by creating a subclass of @code{operation}.
1378 ASDF's pre-defined operations are in no way ``privileged'',
1379 but it is requested that developers never use the @code{asdf} package
1380 for operations they develop themselves.
1381 The rationale for this rule is that we don't want to establish a
1382 ``global asdf operation name registry'',
1383 but also want to avoid name clashes.
1385 An operation must provide methods for the following generic functions
1386 when invoked with an object of type @code{source-file}:
1387 @emph{FIXME describe this better}
1391 @item @code{output-files}
1392 The @code{output-files} method determines where the method will put its files.
1393 It returns two values, a list of pathnames, and a boolean.
1394 If the boolean is @code{T} then the pathnames are marked
1395 not be translated by enclosing @code{:around} methods.
1396 If the boolean is @code{NIL} then enclosing @code{:around} methods
1397 may translate these pathnames, e.g. to ensure object files
1398 are somehow stored in some implementation-dependent cache.
1399 @item @code{perform}
1400 The @code{perform} method must call @code{output-files}
1401 to find out where to put its files,
1402 because the user is allowed to override.
1403 @item @code{output-files}
1404 for local policy @code{explain}
1405 @item @code{operation-done-p},
1406 if you don't like the default one
1410 Operations that print output should send that output to the standard
1411 CL stream @code{*standard-output*}, as the Lisp compiler and loader do.
1413 @node Components, , Operations, The object model of ASDF
1414 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1418 @cindex system designator
1419 @vindex *system-definition-search-functions*
1421 A @dfn{component} represents a source file or
1422 (recursively) a collection of components.
1423 A @dfn{system} is (roughly speaking) a top-level component
1424 that can be found via @code{find-system}.
1426 A @dfn{system designator} is a string or symbol
1427 and behaves just like any other component name
1428 (including with regard to the case conversion rules for component names).
1431 @defun find-system system-designator &optional (error-p t)
1433 Given a system designator, @code{find-system} finds and returns a system.
1434 If no system is found, an error of type
1435 @code{missing-component} is thrown,
1436 or @code{nil} is returned if @code{error-p} is false.
1438 To find and update systems, @code{find-system} funcalls each element
1439 in the @code{*system-definition-search-functions*} list,
1440 expecting a pathname to be returned, or a system object,
1441 from which a pathname may be extracted, and that will be registered.
1442 The resulting pathname (if any) is loaded
1443 if one of the following conditions is true:
1447 there is no system of that name in memory
1449 the pathname is different from that which was previously loaded
1451 the file's @code{last-modified} time exceeds the @code{last-modified} time
1452 of the system in memory
1455 When system definitions are loaded from @file{.asd} files,
1456 a new scratch package is created for them to load into,
1457 so that different systems do not overwrite each others operations.
1458 The user may also wish to (and is recommended to)
1459 include @code{defpackage} and @code{in-package} forms
1460 in his system definition files, however,
1461 so that they can be loaded manually if need be.
1463 The default value of @code{*system-definition-search-functions*}
1464 is a list of two functions.
1465 The first function looks in each of the directories given
1466 by evaluating members of @code{*central-registry*}
1467 for a file whose name is the name of the system and whose type is @file{asd}.
1468 The first such file is returned,
1469 whether or not it turns out to actually define the appropriate system.
1470 The second function does something similar,
1471 for the directories specified in the @code{source-registry}.
1472 Hence, it is strongly advised to define a system
1473 @var{foo} in the corresponding file @var{foo.asd}.
1478 * Common attributes of components::
1479 * Pre-defined subclasses of component::
1480 * Creating new component types::
1483 @node Common attributes of components, Pre-defined subclasses of component, Components, Components
1484 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1485 @subsection Common attributes of components
1487 All components, regardless of type, have the following attributes.
1488 All attributes except @code{name} are optional.
1492 A component name is a string or a symbol.
1493 If a symbol, its name is taken and lowercased.
1495 Unless overridden by a @code{:pathname} attribute,
1496 the name will be interpreted as a pathname specifier according
1497 to a Unix-style syntax.
1498 @xref{The defsystem grammar,,Pathname specifiers}.
1500 @subsubsection Version identifier
1501 @findex version-satisfies
1504 This optional attribute is used by the generic function
1505 @code{version-satisfies}, which tests to see if @code{:version}
1506 dependencies are satisfied.
1507 the version should be a string of integers separated by dots,
1508 for example @samp{1.0.11}.
1509 For more information on the semantics of version specifiers, see @ref{The defsystem grammar}.
1511 @c This optional attribute is intended to be used by the @code{test-system-version} operation.
1512 @c @xref{Predefined operations of ASDF}.
1513 @c @emph{Nota Bene}:
1514 @c This operation, planned for ASDF 1,
1515 @c is still not implemented yet as of ASDF 2.
1516 @c Don't hold your breath.
1520 @subsubsection Required features
1522 @emph{FIXME: This subsection seems to contradict the
1523 @code{defsystem} grammar subsection,
1524 which doesn't provide any obvious way to specify required features.
1525 Furthermore, in 2009, discussions on the
1526 @url{http://common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asdf-devel,asdf-devel mailing list}
1527 suggested that the specification of required features may be broken,
1528 and that no one may have been using them for a while.
1530 @url{http://common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asdf-devel,asdf-devel mailing list}
1531 if you are interested in getting this features feature fixed.}
1533 Traditionally defsystem users have used reader conditionals
1534 to include or exclude specific per-implementation files.
1535 This means that any single implementation cannot read the entire system,
1536 which becomes a problem if it doesn't wish to compile it,
1537 but instead for example to create an archive file containing all the sources,
1538 as it will omit to process the system-dependent sources for other systems.
1540 Each component in an asdf system may therefore specify features using
1541 the same syntax as @code{#+} does, and it will (somehow) be ignored for
1542 certain operations unless the feature conditional is a member of
1546 @subsubsection Dependencies
1548 This attribute specifies dependencies of the component on its siblings.
1549 It is optional but often necessary.
1551 There is an excitingly complicated relationship between the initarg
1552 and the method that you use to ask about dependencies
1554 Dependencies are between (operation component) pairs.
1555 In your initargs for the component, you can say
1558 :in-order-to ((compile-op (load-op "a" "b") (compile-op "c"))
1559 (load-op (load-op "foo")))
1562 This means the following things:
1565 before performing compile-op on this component, we must perform
1566 load-op on @var{a} and @var{b}, and compile-op on @var{c},
1568 before performing @code{load-op}, we have to load @var{foo}
1571 The syntax is approximately
1574 (this-op {(other-op required-components)}+)
1576 required-components := component-name
1577 | (required-components required-components)
1579 component-name := string
1580 | (:version string minimum-version-object)
1585 This is on a par with what ACL defsystem does.
1586 mk-defsystem is less general: it has an implied dependency
1589 for all x, (load x) depends on (compile x)
1592 and using a @code{:depends-on} argument to say that @var{b} depends on
1593 @var{a} @emph{actually} means that
1596 (compile b) depends on (load a)
1599 This is insufficient for e.g. the McCLIM system, which requires that
1600 all the files are loaded before any of them can be compiled ]
1604 In ASDF, the dependency information for a given component and operation
1605 can be queried using @code{(component-depends-on operation component)},
1606 which returns a list
1609 ((load-op "a") (load-op "b") (compile-op "c") ...)
1612 @code{component-depends-on} can be subclassed for more specific
1613 component/operation types: these need to @code{(call-next-method)}
1614 and append the answer to their dependency, unless
1615 they have a good reason for completely overriding the default dependencies.
1617 If it weren't for CLISP, we'd be using @code{LIST} method
1618 combination to do this transparently.
1619 But, we need to support CLISP.
1620 If you have the time for some CLISP hacking,
1621 I'm sure they'd welcome your fixes.
1622 @c Doesn't CLISP now support LIST method combination?
1624 See the discussion of the semantics of @code{:version} in the defsystem
1627 @c FIXME: Should have cross-reference to "Version specifiers" in the
1628 @c defsystem grammar, but the cross-referencing is so broken by
1629 @c insufficient node breakdown that I have not put one in.
1632 @subsubsection pathname
1634 This attribute is optional and if absent (which is the usual case),
1635 the component name will be used.
1637 @xref{The defsystem grammar,,Pathname specifiers},
1638 for an explanation of how this attribute is interpreted.
1640 Note that the @code{defsystem} macro (used to create a ``top-level'' system)
1641 does additional processing to set the filesystem location of
1642 the top component in that system.
1643 This is detailed elsewhere. @xref{Defining systems with defsystem}.
1646 @subsubsection properties
1648 This attribute is optional.
1650 Packaging systems often require information about files or systems
1651 in addition to that specified by ASDF's pre-defined component attributes.
1652 Programs that create vendor packages out of ASDF systems therefore
1653 have to create ``placeholder'' information to satisfy these systems.
1654 Sometimes the creator of an ASDF system may know the additional
1655 information and wish to provide it directly.
1657 @code{(component-property component property-name)} and
1658 associated @code{setf} method will allow
1659 the programmatic update of this information.
1660 Property names are compared as if by @code{EQL},
1661 so use symbols or keywords or something.
1664 * Pre-defined subclasses of component::
1665 * Creating new component types::
1668 @node Pre-defined subclasses of component, Creating new component types, Common attributes of components, Components
1669 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1670 @subsection Pre-defined subclasses of component
1672 @deffn Component source-file
1674 A source file is any file that the system does not know how to
1675 generate from other components of the system.
1677 Note that this is not necessarily the same thing as
1678 ``a file containing data that is typically fed to a compiler''.
1679 If a file is generated by some pre-processor stage
1680 (e.g. a @file{.h} file from @file{.h.in} by autoconf)
1681 then it is not, by this definition, a source file.
1682 Conversely, we might have a graphic file
1683 that cannot be automatically regenerated,
1684 or a proprietary shared library that we received as a binary:
1685 these do count as source files for our purposes.
1687 Subclasses of source-file exist for various languages.
1688 @emph{FIXME: describe these.}
1691 @deffn Component module
1693 A module is a collection of sub-components.
1695 A module component has the following extra initargs:
1699 @code{:components} the components contained in this module
1702 @code{:default-component-class}
1703 All children components which don't specify their class explicitly
1704 are inferred to be of this type.
1707 @code{:if-component-dep-fails}
1708 This attribute takes one of the values
1709 @code{:fail}, @code{:try-next}, @code{:ignore},
1710 its default value is @code{:fail}.
