1 @node Starting and Stopping
2 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
3 @chapter Starting and Stopping
8 * Command Line Options::
9 * Initialization Files::
13 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
14 @section Starting SBCL
17 * Running from Shell::
18 * Running from Emacs::
22 @node Running from Shell
23 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
24 @subsection From Shell to Lisp
26 To run SBCL type @command{sbcl} at the command line.
28 You should end up in the toplevel @dfn{REPL} (read, eval, print
29 -loop), where you can interact with SBCL by typing expressions.
33 This is SBCL 0.8.13.60, an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp.
34 More information about SBCL is available at <http://www.sbcl.org/>.
36 SBCL is free software, provided as is, with absolutely no warranty.
37 It is mostly in the public domain; some portions are provided under
38 BSD-style licenses. See the CREDITS and COPYING files in the
39 distribution for more information.
47 See also @ref{Command Line Options} and @ref{Stopping SBCL}.
49 @node Running from Emacs
50 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
51 @subsection Running from Emacs
53 To run SBCL as an inferior-lisp from Emacs in your @file{.emacs} do
57 ;;; The SBCL binary and command-line arguments
58 (setq inferior-lisp-program "/usr/local/bin/sbcl --noinform")
61 For more information on using SBCL with Emacs, see @ref{Editor
66 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
67 @subsection Shebang Scripts
69 SBCL doesn't come with built-in support for shebang-line execution,
70 but this can be provided with a shell trampoline, or by dispatching
71 from initialization files (@pxref{Unix-style Command Line Protocol} for
76 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
77 @section Stopping SBCL
82 * Saving a Core Image::
87 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
90 SBCL can be stopped at any time by calling @code{sb-ext:quit},
91 optionally returning a specified numeric value to the calling process.
92 See notes in @ref{Threading} about the interaction between this
95 @include fun-sb-ext-quit.texinfo
98 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
99 @subsection End of File
101 By default SBCL also exits on end of input, caused either by user
102 pressing @kbd{Control-D} on an attached terminal, or end of input when
103 using SBCL as part of a shell pipeline.
105 @node Saving a Core Image
106 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
107 @subsection Saving a Core Image
109 SBCL has the ability to save its state as a file for later
110 execution. This functionality is important for its bootstrapping
111 process, and is also provided as an extension to the user.
113 @include fun-sb-ext-save-lisp-and-die.texinfo
116 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
117 @subsection Exit on Errors
119 SBCL can also be configured to exit if an unhandled error occurs,
120 which is mainly useful for acting as part of a shell pipeline; doing
121 so under most other circumstances would mean giving up large parts of
122 the flexibility and robustness of Common Lisp. See @ref{Starting the
126 @node Command Line Options
127 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
128 @section Command Line Options
130 @c FIXME: This is essentially cut-and-paste from the manpage
131 @c What should probably be done is generate both this and the
132 @c man-page from ``sbcl --help'' output.
134 Command line options can be considered an advanced topic; for ordinary
135 interactive use, no command line arguments should be necessary.
137 In order to understand the command line argument syntax for SBCL, it
138 is helpful to understand that the SBCL system is implemented as two
139 components, a low-level runtime environment written in C and a
140 higher-level system written in Common Lisp itself. Some command line
141 arguments are processed during the initialization of the low-level
142 runtime environment, some command line arguments are processed during
143 the initialization of the Common Lisp system, and any remaining
144 command line arguments are passed on to user code.
146 The full, unambiguous syntax for invoking SBCL at the command line is:
148 @command{sbcl} @var{runtime-option}* @code{--end-runtime-options} @var{toplevel-option}* @code{--end-toplevel-options} @var{user-options}*
150 For convenience, the @code{--end-runtime-options} and
151 @code{--end-toplevel-options} elements can be omitted. Omitting these
152 elements can be convenient when you are running the program
153 interactively, and you can see that no ambiguities are possible with
154 the option values you are using. Omitting these elements is probably a
155 bad idea for any batch file where any of the options are under user
156 control, since it makes it impossible for SBCL to detect erroneous
157 command line input, so that erroneous command line arguments will be
158 passed on to the user program even if they was intended for the
159 runtime system or the Lisp system.
166 @node Runtime Options
167 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
168 @subsection Runtime Options
172 @item --core @var{corefilename}
173 Run the specified Lisp core file instead of the default. Note that if
174 the Lisp core file is a user-created core file, it may run a
175 nonstandard toplevel which does not recognize the standard toplevel
179 Suppress the printing of any banner or other informational message at
180 startup. This makes it easier to write Lisp programs which work
181 cleanly in Unix pipelines. See also the @code{--noprint} and
182 @code{--disable-debugger} options.
185 Print some basic information about SBCL, then exit.
188 Print SBCL's version information, then exit.
192 In the future, runtime options may be added to control behaviour such
193 as lazy allocation of memory.
