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
115 To facilitate distribution of SBCL applications using external
116 resources, the filesystem location of the SBCL core file being used is
119 @include var-sb-ext-star-core-pathname-star.texinfo
122 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
123 @subsection Exit on Errors
125 SBCL can also be configured to exit if an unhandled error occurs,
126 which is mainly useful for acting as part of a shell pipeline; doing
127 so under most other circumstances would mean giving up large parts of
128 the flexibility and robustness of Common Lisp. See @ref{Debugger Entry}.
130 @node Command Line Options
131 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
132 @section Command Line Options
134 @c FIXME: This is essentially cut-and-paste from the manpage
135 @c What should probably be done is generate both this and the
136 @c man-page from ``sbcl --help'' output.
138 Command line options can be considered an advanced topic; for ordinary
139 interactive use, no command line arguments should be necessary.
141 In order to understand the command line argument syntax for SBCL, it
142 is helpful to understand that the SBCL system is implemented as two
143 components, a low-level runtime environment written in C and a
144 higher-level system written in Common Lisp itself. Some command line
145 arguments are processed during the initialization of the low-level
146 runtime environment, some command line arguments are processed during
147 the initialization of the Common Lisp system, and any remaining
148 command line arguments are passed on to user code.
150 The full, unambiguous syntax for invoking SBCL at the command line is:
152 @command{sbcl} @var{runtime-option}* @code{--end-runtime-options} @var{toplevel-option}* @code{--end-toplevel-options} @var{user-options}*
154 For convenience, the @code{--end-runtime-options} and
155 @code{--end-toplevel-options} elements can be omitted. Omitting these
156 elements can be convenient when you are running the program
157 interactively, and you can see that no ambiguities are possible with
158 the option values you are using. Omitting these elements is probably a
159 bad idea for any batch file where any of the options are under user
160 control, since it makes it impossible for SBCL to detect erroneous
161 command line input, so that erroneous command line arguments will be
162 passed on to the user program even if they was intended for the
163 runtime system or the Lisp system.
170 @node Runtime Options
171 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
172 @subsection Runtime Options
176 @item --core @var{corefilename}
177 Run the specified Lisp core file instead of the default. Note that if
178 the Lisp core file is a user-created core file, it may run a
179 nonstandard toplevel which does not recognize the standard toplevel
183 Suppress the printing of any banner or other informational message at
184 startup. This makes it easier to write Lisp programs which work
185 cleanly in Unix pipelines. See also the @code{--noprint} and
186 @code{--disable-debugger} options.
189 Print some basic information about SBCL, then exit.
192 Print SBCL's version information, then exit.
196 In the future, runtime options may be added to control behaviour such
197 as lazy allocation of memory.
199 Runtime options, including any --end-runtime-options option, are
200 stripped out of the command line before the Lisp toplevel logic gets a
203 @node Toplevel Options
204 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
205 @subsection Toplevel Options
209 @item --sysinit @var{filename}
210 Load filename instead of the default system initialization file
211 (@pxref{System Initialization File}.)
214 Don't load a system-wide initialization file. If this option is given,
215 the @code{--sysinit} option is ignored.
217 @item --userinit @var{filename}
218 Load filename instead of the default user initialization file
219 (@pxref{User Initialization File}.)
222 Don't load a user initialization file. If this option is given,
223 the @code{--userinit} option is ignored.
225 @item --eval @var{command}
226 After executing any initialization file, but before starting the
227 read-eval-print loop on standard input, read and evaluate the com-
228 mand given. More than one @code{--eval} option can be used, and all
229 will be read and executed, in the order they appear on the command
232 @item --load @var{filename}
233 This is equivalent to @code{--eval '(load "@var{filename}")'}. The
234 special syntax is intended to reduce quoting headaches when invoking
235 SBCL from shell scripts.
238 When ordinarily the toplevel "read-eval-print loop" would be exe-
239 cuted, execute a "read-eval loop" instead, i.e. don't print a prompt
240 and don't echo results. Combined with the @code{--noinform} runtime
241 option, this makes it easier to write Lisp "scripts" which work
242 cleanly in Unix pipelines.
244 @item --disable-debugger
245 This is equivalent to @code{--eval '(sb-ext:disable-debugger)'}.
246 @xref{Debugger Entry}.
251 @node Initialization Files
252 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
253 @section Initialization Files
255 This section covers initialization files processed at startup, which
256 can be used to customize the lisp environment.
259 * System Initialization File::
260 * User Initialization File::
261 * Initialization File Semantics::
262 * Initialization Examples::
265 @node System Initialization File
266 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
267 @subsection System Initialization File
269 Site-wide startup script. Unless overridden with the command line
270 option @code{--sysinit} defaults to @file{@env{SBCL_HOME}/sbclrc}, or
271 if that doesn't exist to @file{/etc/sbclrc}.
273 No system initialization file is required.
275 @node User Initialization File
276 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
277 @subsection User Initialization File
279 Per-user startup script. Unless overridden with the command line
280 option @code{--userinit} defaults to @file{@env{HOME}/.sbclrc}.
282 No user initialization file is required.
284 @node Initialization File Semantics
285 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
286 @subsection Initialization File Semantics
288 SBCL processes initialization files with @code{read} and @code{eval},
289 not @code{load}; hence initialization files can be used to set startup
290 @code{*package*} and @code{*readtable*}, and for proclaiming a global
293 @node Initialization Examples
294 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
295 @subsection Initialization Examples
297 Some examples of what you may consider doing in the initialization
301 * Unix-style Command Line Protocol::
302 * Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls::
305 @node Unix-style Command Line Protocol
306 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
307 @subsubsection Unix-style Command Line Protocol
309 Standard Unix tools that are interpreters follow a common command line
310 protocol that is necessary to work with ``shebang scripts''. SBCL
311 doesn't do this by default, but adding the following snippet to an
312 initialization file does the trick:
315 ;;; If the first user-processable command-line argument is a filename,
316 ;;; disable the debugger, load the file handling shebang-line and quit.
317 (let ((script (and (second *posix-argv*)
318 (probe-file (second *posix-argv*)))))
320 ;; Handle shebang-line
321 (set-dispatch-macro-character #\# #\!
322 (lambda (stream char arg)
323 (declare (ignore char arg))
326 (setf *invoke-debugger-hook*
327 (lambda (condition hook)
328 (declare (ignore hook))
329 ;; Uncomment to get backtraces on errors
330 ;; (sb-debug:backtrace 20)
331 (format *error-output* "Error: ~A~%" condition)
337 Example file (@file{hello.lisp}):
340 #!/usr/local/bin/sbcl --noinform
341 (write-line "Hello, World!")
353 This is SBCL 0.8.13.70, an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp.
354 More information about SBCL is available at <http://www.sbcl.org/>.
356 SBCL is free software, provided as is, with absolutely no warranty.
357 It is mostly in the public domain; some portions are provided under
358 BSD-style licenses. See the CREDITS and COPYING files in the
359 distribution for more information.
364 @node Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls
365 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
366 @subsubsection Automatic Recompilation of Stale Fasls
368 SBCL fasl-format is at current stage of development undergoing
369 non-backwards compatible changes fairly often. The following snippet
370 handles recompilation automatically for ASDF-based systems.
375 ;;; If a fasl was stale, try to recompile and load (once).
376 (defmethod asdf:perform :around ((o asdf:load-op)
377 (c asdf:cl-source-file))
378 (handler-case (call-next-method o c)
379 ;; If a fasl was stale, try to recompile and load (once).
380 (sb-ext:invalid-fasl ()
381 (asdf:perform (make-instance 'asdf:compile-op) c)
382 (call-next-method))))