1711 The other values can be used for implementing conditional compilation
1712 based on implementation @code{*features*},
1713 for the case where it is not necessary for all files in a module to be
1715 @emph{FIXME: such conditional compilation has been reported
1716 to be broken in 2009.}
1719 @code{:serial} When this attribute is set,
1720 each subcomponent of this component is assumed to depend on all subcomponents
1721 before it in the list given to @code{:components}, i.e.
1722 all of them are loaded before a compile or load operation is performed on it.
1726 The default operation knows how to traverse a module, so
1727 most operations will not need to provide methods specialised on modules.
1729 @code{module} may be subclassed to represent components such as
1730 foreign-language linked libraries or archive files.
1733 @deffn Component system
1735 @code{system} is a subclass of @code{module}.
1737 A system is a module with a few extra attributes for documentation
1738 purposes; these are given elsewhere.
1739 @xref{The defsystem grammar}.
1741 Users can create new classes for their systems:
1742 the default @code{defsystem} macro takes a @code{:class} keyword argument.
1745 @node Creating new component types, , Pre-defined subclasses of component, Components
1746 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1747 @subsection Creating new component types
1749 New component types are defined by subclassing one of the existing
1750 component classes and specializing methods on the new component class.
1752 @emph{FIXME: this should perhaps be explained more throughly,
1753 not only by example ...}
1755 As an example, suppose we have some implementation-dependent
1756 functionality that we want to isolate
1757 in one subdirectory per Lisp implementation our system supports.
1758 We create a subclass of
1759 @code{cl-source-file}:
1762 (defclass unportable-cl-source-file (cl-source-file)
1766 Function @code{asdf:implementation-type} (exported since 2.014.14)
1767 gives us the name of the subdirectory.
1768 All that's left is to define how to calculate the pathname
1769 of an @code{unportable-cl-source-file}.
1772 (defmethod component-pathname ((component unportable-cl-source-file))
1774 (coerce-pathname (format nil "~(~A~)/" (asdf:implementation-type)))
1775 (call-next-method)))
1778 The new component type is used in a @code{defsystem} form in this way:
1785 (:unportable-cl-source-file "threads"
1786 :depends-on ("packages" ...))
1791 @node Controlling where ASDF searches for systems, Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files, The object model of ASDF, Top
1792 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1793 @chapter Controlling where ASDF searches for systems
1795 @section Configurations
1797 Configurations specify paths where to find system files.
1802 The search registry may use some hardcoded wrapping registry specification.
1803 This allows some implementations (notably SBCL) to specify where to find
1804 some special implementation-provided systems that
1805 need to precisely match the version of the implementation itself.
1808 An application may explicitly initialize the source-registry configuration
1809 using the configuration API
1810 (@pxref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems,Configuration API,Configuration API}, below)
1811 in which case this takes precedence.
1812 It may itself compute this configuration from the command-line,
1813 from a script, from its own configuration file, etc.
1816 The source registry will be configured from
1817 the environment variable @code{CL_SOURCE_REGISTRY} if it exists.
1820 The source registry will be configured from
1821 user configuration file
1822 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/common-lisp/source-registry.conf}
1824 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf})
1828 The source registry will be configured from
1829 user configuration directory
1830 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/common-lisp/source-registry.conf.d/}
1832 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf.d/})
1836 The source registry will be configured from
1837 system configuration file
1838 @file{/etc/common-lisp/source-registry.conf}
1842 The source registry will be configured from
1843 system configuration directory
1844 @file{/etc/common-lisp/source-registry.conf.d/}
1848 The source registry will be configured from a default configuration.
1849 This configuration may allow for implementation-specific systems
1850 to be found, for systems to be found the current directory
1851 (at the time that the configuration is initialized) as well as
1852 @code{:directory} entries for @file{$XDG_DATA_DIRS/common-lisp/systems/} and
1853 @code{:tree} entries for @file{$XDG_DATA_DIRS/common-lisp/source/}.
1854 For instance, SBCL will include directories for its contribs
1855 when it can find them; it will look for them where SBCL was installed,
1856 or at the location specified by the @code{SBCL_HOME} environment variable.
1860 Each of these configurations is specified as an s-expression
1861 in a trivial domain-specific language (defined below).
1862 Additionally, a more shell-friendly syntax is available
1863 for the environment variable (defined yet below).
1865 Each of these configurations is only used if the previous
1866 configuration explicitly or implicitly specifies that it
1867 includes its inherited configuration.
1869 Additionally, some implementation-specific directories
1870 may be automatically prepended to whatever directories are specified
1871 in configuration files, no matter if the last one inherits or not.
1873 @section XDG base directory
1875 Note that we purport to respect the XDG base directory specification
1876 as to where configuration files are located,
1877 where data files are located,
1878 where output file caches are located.
1879 Mentions of XDG variables refer to that document.
1881 @url{http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html}
1883 This specification allows the user to specify some environment variables
1884 to customize how applications behave to his preferences.
1886 On Windows platforms, when not using Cygwin,
1887 instead of the XDG base directory specification,
1888 we try to use folder configuration from the registry regarding
1889 @code{Common AppData} and similar directories.
1890 However, support for querying the Windows registry is limited as of ASDF 2,
1891 and on many implementations, we may fall back to always using the defaults
1892 without consulting the registry.
1895 @section Backward Compatibility
1897 For backward compatibility as well as to provide a practical backdoor for hackers,
1898 ASDF will first search for @code{.asd} files in the directories specified in
1899 @code{asdf:*central-registry*}
1900 before it searches in the source registry above.
1902 @xref{Configuring ASDF,,Configuring ASDF to find your systems --- old style}.
1904 By default, @code{asdf:*central-registry*} will be empty.
1906 This old mechanism will therefore not affect you if you don't use it,
1907 but will take precedence over the new mechanism if you do use it.
1909 @section Configuration DSL
1911 Here is the grammar of the s-expression (SEXP) DSL for source-registry
1914 @c FIXME: This is too wide for happy compilation into pdf.
1917 ;; A configuration is a single SEXP starting with keyword :source-registry
1918 ;; followed by a list of directives.
1919 CONFIGURATION := (:source-registry DIRECTIVE ...)
1921 ;; A directive is one of the following:
1923 ;; INHERITANCE DIRECTIVE:
1924 ;; Your configuration expression MUST contain
1925 ;; exactly one of either of these:
1926 :inherit-configuration | ; splices inherited configuration (often specified last)
1927 :ignore-inherited-configuration | ; drop inherited configuration (specified anywhere)
1929 ;; forward compatibility directive (since ASDF 2.011.4), useful when
1930 ;; you want to use new configuration features but have to bootstrap a
1931 ;; the newer required ASDF from an older release that doesn't sport said features:
1932 :ignore-invalid-entries | ; drops subsequent invalid entries instead of erroring out
1934 ;; add a single directory to be scanned (no recursion)
1935 (:directory DIRECTORY-PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR) |
1937 ;; add a directory hierarchy, recursing but excluding specified patterns
1938 (:tree DIRECTORY-PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR) |
1940 ;; override the defaults for exclusion patterns
1941 (:exclude EXCLUSION-PATTERN ...) |
1942 ;; augment the defaults for exclusion patterns
1943 (:also-exclude EXCLUSION-PATTERN ...) |
1944 ;; Note that the scope of a an exclude pattern specification is
1945 ;; the rest of the current configuration expression or file.
1947 ;; splice the parsed contents of another config file
1948 (:include REGULAR-FILE-PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR) |
1950 ;; This directive specifies that some default must be spliced.
1953 REGULAR-FILE-PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR := PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR ;; interpreted as a file
1954 DIRECTORY-PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR := PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR ;; interpreted as a directory name
1956 PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR :=
1957 NIL | ;; Special: skip this entry.
1958 ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR ;; see pathname DSL
1960 EXCLUSION-PATTERN := a string without wildcards, that will be matched exactly
1961 against the name of a any subdirectory in the directory component
1962 of a path. e.g. @code{"_darcs"} will match @file{#p"/foo/bar/_darcs/src/bar.asd"}
1965 Pathnames are designated using another DSL,
1966 shared with the output-translations configuration DSL below.
1967 The DSL is resolved by the function @code{asdf::resolve-location},
1968 to be documented and exported at some point in the future.
1971 ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR :=
1972 (ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR ...) |
1973 STRING | ;; namestring (better be absolute or bust, directory assumed where applicable).
1974 ;; In output-translations, directory is assumed and **/*.*.* added if it's last.
1975 ;; On MCL, a MacOSX-style POSIX namestring (for MacOS9 style, use #p"...");
1976 ;; Note that none of the above applies to strings used in *central-registry*,
1977 ;; which doesn't use this DSL: they are processed as normal namestrings.
1978 ;; however, you can compute what you put in the *central-registry*
1979 ;; based on the results of say (asdf::resolve-location "/Users/fare/cl/cl-foo/")
1980 PATHNAME | ;; pathname (better be an absolute path, or bust)
1981 ;; In output-translations, unless followed by relative components,
1982 ;; it better have appropriate wildcards, as in **/*.*.*
1983 :HOME | ;; designates the user-homedir-pathname ~/
1984 :USER-CACHE | ;; designates the default location for the user cache
1985 :HERE | ;; designates the location of the configuration file
1986 ;; (or *default-pathname-defaults*, if invoked interactively)
1987 :ROOT ;; magic, for output-translations source only: paths that are relative
1988 ;; to the root of the source host and device
1989 ;; Not valid anymore: :SYSTEM-CACHE (was a security hazard)
1991 RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR :=
1992 (RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR ...) |
1993 STRING | ;; relative directory pathname as interpreted by coerce-pathname.
1994 ;; In output translations, if last component, **/*.*.* is added
1995 PATHNAME | ;; pathname; unless last component, directory is assumed.
1996 :IMPLEMENTATION | ;; directory based on implementation, e.g. sbcl-1.0.49-linux-x64
1997 :IMPLEMENTATION-TYPE | ;; a directory based on lisp-implementation-type only, e.g. sbcl
1998 :DEFAULT-DIRECTORY | ;; a relativized version of the default directory
1999 :*/ | ;; any direct subdirectory (since ASDF 2.011.4)
2000 :**/ | ;; any recursively inferior subdirectory (since ASDF 2.011.4)
2001 :*.*.* | ;; any file (since ASDF 2.011.4)
2002 ;; Not supported (anymore): :UID and :USERNAME
2005 For instance, as a simple case, my @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf},
2006 which is the default place ASDF looks for this configuration, once contained:
2009 (:tree (:home "cl")) ;; will expand to e.g. "/home/joeluser/cl/"
2010 :inherit-configuration)
2013 @section Configuration Directories
2015 Configuration directories consist in files each containing
2016 a list of directives without any enclosing @code{(:source-registry ...)} form.