195 Runtime options, including any --end-runtime-options option, are
196 stripped out of the command line before the Lisp toplevel logic gets a
199 @node Toplevel Options
200 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
201 @subsection Toplevel Options
205 @item --sysinit @var{filename}
206 Load filename instead of the default system initialization file
207 (@pxref{System Initialization File}.) There is no special option to
208 cause no system initialization file to be read, but on a Unix
209 system ``@code{"--sysinit /dev/null}'' can be used to achieve the same
212 @item --userinit @var{filename}
213 Load filename instead of the default user initialization file
214 (@pxref{User Initialization File}.) There is no special option to
215 cause no user initialization file to be read, but ``@code{--userinit
216 /dev/null}'' can be used to achieve the same effect.
218 @item --eval @var{command}
219 After executing any initialization file, but before starting the
220 read-eval-print loop on standard input, read and evaluate the com-
221 mand given. More than one @code{--eval} option can be used, and all
222 will be read and executed, in the order they appear on the command
225 @item --load @var{filename}
226 This is equivalent to @code{--eval '(load "@var{filename}")'}. The
227 special syntax is intended to reduce quoting headaches when invoking
228 SBCL from shell scripts.
231 When ordinarily the toplevel "read-eval-print loop" would be exe-
232 cuted, execute a "read-eval loop" instead, i.e. don't print a prompt
233 and don't echo results. Combined with the @code{--noinform} runtime
234 option, this makes it easier to write Lisp "scripts" which work
235 cleanly in Unix pipelines.
237 @item --disable-debugger
238 This is equivalent to @code{--eval '(sb-ext:disable-debugger)'}.
239 @xref{Starting the Debugger}.
244 @node Initialization Files
245 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
246 @section Initialization Files
248 This section covers initialization files loaded at startup, which can
249 be used to customize the lisp environment.
252 * System Initialization File::
253 * User Initialization File::
254 * Initialization File Semantics::
255 * Initialization Examples::
258 @node System Initialization File
259 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
260 @subsection System Initialization File
262 Site-wide startup script. Unless overridden with the command line
263 option @code{--sysinit} defaults to @file{@env{SBCL_HOME}/sbclrc}, or
264 if that doesn't exist to @file{/etc/sbclrc}.
266 No system initialization file is required.
268 @node User Initialization File
269 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
270 @subsection User Initialization File
272 Per-user startup script. Unless overridden with the command line
273 option @code{--userinit} defaults to @file{@env{HOME}/.sbclrc}.
275 No user initialization file is required.
277 @node Initialization File Semantics
278 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
279 @subsection Initialization File Semantics
281 SBCL uses @code{load} to process its initialization files, which
282 has the unfortunate effect of preventing users from changing the
283 default startup @code{*package*}, and setting a default optimization
286 This is considered a bug and liable to change in the future.
288 @node Initialization Examples
289 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
290 @subsection Initialization Examples
292 Some examples of what you may consider doing in the initialization
296 * Unix-style Command Line Protocol::
297 * Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls::
300 @node Unix-style Command Line Protocol
301 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
302 @subsubsection Unix-style Command Line Protocol
304 Standard Unix tools that are interpreters follow a common command line
305 protocol that is necessary to work with ``shebang scripts''. SBCL
306 doesn't do this by default, but adding the following snippet to an
307 initialization file does the trick:
310 ;;; If the first user-processable command-line argument is a filename,
311 ;;; disable the debugger, load the file handling shebang-line and quit.
312 (let ((script (and (second *posix-argv*)
313 (probe-file (second *posix-argv*)))))
315 ;; Handle shebang-line
316 (set-dispatch-macro-character #\# #\!
317 (lambda (stream char arg)
318 (declare (ignore char arg))
321 (setf *invoke-debugger-hook*
322 (lambda (condition hook)
323 (declare (ignore hook))
324 ;; Uncomment to get backtraces on errors
325 ;; (sb-debug:backtrace 20)
326 (format *error-output* "Error: ~A~%" condition)
332 Example file (@file{hello.lisp}):
335 #!/usr/local/bin/sbcl --noinform
336 (write-line "Hello, World!")
348 This is SBCL 0.8.13.70, an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp.
349 More information about SBCL is available at <http://www.sbcl.org/>.
351 SBCL is free software, provided as is, with absolutely no warranty.
352 It is mostly in the public domain; some portions are provided under
353 BSD-style licenses. See the CREDITS and COPYING files in the
354 distribution for more information.
359 @node Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls
360 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
361 @subsubsection Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls
363 SBCL fasl-format is at current stage of development undergoing
364 non-backwards compatible changes fairly often. The following snippet
365 handles recompilation automatically for ASDF-based systems.
370 ;;; If a fasl was stale, try to recompile and load (once).
371 (defmethod asdf:perform :around ((o asdf:load-op)
372 (c asdf:cl-source-file))
373 (handler-case (call-next-method o c)
374 ;; If a fasl was stale, try to recompile and load (once).
375 (sb-ext:invalid-fasl ()
376 (asdf:perform (make-instance 'asdf:compile-op) c)
377 (call-next-method))))