2017 The files will be sorted by namestring as if by @code{string<} and
2018 the lists of directives of these files with be concatenated in order.
2019 An implicit @code{:inherit-configuration} will be included
2020 at the @emph{end} of the list.
2022 This allows for packaging software that has file granularity
2023 (e.g. Debian's @code{dpkg} or some future version of @code{clbuild})
2024 to easily include configuration information about distributed software.
2026 The convention is that, for sorting purposes,
2027 the names of files in such a directory begin with two digits
2028 that determine the order in which these entries will be read.
2029 Also, the type of these files is conventionally @code{"conf"}
2030 and as a limitation to some implementations (e.g. GNU clisp),
2031 the type cannot be @code{NIL}.
2033 Directories may be included by specifying a directory pathname
2034 or namestring in an @code{:include} directive, e.g.:
2037 (:include "/foo/bar/")
2040 Hence, to achieve the same effect as
2041 my example @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf} above,
2042 I could simply create a file
2043 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/source-registry.conf.d/33-home-fare-cl.conf}
2044 alone in its directory with the following contents:
2046 (:tree "/home/fare/cl/")
2049 @subsection The :here directive
2051 The @code{:here} directive is an absolute pathname designator that
2052 refers to the directory containing the configuration file currently
2055 The @code{:here} directive is intended to simplify the delivery of
2056 complex CL systems, and for easy configuration of projects shared through
2057 revision control systems, in accordance with our design principle that
2058 each participant should be able to provide all and only the information
2059 available to him or her.
2061 Consider a person X who has set up the source code repository for a
2062 complex project with a master directory @file{dir/}. Ordinarily, one
2063 might simply have the user add a directive that would look something
2066 (:tree "path/to/dir")
2068 But what if X knows that there are very large subtrees
2069 under dir that are filled with, e.g., Java source code, image files for
2070 icons, etc.? All of the asdf system definitions are contained in the
2071 subdirectories @file{dir/src/lisp/} and @file{dir/extlib/lisp/}, and
2072 these are the only directories that should be searched.
2074 In this case, X can put into @file{dir/} a file @file{asdf.conf} that
2075 contains the following:
2078 (:tree (:here "src/lisp/"))
2079 (:tree (:here "extlib/lisp"))
2080 (:directory (:here "outlier/")))
2083 Then when someone else (call her Y) checks out a copy of this
2084 repository, she need only add
2086 (:include "/path/to/my/checkout/directory/asdf.conf")
2088 to one of her previously-existing asdf source location configuration
2089 files, or invoke @code{initialize-source-registry} with a configuration
2090 form containing that s-expression. ASDF will find the .conf file that X
2091 has provided, and then set up source locations within the working
2092 directory according to X's (relative) instructions.
2094 @section Shell-friendly syntax for configuration
2096 When considering environment variable @code{CL_SOURCE_REGISTRY}
2097 ASDF will skip to next configuration if it's an empty string.
2098 It will @code{READ} the string as a SEXP in the DSL
2099 if it begins with a paren @code{(}
2100 and it will be interpreted much like @code{TEXINPUTS}
2101 list of paths, where
2103 * paths are separated
2104 by a @code{:} (colon) on Unix platforms (including cygwin),
2105 by a @code{;} (semicolon) on other platforms (mainly, Windows).
2107 * each entry is a directory to add to the search path.
2109 * if the entry ends with a double slash @code{//}
2110 then it instead indicates a tree in the subdirectories
2111 of which to recurse.
2113 * if the entry is the empty string (which may only appear once),
2114 then it indicates that the inherited configuration should be
2118 @section Search Algorithm
2119 @vindex *default-source-registry-exclusions*
2121 In case that isn't clear, the semantics of the configuration is that
2122 when searching for a system of a given name,
2123 directives are processed in order.
2125 When looking in a directory, if the system is found, the search succeeds,
2126 otherwise it continues.
2128 When looking in a tree, if one system is found, the search succeeds.
2129 If multiple systems are found, the consequences are unspecified:
2130 the search may succeed with any of the found systems,
2131 or an error may be raised.
2132 ASDF currently returns the first system found,
2133 XCVB currently raised an error.
2134 If none is found, the search continues.
2136 Exclude statements specify patterns of subdirectories
2137 the systems from which to ignore.
2138 Typically you don't want to use copies of files kept by such
2139 version control systems as Darcs.
2140 Exclude statements are not propagated to further included or inherited
2141 configuration files or expressions;
2142 instead the defaults are reset around every configuration statement
2143 to the default defaults from @code{asdf::*default-source-registry-exclusions*}.
2145 Include statements cause the search to recurse with the path specifications
2146 from the file specified.
2148 An inherit-configuration statement cause the search to recurse with the path
2149 specifications from the next configuration
2150 (@pxref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems,,Configurations} above).
2153 @section Caching Results
2155 The implementation is allowed to either eagerly compute the information
2156 from the configurations and file system, or to lazily re-compute it
2157 every time, or to cache any part of it as it goes.
2158 To explicitly flush any information cached by the system, use the API below.
2161 @section Configuration API
2163 The specified functions are exported from your build system's package.
2164 Thus for ASDF the corresponding functions are in package ASDF,
2165 and for XCVB the corresponding functions are in package XCVB.
2167 @defun initialize-source-registry @&optional PARAMETER
2168 will read the configuration and initialize all internal variables.
2169 You may extend or override configuration
2170 from the environment and configuration files
2171 with the given @var{PARAMETER}, which can be
2172 @code{NIL} (no configuration override),
2173 or a SEXP (in the SEXP DSL),
2174 a string (as in the string DSL),
2175 a pathname (of a file or directory with configuration),
2176 or a symbol (fbound to function that when called returns one of the above).
2179 @defun clear-source-registry
2180 undoes any source registry configuration
2181 and clears any cache for the search algorithm.
2182 You might want to call this function
2183 (or better, @code{clear-configuration})
2184 before you dump an image that would be resumed
2185 with a different configuration,
2186 and return an empty configuration.
2187 Note that this does not include clearing information about
2188 systems defined in the current image, only about
2189 where to look for systems not yet defined.
2192 @defun ensure-source-registry @&optional PARAMETER
2193 checks whether a source registry has been initialized.
2194 If not, initialize it with the given @var{PARAMETER}.
2197 Every time you use ASDF's @code{find-system}, or
2198 anything that uses it (such as @code{operate}, @code{load-system}, etc.),
2199 @code{ensure-source-registry} is called with parameter NIL,
2200 which the first time around causes your configuration to be read.
2201 If you change a configuration file,
2202 you need to explicitly @code{initialize-source-registry} again,
2203 or maybe simply to @code{clear-source-registry} (or @code{clear-configuration})
2204 which will cause the initialization to happen next time around.
2209 If this mechanism is successful, in the future, we may declare
2210 @code{asdf:*central-registry*} obsolete and eventually remove it.
2211 Any hook into implementation-specific search mechanisms will by then
2212 have been integrated in the @code{:default-configuration} which everyone
2213 should either explicitly use or implicit inherit. Some shell syntax
2214 for it should probably be added somehow.
2216 But we're not there yet. For now, let's see how practical this new
2220 @section Rejected ideas
2222 Alternatives I considered and rejected included:
2225 @item Keep @code{asdf:*central-registry*} as the master with its current semantics,
2226 and somehow the configuration parser expands the new configuration
2227 language into a expanded series of directories of subdirectories to
2228 lookup, pre-recursing through specified hierarchies. This is kludgy,
2229 and leaves little space of future cleanups and extensions.
2231 @item Keep @code{asdf:*central-registry*} remains the master but extend its semantics
2232 in completely new ways, so that new kinds of entries may be implemented
2233 as a recursive search, etc. This seems somewhat backwards.
2235 @item Completely remove @code{asdf:*central-registry*}
2236 and break backwards compatibility.
2237 Hopefully this will happen in a few years after everyone migrate to
2238 a better ASDF and/or to XCVB, but it would be very bad to do it now.
2240 @item Replace @code{asdf:*central-registry*} by a symbol-macro with appropriate magic
2241 when you dereference it or setf it. Only the new variable with new
2242 semantics is handled by the new search procedure.
2243 Complex and still introduces subtle semantic issues.
2247 I've been suggested the below features, but have rejected them,
2248 for the sake of keeping ASDF no more complex than strictly necessary.
2252 More syntactic sugar: synonyms for the configuration directives, such as
2253 @code{(:add-directory X)} for @code{(:directory X)}, or @code{(:add-directory-hierarchy X)}
2254 or @code{(:add-directory X :recurse t)} for @code{(:tree X)}.
2257 The possibility to register individual files instead of directories.
2260 Integrate Xach Beane's tilde expander into the parser,
2261 or something similar that is shell-friendly or shell-compatible.
2262 I'd rather keep ASDF minimal. But maybe this precisely keeps it
2263 minimal by removing the need for evaluated entries that ASDF has?
2264 i.e. uses of @code{USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME} and @code{$SBCL_HOME}
2265 Hopefully, these are already superseded by the @code{:default-registry}
2268 Using the shell-unfriendly syntax @code{/**} instead of @code{//} to specify recursion
2269 down a filesystem tree in the environment variable.
2270 It isn't that Lisp friendly either.
2280 @section Credits for the source-registry
2282 Thanks a lot to Stelian Ionescu for the initial idea.
2284 Thanks to Rommel Martinez for the initial implementation attempt.
2286 All bad design ideas and implementation bugs are to mine, not theirs.
2287 But so are good design ideas and elegant implementation tricks.
2289 --- Francois-Rene Rideau @email{fare@@tunes.org}, Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:07:33 -0500
2293 @node Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files, Error handling, Controlling where ASDF searches for systems, Top
2294 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
2295 @chapter Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files
2296 @cindex asdf-output-translations
2297 @vindex ASDF_OUTPUT_TRANSLATIONS
2299 Each Common Lisp implementation has its own format
2300 for compiled files (fasls for short, short for ``fast loading'').
2301 If you use multiple implementations
2302 (or multiple versions of the same implementation),
2303 you'll soon find your source directories
2304 littered with various @file{fasl}s, @file{dfsl}s, @file{cfsl}s and so on.
2305 Worse yet, some implementations use the same file extension
2306 while changing formats from version to version (or platform to platform)
2307 which means that you'll have to recompile binaries
2308 as you switch from one implementation to the next.
2310 ASDF 2 includes the @code{asdf-output-translations} facility
2311 to mitigate the problem.
2313 @section Configurations
2315 Configurations specify mappings from input locations to output locations.
2316 Once again we rely on the XDG base directory specification for configuration.
2317 @xref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems,,XDG base directory}.
2322 Some hardcoded wrapping output translations configuration may be used.
2323 This allows special output translations (or usually, invariant directories)
2324 to be specified corresponding to the similar special entries in the source registry.
2327 An application may explicitly initialize the output-translations
2328 configuration using the Configuration API
2329 in which case this takes precedence.
2330 (@pxref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files,,Configuration API}.)
2331 It may itself compute this configuration from the command-line,
2332 from a script, from its own configuration file, etc.
2335 The source registry will be configured from
2336 the environment variable @code{ASDF_OUTPUT_TRANSLATIONS} if it exists.
2339 The source registry will be configured from
2340 user configuration file
2341 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf}
2343 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf})
2347 The source registry will be configured from
2348 user configuration directory
2349 @file{$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/}
2351 @file{~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/})
2355 The source registry will be configured from
2356 system configuration file
2357 @file{/etc/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf}
2361 The source registry will be configured from
2362 system configuration directory
2363 @file{/etc/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/}
2368 Each of these configurations is specified as a SEXP
2369 in a trival domain-specific language (defined below).
2370 Additionally, a more shell-friendly syntax is available
2371 for the environment variable (defined yet below).
2373 Each of these configurations is only used if the previous
2374 configuration explicitly or implicitly specifies that it
2375 includes its inherited configuration.
2377 Note that by default, a per-user cache is used for output files.
2378 This allows the seamless use of shared installations of software
2379 between several users, and takes files out of the way of the developers
2380 when they browse source code,
2381 at the expense of taking a small toll when developers have to clean up
2382 output files and find they need to get familiar with output-translations first.
2385 @section Backward Compatibility
2386 @cindex ASDF-BINARY-LOCATIONS compatibility
2389 We purposefully do NOT provide backward compatibility with earlier versions of
2390 @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations} (8 Sept 2009),
2391 @code{common-lisp-controller} (7.0) or
2392 @code{cl-launch} (2.35),
2393 each of which had similar general capabilities.
2394 The previous APIs of these programs were not designed
2395 for configuration by the end-user
2396 in an easy way with configuration files.
2397 Recent versions of same packages use
2398 the new @code{asdf-output-translations} API as defined below:
2399 @code{common-lisp-controller} (7.2) and @code{cl-launch} (3.000).
2400 @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations} is fully superseded and not to be used anymore.
2402 This incompatibility shouldn't inconvenience many people.
2403 Indeed, few people use and customize these packages;
2404 these few people are experts who can trivially adapt to the new configuration.
2405 Most people are not experts, could not properly configure these features
2406 (except inasmuch as the default configuration of
2407 @code{common-lisp-controller} and/or @code{cl-launch}
2408 might have been doing the right thing for some users),
2409 and yet will experience software that ``just works'',
2410 as configured by the system distributor, or by default.
2412 Nevertheless, if you are a fan of @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations},
2413 we provide a limited emulation mode:
2415 @defun enable-asdf-binary-locations-compatibility @&key centralize-lisp-binaries default-toplevel-directory include-per-user-information map-all-source-files source-to-target-mappings
2416 This function will initialize the new @code{asdf-output-translations} facility in a way
2417 that emulates the behavior of the old @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations} facility.
2418 Where you would previously set global variables
2419 @var{*centralize-lisp-binaries*},
2420 @var{*default-toplevel-directory*},
2421 @var{*include-per-user-information*},
2422 @var{*map-all-source-files*} or @var{*source-to-target-mappings*}
2423 you will now have to pass the same values as keyword arguments to this function.
2424 Note however that as an extension the @code{:source-to-target-mappings} keyword argument
2425 will accept any valid pathname designator for @code{asdf-output-translations}
2426 instead of just strings and pathnames.
2429 If you insist, you can also keep using the old @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations}
2430 (the one available as an extension to load of top of ASDF,
2431 not the one built into a few old versions of ASDF),
2432 but first you must disable @code{asdf-output-translations}
2433 with @code{(asdf:disable-output-translations)},
2434 or you might experience ``interesting'' issues.
2436 Also, note that output translation is enabled by default.
2437 To disable it, use @code{(asdf:disable-output-translations)}.
2440 @section Configuration DSL
2442 Here is the grammar of the SEXP DSL
2443 for @code{asdf-output-translations} configuration:
2446 ;; A configuration is single SEXP starting with keyword :source-registry
2447 ;; followed by a list of directives.
2448 CONFIGURATION := (:output-translations DIRECTIVE ...)
2450 ;; A directive is one of the following:
2452 ;; INHERITANCE DIRECTIVE:
2453 ;; Your configuration expression MUST contain
2454 ;; exactly one of either of these:
2455 :inherit-configuration | ; splices inherited configuration (often specified last)
2456 :ignore-inherited-configuration | ; drop inherited configuration (specified anywhere)
2458 ;; forward compatibility directive (since ASDF 2.011.4), useful when
2459 ;; you want to use new configuration features but have to bootstrap a
2460 ;; the newer required ASDF from an older release that doesn't sport said features:
2461 :ignore-invalid-entries | ; drops subsequent invalid entries instead of erroring out
2463 ;; include a configuration file or directory
2464 (:include PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR) |
2466 ;; enable global cache in ~/.common-lisp/cache/sbcl-1.0.45-linux-amd64/ or something.
2467 :enable-user-cache |
2468 ;; Disable global cache. Map / to /
2471 ;; add a single directory to be scanned (no recursion)
2472 (DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR)
2474 ;; use a function to return the translation of a directory designator
2475 (DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR (:function TRANSLATION-FUNCTION))
2477 DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR :=
2478 NIL | ;; As source: skip this entry. As destination: same as source
2479 T | ;; as source matches anything, as destination leaves pathname unmapped.
2480 ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR ;; same as in the source-registry language
2482 TRANSLATION-FUNCTION :=
2483 SYMBOL | ;; symbol of a function that takes two arguments,
2484 ;; the pathname to be translated and the matching DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR
2485 LAMBDA ;; A form which evalutates to a function taking two arguments consisting of
2486 ;; the pathname to be translated and the matching DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR
2490 Relative components better be either relative
2491 or subdirectories of the path before them, or bust.
2493 The last component, if not a pathname, is notionally completed by @file{/**/*.*}.
2494 You can specify more fine-grained patterns
2495 by using a pathname object as the last component
2496 e.g. @file{#p"some/path/**/foo*/bar-*.fasl"}
2498 You may use @code{#+features} to customize the configuration file.
2500 The second designator of a mapping may be @code{NIL}, indicating that files are not mapped
2501 to anything but themselves (same as if the second designator was the same as the first).
2503 When the first designator is @code{t},
2504 the mapping always matches.
2505 When the first designator starts with @code{:root},
2506 the mapping matches any host and device.
2507 In either of these cases, if the second designator
2508 isn't @code{t} and doesn't start with @code{:root},
2509 then strings indicating the host and pathname are somehow copied
2510 in the beginning of the directory component of the source pathname
2511 before it is translated.
2513 When the second designator is @code{t}, the mapping is the identity.
2514 When the second designator starts with @code{:root},
2515 the mapping preserves the host and device of the original pathname.
2516 Notably, this allows you to map files
2517 to a subdirectory of the whichever directory the file is in.
2518 Though the syntax is not quite as easy to use as we'd like,
2519 you can have an (source destination) mapping entry such as follows
2520 in your configuration file,
2521 or you may use @code{enable-asdf-binary-locations-compatibility}
2522 with @code{:centralize-lisp-binaries nil}
2523 which will do the same thing internally for you:
2525 #.(let ((wild-subdir (make-pathname :directory '(:relative :wild-inferiors)))
2526 (wild-file (make-pathname :name :wild :version :wild :type :wild)))
2527 `((:root ,wild-subdir ,wild-file) ;; Or using the implicit wildcard, just :root
2528 (:root ,wild-subdir :implementation ,wild-file)))
2530 Starting with ASDF 2.011.4, you can use the simpler:
2531 @code{`(:root (:root :**/ :implementation :*.*.*))}
2535 @code{:include} statements cause the search to recurse with the path specifications
2536 from the file specified.
2538 If the @code{translate-pathname} mechanism cannot achieve a desired
2539 translation, the user may provide a function which provides the
2540 required algorithim. Such a translation function is specified by
2541 supplying a list as the second @code{directory-designator}
2542 the first element of which is the keyword @code{:function},
2543 and the second element of which is
2544 either a symbol which designates a function or a lambda expression.
2545 The function designated by the second argument must take two arguments,
2546 the first being the pathname of the source file,
2547 the second being the wildcard that was matched.
2548 The result of the function invocation should be the translated pathname.
2550 An @code{:inherit-configuration} statement cause the search to recurse with the path
2551 specifications from the next configuration.
2552 @xref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files,,Configurations}, above.
2556 @code{:enable-user-cache} is the same as @code{(t :user-cache)}.
2558 @code{:disable-cache} is the same as @code{(t t)}.
2560 @code{:user-cache} uses the contents of variable @code{asdf::*user-cache*}
2561 which by default is the same as using
2562 @code{(:home ".cache" "common-lisp" :implementation)}.
2564 @code{:system-cache} uses the contents of variable @code{asdf::*system-cache*}
2565 which by default is the same as using
2566 @code{("/var/cache/common-lisp" :uid :implementation-type)}
2567 (on Unix and cygwin), or something semi-sensible on Windows.
2571 @section Configuration Directories
2573 Configuration directories consist in files each contains
2574 a list of directives without any enclosing
2575 @code{(:output-translations ...)} form.
2576 The files will be sorted by namestring as if by @code{string<} and
2577 the lists of directives of these files with be concatenated in order.
2578 An implicit @code{:inherit-configuration} will be included
2579 at the @emph{end} of the list.
2581 This allows for packaging software that has file granularity
2582 (e.g. Debian's @command{dpkg} or some future version of @command{clbuild})
2583 to easily include configuration information about software being distributed.
2585 The convention is that, for sorting purposes,
2586 the names of files in such a directory begin with two digits
2587 that determine the order in which these entries will be read.
2588 Also, the type of these files is conventionally @code{"conf"}
2589 and as a limitation of some implementations, the type cannot be @code{NIL}.
2591 Directories may be included by specifying a directory pathname
2592 or namestring in an @code{:include} directive, e.g.:
2594 (:include "/foo/bar/")
2597 @section Shell-friendly syntax for configuration
2599 When considering environment variable @code{ASDF_OUTPUT_TRANSLATIONS}
2600 ASDF will skip to next configuration if it's an empty string.
2601 It will @code{READ} the string as an SEXP in the DSL
2602 if it begins with a paren @code{(}
2603 and it will be interpreted as a list of directories.
2604 Directories should come by pairs, indicating a mapping directive.
2605 Entries are separated
2606 by a @code{:} (colon) on Unix platforms (including cygwin),
2607 by a @code{;} (semicolon) on other platforms (mainly, Windows).
2609 The magic empty entry,
2610 if it comes in what would otherwise be the first entry in a pair,
2611 indicates the splicing of inherited configuration.
2612 If it comes as the second entry in a pair,
2613 it indicates that the directory specified first is to be left untranslated
2614 (which has the same effect as if the directory had been repeated).
2617 @section Semantics of Output Translations
2619 From the specified configuration,
2620 a list of mappings is extracted in a straightforward way:
2621 mappings are collected in order, recursing through
2622 included or inherited configuration as specified.
2623 To this list is prepended some implementation-specific mappings,
2624 and is appended a global default.
2626 The list is then compiled to a mapping table as follows:
2627 for each entry, in order, resolve the first designated directory
2628 into an actual directory pathname for source locations.
2629 If no mapping was specified yet for that location,
2630 resolve the second designated directory to an output location directory
2631 add a mapping to the table mapping the source location to the output location,
2632 and add another mapping from the output location to itself
2633 (unless a mapping already exists for the output location).
2635 Based on the table, a mapping function is defined,
2636 mapping source pathnames to output pathnames:
2637 given a source pathname, locate the longest matching prefix
2638 in the source column of the mapping table.
2639 Replace that prefix by the corresponding output column
2640 in the same row of the table, and return the result.
2641 If no match is found, return the source pathname.
2642 (A global default mapping the filesystem root to itself
2643 may ensure that there will always be a match,
2644 with same fall-through semantics).
2646 @section Caching Results
2648 The implementation is allowed to either eagerly compute the information
2649 from the configurations and file system, or to lazily re-compute it
2650 every time, or to cache any part of it as it goes.
2651 To explicitly flush any information cached by the system, use the API below.
2654 @section Output location API
2656 The specified functions are exported from package ASDF.
2658 @defun initialize-output-translations @&optional PARAMETER
2659 will read the configuration and initialize all internal variables.
2660 You may extend or override configuration
2661 from the environment and configuration files
2662 with the given @var{PARAMETER}, which can be
2663 @code{NIL} (no configuration override),
2664 or a SEXP (in the SEXP DSL),
2665 a string (as in the string DSL),
2666 a pathname (of a file or directory with configuration),
2667 or a symbol (fbound to function that when called returns one of the above).
2670 @defun disable-output-translations
2671 will initialize output translations in a way
2672 that maps every pathname to itself,
2673 effectively disabling the output translation facility.
2676 @defun clear-output-translations
2677 undoes any output translation configuration
2678 and clears any cache for the mapping algorithm.
2679 You might want to call this function
2680 (or better, @code{clear-configuration})
2681 before you dump an image that would be resumed
2682 with a different configuration,
2683 and return an empty configuration.
2684 Note that this does not include clearing information about
2685 systems defined in the current image, only about
2686 where to look for systems not yet defined.
2689 @defun ensure-output-translations @&optional PARAMETER
2690 checks whether output translations have been initialized.
2691 If not, initialize them with the given @var{PARAMETER}.
2692 This function will be called before any attempt to operate on a system.
2695 @defun apply-output-translations PATHNAME
2696 Applies the configured output location translations to @var{PATHNAME}
2697 (calls @code{ensure-output-translations} for the translations).
2700 Every time you use ASDF's @code{output-files}, or
2701 anything that uses it (that may compile, such as @code{operate}, @code{perform}, etc.),
2702 @code{ensure-output-translations} is called with parameter NIL,
2703 which the first time around causes your configuration to be read.
2704 If you change a configuration file,
2705 you need to explicitly @code{initialize-output-translations} again,
2706 or maybe @code{clear-output-translations} (or @code{clear-configuration}),
2707 which will cause the initialization to happen next time around.
2710 @section Credits for output translations
2712 Thanks a lot to Bjorn Lindberg and Gary King for @code{ASDF-Binary-Locations},
2713 and to Peter van Eynde for @code{Common Lisp Controller}.
2715 All bad design ideas and implementation bugs are to mine, not theirs.
2716 But so are good design ideas and elegant implementation tricks.
2718 --- Francois-Rene Rideau @email{fare@@tunes.org}
2720 @c @section Default locations
2721 @c @findex output-files-for-system-and-operation
2723 @c The default binary location for each Lisp implementation
2724 @c is a subdirectory of each source directory.
2725 @c To account for different Lisps, Operating Systems, Implementation versions,
2726 @c and so on, ASDF borrows code from SLIME
2727 @c to create reasonable custom directory names.
2728 @c Here are some examples:
2732 @c SBCL, version 1.0.45 on Mac OS X for Intel: @code{sbcl-1.0.45-darwin-x86}
2735 @c Franz Allegro, version 8.0, ANSI Common Lisp: @code{allegro-8.0a-macosx-x86}
2738 @c Franz Allegro, version 8.1, Modern (case sensitive) Common Lisp: @code{allegro-8.1m-macosx-x86}
2741 @c By default, all output file pathnames will be relocated
2742 @c to some thus-named subdirectory of @file{~/.cache/common-lisp/}.
2744 @c See the document @file{README.asdf-output-translations}
2745 @c for a full specification on how to configure @code{asdf-output-translations}.
2747 @node Error handling, Miscellaneous additional functionality, Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files, Top
2748 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
2749 @chapter Error handling
2750 @findex SYSTEM-DEFINITION-ERROR
2751 @findex OPERATION-ERROR
2753 @section ASDF errors
2755 If ASDF detects an incorrect system definition, it will signal a generalised instance of
2756 @code{SYSTEM-DEFINITION-ERROR}.
2758 Operations may go wrong (for example when source files contain errors).
2759 These are signalled using generalised instances of
2760 @code{OPERATION-ERROR}.
2762 @section Compilation error and warning handling
2763 @vindex *compile-file-warnings-behaviour*
2764 @vindex *compile-file-errors-behavior*
2766 ASDF checks for warnings and errors when a file is compiled.
2767 The variables @var{*compile-file-warnings-behaviour*} and
2768 @var{*compile-file-errors-behavior*}
2769 control the handling of any such events.
2770 The valid values for these variables are
2771 @code{:error}, @code{:warn}, and @code{:ignore}.
2773 @node Miscellaneous additional functionality, Getting the latest version, Error handling, Top
2774 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
2775 @chapter Miscellaneous additional functionality
2777 @emph{FIXME: Add discussion of @code{run-shell-command}? Others?}
2779 ASDF includes several additional features that are generally
2780 useful for system definition and development. These include:
2782 @defun coerce-pathname name @&key type defaults
2784 This function (available starting with ASDF 2.012.11)
2785 takes an argument, and portably interprets it as a pathname.
2786 If the argument @var{name} is a pathname or @code{nil}, it is passed through;
2787 if it's a symbol, it's interpreted as a string by downcasing it;
2788 if it's a string, it is first separated using @code{/} into substrings;
2789 the leading substrings denote subdirectories of a relative pathname.
2790 If @var{type} is @code{:directory} or the string ends with @code{/},
2791 the last substring is also a subdirectory;
2792 if @var{type} is a string, it is used as the type of the pathname, and
2793 the last substring is the name component of the pathname;
2794 if @var{type} is @code{nil}, the last substring specifies both name and type components
2795 of the pathname, with the last @code{.} separating them, or only the name component
2796 if there's no last @code{.} or if there is only one dot and it's the first character.
2797 The host, device and version components come from @var{defaults}, which defaults to
2798 @var{*default-pathname-defaults*}; but that shouldn't matter if you use @code{merge-pathnames*}.
2802 @defun merge-pathnames* @&key specified defaults
2804 This function is a replacement for @code{merge-pathnames} that uses the host and device
2805 from the @var{defaults} rather than the @var{specified} pathname when the latter
2806 is a relative pathname. This allows ASDF and its users to create and use relative pathnames
2807 without having to know beforehand what are the host and device
2808 of the absolute pathnames they are relative to.
2812 @defun system-relative-pathname system name @&key type
2814 It's often handy to locate a file relative to some system.
2815 The @code{system-relative-pathname} function meets this need.
2817 It takes two mandatory arguments @var{system} and @var{name}
2818 and a keyword argument @var{type}:
2819 @var{system} is name of a system, whereas @var{name} and optionally @var{type}
2820 specify a relative pathname, interpreted like a component pathname specifier
2821 by @code{coerce-pathname}. @xref{The defsystem grammar,,Pathname specifiers}.
2823 It returns a pathname built from the location of the system's
2824 source directory and the relative pathname. For example:
2827 > (asdf:system-relative-pathname 'cl-ppcre "regex.data")
2828 #P"/repository/other/cl-ppcre/regex.data"
2833 @defun system-source-directory system-designator
2835 ASDF does not provide a turnkey solution for locating
2836 data (or other miscellaneous) files
2837 that are distributed together with the source code of a system.
2838 Programmers can use @code{system-source-directory} to find such files.
2839 Returns a pathname object.
2840 The @var{system-designator} may be a string, symbol, or ASDF system object.
2843 @defun clear-system system-designator
2845 It is sometimes useful to force recompilation of a previously loaded system.
2846 In these cases, it may be useful to @code{(asdf:clear-system :foo)}
2847 to remove the system from the table of currently loaded systems;
2848 the next time the system @code{foo} or one that depends on it is re-loaded,
2849 @code{foo} will then be loaded again.
2850 Alternatively, you could touch @code{foo.asd} or
2851 remove the corresponding fasls from the output file cache.
2852 (It was once conceived that one should provide
2853 a list of systems the recompilation of which to force
2854 as the @code{:force} keyword argument to @code{load-system};
2855 but this has never worked, and though the feature was fixed in ASDF 2.000,
2856 it remains @code{cerror}'ed out as nobody ever used it.)
2858 Note that this does not and cannot by itself undo the previous loading
2859 of the system. Common Lisp has no provision for such an operation,
2860 and its reliance on irreversible side-effects to global datastructures
2861 makes such a thing impossible in the general case.
2862 If the software being re-loaded is not conceived with hot upgrade in mind,
2863 this re-loading may cause many errors, warnings or subtle silent problems,
2864 as packages, generic function signatures, structures, types, macros, constants, etc.
2865 are being redefined incompatibly.
2866 It is up to the user to make sure that reloading is possible and has the desired effect.
2867 In some cases, extreme measures such as recursively deleting packages,
2868 unregistering symbols, defining methods on @code{update-instance-for-redefined-class}
2869 and much more are necessary for reloading to happen smoothly.
2870 ASDF itself goes through notable pains to make such a hot upgrade possible
2871 with respect to its own code, and what it does is ridiculously complex;
2872 look at the beginning of @file{asdf.lisp} to see what it does.
2875 @node Getting the latest version, FAQ, Miscellaneous additional functionality, Top
2876 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
2877 @chapter Getting the latest version
2879 Decide which version you want.
2880 The @code{master} branch is where development happens;
2881 its @code{HEAD} is usually OK, including the latest fixes and portability tweaks,
2882 but an occasional regression may happen despite our (limited) test suite.
2884 The @code{release} branch is what cautious people should be using;
2885 it has usually been tested more, and releases are cut at a point
2886 where there isn't any known unresolved issue.
2888 You may get the ASDF source repository using git:
2889 @kbd{git clone git://common-lisp.net/projects/asdf/asdf.git}
2891 You will find the above referenced tags in this repository.
2892 You can also browse the repository on
2893 @url{http://common-lisp.net/gitweb?p=projects/asdf/asdf.git}.
2895 Discussion of ASDF development is conducted on the
2897 @kbd{asdf-devel@@common-lisp.net}.
2898 @url{http://common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asdf-devel}
2901 @node FAQ, TODO list, Getting the latest version, Top
2902 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
2905 @section ``Where do I report a bug?''
2907 ASDF bugs are tracked on launchpad: @url{https://launchpad.net/asdf}.
2909 If you're unsure about whether something is a bug, or for general discussion,
2910 use the @url{http://common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asdf-devel,asdf-devel mailing list}
2913 @section ``What has changed between ASDF 1 and ASDF 2?''
2915 @subsection What are ASDF 1 and ASDF 2?
2917 On May 31st 2010, we have released ASDF 2.
2918 ASDF 2 refers to release 2.000 and later.
2919 (Releases between 1.656 and 1.728 were development releases for ASDF 2.)
2920 ASDF 1 to any release earlier than 1.369 or so.
2921 If your ASDF doesn't sport a version, it's an old ASDF 1.
2923 ASDF 2 and its release candidates push
2924 @code{:asdf2} onto @code{*features*} so that if you are writing
2925 ASDF-dependent code you may check for this feature
2926 to see if the new API is present.
2927 @emph{All} versions of ASDF should have the @code{:asdf} feature.
2929 If you are experiencing problems or limitations of any sort with ASDF 1,
2930 we recommend that you should upgrade to ASDF 2,
2931 or whatever is the latest release.
2934 @subsection ASDF can portably name files in subdirectories
2936 Common Lisp namestrings are not portable,
2937 except maybe for logical pathnamestrings,
2938 that themselves have various limitations and require a lot of setup
2939 that is itself ultimately non-portable.
2941 In ASDF 1, the only portable ways to refer to pathnames inside systems and components
2942 were very awkward, using @code{#.(make-pathname ...)} and
2943 @code{#.(merge-pathnames ...)}.
2944 Even the above were themselves were inadequate in the general case
2945 due to host and device issues, unless horribly complex patterns were used.
2946 Plenty of simple cases that looked portable actually weren't,
2947 leading to much confusion and greavance.
2949 ASDF 2 implements its own portable syntax for strings as pathname specifiers.
2950 Naming files within a system definition becomes easy and portable again.
2951 @xref{Miscellaneous additional functionality,asdf:system-relative-pathname},
2952 @code{merge-pathnames*},
2953 @code{coerce-pathname}.
2955 On the other hand, there are places where systems used to accept namestrings
2956 where you must now use an explicit pathname object:
2957 @code{(defsystem ... :pathname "LOGICAL-HOST:PATH;TO;SYSTEM;" ...)}
2958 must now be written with the @code{#p} syntax:
2959 @code{(defsystem ... :pathname #p"LOGICAL-HOST:PATH;TO;SYSTEM;" ...)}
2961 @xref{The defsystem grammar,,Pathname specifiers}.
2964 @subsection Output translations
2966 A popular feature added to ASDF was output pathname translation:
2967 @code{asdf-binary-locations}, @code{common-lisp-controller},
2968 @code{cl-launch} and other hacks were all implementing it in ways
2969 both mutually incompatible and difficult to configure.
2971 Output pathname translation is essential to share
2972 source directories of portable systems across multiple implementations
2973 or variants thereof,
2974 or source directories of shared installations of systems across multiple users,
2975 or combinations of the above.
2977 In ASDF 2, a standard mechanism is provided for that,
2978 @code{asdf-output-translations},
2979 with sensible defaults, adequate configuration languages,
2980 a coherent set of configuration files and hooks,
2981 and support for non-Unix platforms.
2983 @xref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files}.
2985 @subsection Source Registry Configuration
2987 Configuring ASDF used to require special magic
2988 to be applied just at the right moment,
2989 between the moment ASDF is loaded and the moment it is used,
2990 in a way that is specific to the user,
2991 the implementation he is using and the application he is building.
2993 This made for awkward configuration files and startup scripts
2994 that could not be shared between users, managed by administrators
2995 or packaged by distributions.
2997 ASDF 2 provides a well-documented way to configure ASDF,
2998 with sensible defaults, adequate configuration languages,
2999 and a coherent set of configuration files and hooks.
3001 We believe it's a vast improvement because it decouples
3002 application distribution from library distribution.
3003 The application writer can avoid thinking where the libraries are,
3004 and the library distributor (dpkg, clbuild, advanced user, etc.)
3005 can configure them once and for every application.
3006 Yet settings can be easily overridden where needed,
3007 so whoever needs control has exactly as much as required.
3009 At the same time, ASDF 2 remains compatible
3010 with the old magic you may have in your build scripts
3011 (using @code{*central-registry*} and
3012 @code{*system-definition-search-functions*})
3013 to tailor the ASDF configuration to your build automation needs,
3014 and also allows for new magic, simpler and more powerful magic.
3016 @xref{Controlling where ASDF searches for systems}.
3019 @subsection Usual operations are made easier to the user
3021 In ASDF 1, you had to use the awkward syntax
3022 @code{(asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op :foo)}
3024 and similarly for @code{compile-op}, @code{test-op}.
3026 In ASDF 2, you can use shortcuts for the usual operations:
3027 @code{(asdf:load-system :foo)}, and
3028 similarly for @code{compile-system}, @code{test-system}.
3031 @subsection Many bugs have been fixed
3033 The following issues and many others have been fixed:
3037 The infamous TRAVERSE function has been revamped significantly,
3038 with many bugs squashed.
3039 In particular, dependencies were not correctly propagated
3040 across submodules within a system but now are.
3041 The :version and :feature features and
3042 the :force (system1 .. systemN) feature have been fixed.
3045 Performance has been notably improved for large systems
3046 (say with thousands of components) by using
3047 hash-tables instead of linear search,
3048 and linear-time list accumulation
3049 instead of quadratic-time recursive appends.
3052 Many features used to not be portable,
3053 especially where pathnames were involved.
3054 Windows support was notably quirky because of such non-portability.
3057 The internal test suite used to massively fail on many implementations.
3058 While still incomplete, it now fully passes
3059 on all implementations supported by the test suite,
3060 except for GCL (due to GCL bugs).
3063 Support was lacking for some implementations.
3064 ABCL and GCL were notably wholly broken.
3065 ECL extensions were not integrated in the ASDF release.
3068 The documentation was grossly out of date.
3073 @subsection ASDF itself is versioned
3075 Between new features, old bugs fixed, and new bugs introduced,
3076 there were various releases of ASDF in the wild,
3077 and no simple way to check which release had which feature set.
3078 People using or writing systems had to either make worst-case assumptions
3079 as to what features were available and worked,
3080 or take great pains to have the correct version of ASDF installed.
3082 With ASDF 2, we provide a new stable set of working features
3083 that everyone can rely on from now on.
3084 Use @code{#+asdf2} to detect presence of ASDF 2,
3085 @code{(asdf:version-satisfies (asdf:asdf-version) "2.345.67")}
3086 to check the availability of a version no earlier than required.
3089 @subsection ASDF can be upgraded
3091 When an old version of ASDF was loaded,
3092 it was very hard to upgrade ASDF in your current image
3093 without breaking everything.
3094 Instead you had to exit the Lisp process and
3095 somehow arrange to start a new one from a simpler image.
3096 Something that can't be done from within Lisp,
3097 making automation of it difficult,
3098 which compounded with difficulty in configuration,
3099 made the task quite hard.
3100 Yet as we saw before, the task would have been required
3101 to not have to live with the worst case or non-portable
3102 subset of ASDF features.
3104 With ASDF 2, it is easy to upgrade
3105 from ASDF 2 to later versions from within Lisp,
3106 and not too hard to upgrade from ASDF 1 to ASDF 2 from within Lisp.
3107 We support hot upgrade of ASDF and any breakage is a bug
3108 that we will do our best to fix.
3109 There are still limitations on upgrade, though,
3110 most notably the fact that after you upgrade ASDF,
3111 you must also reload or upgrade all ASDF extensions.
3113 @subsection Decoupled release cycle
3115 When vendors were releasing their Lisp implementations with ASDF,
3116 they had to basically never change version
3117 because neither upgrade nor downgrade was possible
3118 without breaking something for someone,
3119 and no obvious upgrade path was visible and recommendable.
3121 With ASDF 2, upgrade is possible, easy and can be recommended.
3122 This means that vendors can safely ship a recent version of ASDF,
3123 confident that if a user isn't fully satisfied,
3124 he can easily upgrade ASDF and deal
3125 with a supported recent version of it.
3126 This means that release cycles will be causally decoupled,
3127 the practical consequence of which will mean faster convergence
3128 towards the latest version for everyone.
3131 @subsection Pitfalls of the transition to ASDF 2
3133 The main pitfalls in upgrading to ASDF 2 seem to be related
3134 to the output translation mechanism.
3139 Output translations is enabled by default. This may surprise some users,
3140 most of them in pleasant way (we hope), a few of them in an unpleasant way.
3141 It is trivial to disable output translations.
3142 @xref{FAQ,,``How can I wholly disable the compiler output cache?''}.
3145 Some systems in the large have been known not to play well with output translations.
3146 They were relatively easy to fix.
3147 Once again, it is also easy to disable output translations,
3148 or to override its configuration.
3151 The new ASDF output translations are incompatible with ASDF-Binary-Locations.
3152 They replace A-B-L, and there is compatibility mode to emulate
3153 your previous A-B-L configuration.
3154 See @code{enable-asdf-binary-locations-compatibility} in
3155 @pxref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files,,Backward Compatibility}.
3156 But thou shall not load ABL on top of ASDF 2.
3160 Other issues include the following:
3165 ASDF pathname designators are now specified in places where they were unspecified,
3166 and a few small adjustments have to be made to some non-portable defsystems.
3167 Notably, in the @code{:pathname} argument to a @code{defsystem} and its components,
3168 a logical pathname (or implementation-dependent hierarchical pathname)
3169 must now be specified with @code{#p} syntax
3170 where the namestring might have previously sufficed;
3171 moreover when evaluation is desired @code{#.} must be used,
3172 where it wasn't necessary in the toplevel @code{:pathname} argument.
3175 There is a slight performance bug, notably on SBCL,
3176 when initially searching for @file{asd} files,
3177 the implicit @code{(directory "/configured/path/**/*.asd")}
3178 for every configured path @code{(:tree "/configured/path/")}
3179 in your @code{source-registry} configuration can cause a slight pause.
3180 Try to @code{(time (asdf:initialize-source-registry))}
3181 to see how bad it is or isn't on your system.
3182 If you insist on not having this pause,
3183 you can avoid the pause by overriding the default source-registry configuration
3184 and not use any deep @code{:tree} entry but only @code{:directory} entries
3185 or shallow @code{:tree} entries.
3186 Or you can fix your implementation to not be quite that slow
3187 when recursing through directories.
3188 @emph{Update}: performance bug fixed the hard way in 2.010.
3191 On Windows, only LispWorks supports proper default configuration pathnames
3192 based on the Windows registry.
3193 Other implementations make do with environment variables,
3194 that you may have to define yourself if you're using an older version of Windows.
3195 Windows support is somewhat less tested than Unix support.
3196 Please help report and fix bugs.
3199 The mechanism by which one customizes a system so that Lisp files
3200 may use a different extension from the default @file{.lisp} has changed.
3201 Previously, the pathname for a component was lazily computed when operating on a system,
3203 @code{(defmethod source-file-type ((component cl-source-file) (system (eql (find-system 'foo))))
3204 (declare (ignorable component system)) "lis")}.
3205 Now, the pathname for a component is eagerly computed when defining the system,
3206 and instead you will @code{(defclass cl-source-file.lis (cl-source-file) ((type :initform "lis")))}
3207 and use @code{:default-component-class cl-source-file.lis} as argument to @code{defsystem},
3208 as detailed in a @pxref{FAQ,How do I create a system definition where all the source files have a .cl extension?} below.
3210 @findex source-file-type
3216 @section Issues with installing the proper version of ASDF
3218 @subsection ``My Common Lisp implementation comes with an outdated version of ASDF. What to do?''
3220 We recommend you upgrade ASDF.
3221 @xref{Loading ASDF,,Upgrading ASDF}.
3223 If this does not work, it is a bug, and you should report it.
3224 @xref{FAQ, report-bugs, Where do I report a bug}.
3225 In the meantime, you can load @file{asdf.lisp} directly.
3226 @xref{Loading ASDF,Loading an otherwise installed ASDF}.
3229 @subsection ``I'm a Common Lisp implementation vendor. When and how should I upgrade ASDF?''
3231 Starting with current candidate releases of ASDF 2,
3232 it should always be a good time to upgrade to a recent ASDF.
3233 You may consult with the maintainer for which specific version they recommend,
3234 but the latest @code{release} should be correct.
3235 We trust you to thoroughly test it with your implementation before you release it.
3236 If there are any issues with the current release,
3237 it's a bug that you should report upstream and that we will fix ASAP.
3239 As to how to include ASDF, we recommend the following:
3243 If ASDF isn't loaded yet, then @code{(require "asdf")}
3244 should load the version of ASDF that is bundled with your system.
3245 You may have it load some other version configured by the user,
3246 if you allow such configuration.
3249 If your system provides a mechanism to hook into @code{CL:REQUIRE},
3250 then it would be nice to add ASDF to this hook the same way that
3251 ABCL, CCL, CLISP, CMUCL, ECL, SBCL and SCL do it.
3254 You may, like SBCL, have ASDF be implicitly used to require systems
3255 that are bundled with your Lisp distribution.
3256 If you do have a few magic systems that come with your implementation
3257 in a precompiled way such that one should only use the binary version
3258 that goes with your distribution, like SBCL does,
3259 then you should add them in the beginning of @code{wrapping-source-registry}.
3262 If you have magic systems as above, like SBCL does,
3263 then we explicitly ask you to @emph{NOT} distribute
3264 @file{asdf.asd} as part of those magic systems.
3265 You should still include the file @file{asdf.lisp} in your source distribution
3266 and precompile it in your binary distribution,
3267 but @file{asdf.asd} if included at all,
3268 should be secluded from the magic systems,
3269 in a separate file hierarchy;
3270 alternatively, you may provide the system
3271 after renaming it and its @file{.asd} file to e.g.
3272 @code{asdf-ecl} and @file{asdf-ecl.asd}, or
3273 @code{sb-asdf} and @file{sb-asdf.asd}.
3274 Indeed, if you made @file{asdf.asd} a magic system,
3275 then users would no longer be able to upgrade ASDF using ASDF itself
3276 to some version of their preference that
3277 they maintain independently from your Lisp distribution.
3280 If you do not have any such magic systems, or have other non-magic systems
3281 that you want to bundle with your implementation,
3282 then you may add them to the @code{default-source-registry},
3283 and you are welcome to include @file{asdf.asd} amongst them.
3286 Please send us upstream any patches you make to ASDF itself,
3287 so we can merge them back in for the benefit of your users
3288 when they upgrade to the upstream version.
3294 @section Issues with configuring ASDF
3296 @subsection ``How can I customize where fasl files are stored?''
3298 @xref{Controlling where ASDF saves compiled files}.
3300 Note that in the past there was an add-on to ASDF called
3301 @code{ASDF-binary-locations}, developed by Gary King.
3302 That add-on has been merged into ASDF proper,
3303 then superseded by the @code{asdf-output-translations} facility.
3305 Note that use of @code{asdf-output-translations}
3306 can interfere with one aspect of your systems
3307 --- if your system uses @code{*load-truename*} to find files
3308 (e.g., if you have some data files stored with your program),
3309 then the relocation that this ASDF customization performs
3310 is likely to interfere.
3311 Use @code{asdf:system-relative-pathname} to locate a file
3312 in the source directory of some system, and
3313 use @code{asdf:apply-output-translations} to locate a file
3314 whose pathname has been translated by the facility.
3316 @subsection ``How can I wholly disable the compiler output cache?''
3318 To permanently disable the compiler output cache
3319 for all future runs of ASDF, you can:
3322 mkdir -p ~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/
3323 echo ':disable-cache' > ~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-translations.conf.d/99-disable-cache.conf
3326 This assumes that you didn't otherwise configure the ASDF files
3327 (if you did, edit them again),
3328 and don't somehow override the configuration at runtime
3329 with a shell variable (see below) or some other runtime command
3330 (e.g. some call to @code{asdf:initialize-output-translations}).
3332 To disable the compiler output cache in Lisp processes
3333 run by your current shell, try (assuming @code{bash} or @code{zsh})
3334 (on Unix and cygwin only):
3337 export ASDF_OUTPUT_TRANSLATIONS=/:
3340 To disable the compiler output cache just in the current Lisp process,
3341 use (after loading ASDF but before using it):
3344 (asdf:disable-output-translations)
3347 @section Issues with using and extending ASDF to define systems
3349 @subsection ``How can I cater for unit-testing in my system?''
3351 ASDF provides a predefined test operation, @code{test-op}.
3352 @xref{Predefined operations of ASDF, test-op}.
3353 The test operation, however, is largely left to the system definer to specify.
3354 @code{test-op} has been
3355 a topic of considerable discussion on the
3356 @url{http://common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/asdf-devel,asdf-devel mailing list},
3358 @url{https://launchpad.net/asdf,launchpad bug-tracker}.
3360 Here are some guidelines:
3364 For a given system, @var{foo}, you will want to define a corresponding
3365 test system, such as @var{foo-test}. The reason that you will want this
3366 separate system is that ASDF does not out of the box supply components
3367 that are conditionally loaded. So if you want to have source files
3368 (with the test definitions) that will not be loaded except when testing,
3369 they should be put elsewhere.
3372 The @var{foo-test} system can be defined in an asd file of its own or
3373 together with @var{foo}. An aesthetic preference against cluttering up
3374 the filesystem with extra asd files should be balanced against the
3375 question of whether one might want to directly load @var{foo-test}.
3376 Typically one would not want to do this except in early stages of
3380 Record that testing is implemented by @var{foo-test}. For example:
3382 (defsystem @var{foo}
3383 :in-order-to ((test-op (test-op @var{foo-test})))
3386 (defsystem @var{foo-test}
3387 :depends-on (@var{foo} @var{my-test-library} ...)
3392 This procedure will allow you to support users who do not wish to
3393 install your test framework.
3395 One oddity of ASDF is that @code{operate} (@pxref{Operations,operate})
3396 does not return a value. So in current versions of ASDF there is no
3397 reliable programmatic means of determining whether or not a set of tests
3398 has passed, or which tests have failed. The user must simply read the
3399 console output. This limitation has been the subject of much
3402 @subsection ``How can I cater for documentation generation in my system?''
3404 The ASDF developers are currently working to add a @code{doc-op}
3405 to the set of predefined ASDF operations.
3406 @xref{Predefined operations of ASDF}.
3407 See also @url{https://bugs.launchpad.net/asdf/+bug/479470}.
3411 @subsection ``How can I maintain non-Lisp (e.g. C) source files?''
3413 See @code{cffi}'s @code{cffi-grovel}.
3415 @anchor{report-bugs}
3418 @subsection ``I want to put my module's files at the top level. How do I do this?''
3420 By default, the files contained in an asdf module go
3421 in a subdirectory with the same name as the module.
3422 However, this can be overridden by adding a @code{:pathname ""} argument
3423 to the module description.
3424 For example, here is how it could be done
3425 in the spatial-trees ASDF system definition for ASDF 2:
3428 (asdf:defsystem :spatial-trees
3434 (:file "basedefs" :depends-on ("package"))
3435 (:file "rectangles" :depends-on ("package"))))
3441 (:file "greene-trees" :depends-on ("r-trees"))
3442 (:file "rstar-trees" :depends-on ("r-trees"))
3443 (:file "rplus-trees" :depends-on ("r-trees"))
3444 (:file "x-trees" :depends-on ("r-trees" "rstar-trees"))))
3449 ((:static-file "spatial-tree-viz.lisp")))
3454 ((:static-file "spatial-tree-test.lisp")))
3455 (:static-file "LICENCE")
3456 (:static-file "TODO")))
3459 All of the files in the @code{tree-impls} module are at the top level,
3460 instead of in a @file{tree-impls/} subdirectory.
3462 Note that the argument to @code{:pathname} can be either a pathname object or a string.
3463 A pathname object can be constructed with the @file{#p"foo/bar/"} syntax,
3464 but this is discouraged because the results of parsing a namestring are not portable.
3465 A pathname can only be portably constructed with such syntax as
3466 @code{#.(make-pathname :directory '(:relative "foo" "bar"))},
3467 and similarly the current directory can only be portably specified as
3468 @code{#.(make-pathname :directory '(:relative))}.
3469 However, as of ASDF 2, you can portably use a string to denote a pathname.
3470 The string will be parsed as a @code{/}-separated path from the current directory,
3471 such that the empty string @code{""} denotes the current directory, and
3472 @code{"foo/bar"} (no trailing @code{/} required in the case of modules)
3473 portably denotes the same subdirectory as above.
3474 When files are specified, the last @code{/}-separated component is interpreted
3475 either as the name component of a pathname
3476 (if the component class specifies a pathname type),
3477 or as a name component plus optional dot-separated type component
3478 (if the component class doesn't specifies a pathname type).
3480 @subsection How do I create a system definition where all the source files have a .cl extension?
3482 Starting with ASDF 2.014.14, you may just pass
3483 the builtin class @code{cl-source-file.cl} as
3484 the @code{:default-component-class} argument to @code{defsystem}:
3487 (defsystem my-cl-system
3488 :default-component-class cl-source-file.cl
3492 Another builtin class @code{cl-source-file.lsp} is offered
3493 for files ending in @file{.lsp}.
3495 If you want to use a different extension
3496 for which ASDF doesn't provide builtin support,
3497 or want to support versions of ASDF
3498 earlier than 2.014.14 (but later than 2.000),
3499 you can define a class as follows:
3502 ;; Prologue: make sure we're using a sane package.
3503 (defpackage :my-asdf-extension
3504 (:use :asdf :common-lisp)
3505 (:export #:cl-source-file.lis))
3506 (in-package :my-asdf-extension)
3508 (defclass cl-source-file.lis (cl-source-file)
3509 ((type :initform "lis")))
3512 Then you can use it as follows:
3514 (defsystem my-cl-system
3515 :default-component-class my-asdf-extension:cl-source-file.lis
3519 Of course, if you're in the same package, e.g. in the same file,
3520 you won't need to use the package qualifier before @code{cl-source-file.lis}.
3521 Actually, if all you're doing is defining this class
3522 and using it in the same file without other fancy definitions,
3523 you might skip package complications:
3527 (defclass cl-source-file.lis (cl-source-file)
3528 ((type :initform "lis")))
3529 (defsystem my-cl-system
3530 :default-component-class cl-source-file.lis
3534 It is possible to achieve the same effect
3535 in a way that supports both ASDF 1 and ASDF 2,
3536 but really, friends don't let friends use ASDF 1.
3537 Please upgrade to ASDF 2.
3538 In short, though: do same as above, but
3539 @emph{before} you use the class in a @code{defsystem},
3540 you also define the following method:
3543 (defmethod source-file-type ((f cl-source-file.lis) (m module))
3544 (declare (ignorable f m))
3549 @node TODO list, Inspiration, FAQ, Top
3550 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
3553 Here is an old list of things to do,
3554 in addition to the bugs that are now tracked on launchpad:
3555 @url{https://launchpad.net/asdf}.
3557 @section Outstanding spec questions, things to add
3559 ** packaging systems
3561 *** manual page component?
3563 ** style guide for .asd files
3565 You should either use keywords or be careful
3566 with the package that you evaluate defsystem forms in.
3567 Otherwise @code{(defsystem partition ...)}
3568 being read in the @code{cl-user} package
3569 will intern a @code{cl-user:partition} symbol,
3570 which will then collide with the @code{partition:partition} symbol.
3572 Actually there's a hairier packages problem to think about too.
3573 @code{in-order-to} is not a keyword:
3574 if you read @code{defsystem} forms in a package that doesn't use ASDF,
3575 odd things might happen.
3578 ** extending defsystem with new options
3580 You might not want to write a whole parser,
3581 but just to add options to the existing syntax.
3582 Reinstate @code{parse-option} or something akin.
3585 ** document all the error classes
3587 ** what to do with compile-file failure
3589 Should check the primary return value from compile-file and see if
3590 that gets us any closer to a sensible error handling strategy
3594 lift unix-dso stuff from db-sockets
3598 A ``dry run'' of an operation can be made with the following form:
3601 (traverse (make-instance '<operation-name>)
3602 (find-system <system-name>)
3606 This uses unexported symbols.
3607 What would be a nice interface for this functionality?
3609 @section Missing bits in implementation
3611 ** reuse the same scratch package whenever a system is reloaded from disk
3613 ** proclamations probably aren't
3615 ** when a system is reloaded with fewer components than it previously had, odd things happen
3617 We should do something inventive when processing a @code{defsystem} form,
3618 like take the list of kids and @code{setf} the slot to @code{nil},
3619 then transfer children from old to new list as they're found.
3621 ** (stuff that might happen later)
3623 *** Propagation of the @code{:force} option.
3627 @code{(asdf:compile-system :araneida :force t)}
3629 also forces compilation of every other system the @code{:araneida} system depends on.
3630 This is rarely useful to me;
3631 usually, when I want to force recompilation of something more than a single source file,
3632 I want to recompile only one system.
3633 So it would be more useful to have @code{make-sub-operation}
3634 refuse to propagate @code{:force t} to other systems, and
3635 propagate only something like @code{:force :recursively}.
3637 Ideally what we actually want is some kind of criterion that says
3638 to which systems (and which operations) a @code{:force} switch will propagate.
3640 The problem is perhaps that ``force'' is a pretty meaningless concept.
3641 How obvious is it that @code{load :force t} should force @emph{compilation}?
3642 But we don't really have the right dependency setup
3643 for the user to compile @code{:force t} and expect it to work
3644 (files will not be loaded after compilation, so the compile
3645 environment for subsequent files will be emptier than it needs to be)
3647 What does the user actually want to do when he forces?
3648 Usually, for me, update for use with a new version of the Lisp compiler.
3649 Perhaps for recovery when he suspects that something has gone wrong.
3650 Or else when he's changed compilation options or configuration
3651 in some way that's not reflected in the dependency graph.
3653 Other possible interface: have a ``revert'' function akin to @code{make clean}.
3656 (asdf:revert 'asdf:compile-op 'araneida)
3659 would delete any files produced by @code{(compile-system :araneida)}.
3660 Of course, it wouldn't be able to do much about stuff in the image itself.
3662 How would this work?
3666 There's a difference between a module's dependencies (peers)
3667 and its components (children).
3668 Perhaps there's a similar difference in operations?
3669 For example, @code{(load "use") depends-on (load "macros")} is a peer,
3670 whereas @code{(load "use") depends-on (compile "use")}
3671 is more of a ``subservient'' relationship.
3673 @node Inspiration, Concept Index, TODO list, Top
3674 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
3675 @chapter Inspiration
3677 @section mk-defsystem (defsystem-3.x)
3679 We aim to solve basically the same problems as @code{mk-defsystem} does.
3680 However, our architecture for extensibility
3681 better exploits CL language features (and is documented),
3682 and we intend to be portable rather than just widely-ported.
3683 No slight on the @code{mk-defsystem} authors and maintainers is intended here;
3684 that implementation has the unenviable task
3685 of supporting pre-ANSI implementations, which is no longer necessary.
3687 The surface defsystem syntax of asdf is more-or-less compatible with
3688 @code{mk-defsystem}, except that we do not support
3689 the @code{source-foo} and @code{binary-foo} prefixes
3690 for separating source and binary files, and
3691 we advise the removal of all options to specify pathnames.
3693 The @code{mk-defsystem} code for topologically sorting
3694 a module's dependency list was very useful.
3696 @section defsystem-4 proposal
3698 Marco and Peter's proposal for defsystem 4 served as the driver for
3699 many of the features in here. Notable differences are:
3703 We don't specify output files or output file extensions
3704 as part of the system.
3706 If you want to find out what files an operation would create,
3710 We don't deal with CL packages
3712 If you want to compile in a particular package, use an @code{in-package} form
3713 in that file (ilisp / SLIME will like you more if you do this anyway)
3716 There is no proposal here that @code{defsystem} does version control.
3718 A system has a given version which can be used to check dependencies,
3722 The defsystem 4 proposal tends to look more at the external features,
3723 whereas this one centres on a protocol for system introspection.
3725 @section kmp's ``The Description of Large Systems'', MIT AI Memo 801
3727 Available in updated-for-CL form on the web at
3728 @url{http://nhplace.com/kent/Papers/Large-Systems.html}
3730 In our implementation we borrow kmp's overall @code{PROCESS-OPTIONS}
3731 and concept to deal with creating component trees
3732 from @code{defsystem} surface syntax.
3733 [ this is not true right now, though it used to be and
3734 probably will be again soon ]
3737 @c -------------------
3740 @node Concept Index, Function and Class Index, Inspiration, Top
3741 @unnumbered Concept Index
3745 @node Function and Class Index, Variable Index, Concept Index, Top
3746 @unnumbered Function and Class Index
3750 @node Variable Index, , Function and Class Index, Top
3751 @unnumbered Variable Index