*
Many people like to run SBCL, like other Lisp systems, as a subprocess
-under Emacs. The Emacs "ilisp" mode provides many convenient features,
-like command line editing, tab completion, and various kinds of
-coupling between Common Lisp source files and the interactive SBCL
-subprocess, but can be somewhat fragile because it tries to be so
-clever and intimate in its interactions with the Lisp subprocess. In
-case of ilisp problems, running SBCL in the Emacs "shell" mode can a
-useful substitute.
+under Emacs. The Emacs "Slime" and "ilisp" modes provide many
+convenient features, like command line editing, tab completion, and
+various kinds of coupling between Common Lisp source files and the
+interactive SBCL subprocess, but they can be somewhat fragile wrt.
+packages and readtables, in which case SBCL in the Emacs "shell" mode
+can a useful substitute.
.SH OVERVIEW
SBCL also includes various non-ANSI extensions, described more fully
in the User Manual. Some of these are in the base system and others
are "contrib" modules loaded on request using REQUIRE. For example,
-to load the SB-BSD-SOCKETS module that providces TCP/IP connectivity,
+to load the SB\-BSD\-SOCKETS module that providces TCP/IP connectivity,
* (require 'asdf)
- * (require 'sb-bsd-sockets)
+ * (require 'sb\-bsd\-sockets)
Many Lispy extensions have been retained from CMU CL:
.TP 3
Most extensions supported by CMU CL have been unbundled from SBCL,
including Motif support, the Hemlock editor, search paths, the
low-level Unix interface, the WIRE protocol, various user-level macros
-and functions (e.g. LETF, ITERATE, MEMQ, REQUIRED-ARGUMENT), and many
+and functions (e.g. LETF, ITERATE, MEMQ, REQUIRED\-ARGUMENT), and many
others.
SBCL inplements multithreading, but in a completely different fashion
.TP 3
\--
things which are universally available in Unix scripting languages,
-e.g. RUN-PROGRAM and POSIX argv and getenv
+e.g. RUN\-PROGRAM and POSIX argv and getenv
.TP 3
\--
hooks into the low level workings of the system which can be useful
whenever GC occurs, or tuning compiler diagnostic output
.TP 3
\--
-unportable performance hacks, e.g. FREEZE-TYPE and PURIFY. For more
+unportable performance hacks, e.g. FREEZE\-TYPE and PURIFY. For more
information about these, look at the online documentation for symbols
-in the SB-EXT package, and look at the user manual.
+in the SB\-EXT package, and look at the user manual.
.PP
There are also a few retained extensions which don't fall into any
Some of the retained extensions have new names and/or different
options than their CMU CL counterparts. For example, the SBCL function
which saves a Lisp image to disk and kills the running process is
-called SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE instead of SAVE-LISP, and SBCL's
-SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE supports fewer keyword options than CMU CL's
-SAVE-LISP does.
+called SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE instead of SAVE\-LISP, and SBCL's
+SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE supports fewer keyword options than CMU CL's
+SAVE\-LISP does.
(Why doesn't SBCL support more extensions natively? Why drop all
those nice extensions from CMU CL when the code already exists? This
.SH THE COMPILER
-SBCL is essentially a compiler-only implementation of Common Lisp. All
-nontrivial Lisp code is compiled to native machine code before being
-executed, even when the Lisp code is typed interactively at the
-"interpreter" prompt.
-
SBCL inherits from CMU CL the "Python" native code compiler. (Though
we often avoid that name in order to avoid confusion with the
scripting language also called Python.) This compiler is very clever
For more information about the compiler, see the user manual.
-.SH DOCUMENTATION
-
-Currently, the documentation for the system is
-.TP 3
-\--
-this man page
-.TP 3
-\--
-the user manual
-.TP 3
-\--
-doc strings and online help built into the SBCL executable
-.PP
-
.SH COMMAND LINE SYNTAX
Command line syntax can be considered an advanced topic; for ordinary
The full, unambiguous syntax for invoking SBCL at the command line is
.TP 3
-.B sbcl [runtime options] --end-runtime-options [toplevel options] --end-toplevel-options [user options]
+.B sbcl [runtime options] \-\-end\-runtime\-options [toplevel options] \-\-end\-toplevel\-options [user options]
.PP
-For convenience, the --end-runtime-options and --end-toplevel-options
+For convenience, the \-\-end\-runtime\-options and \-\-end\-toplevel\-options
elements can be omitted. Omitting these elements can be convenient
when you are running the program interactively, and you can see that
no ambiguities are possible with the option values you are using.
Supported runtime options are
.TP 3
-.B --core <corefilename>
+.B \-\-core <corefilename>
Run the specified Lisp core file instead of the default. (See the FILES
section for the standard core, or the system documentation for
-SB-INT:SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE for information about how to create a
+SB\-INT:SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE for information about how to create a
custom core.) Note that if the Lisp core file is a user-created core
file, it may run a nonstandard toplevel which does not recognize the
standard toplevel options.
.TP 3
-.B --noinform
+.B \-\-noinform
Suppress the printing of any banner or other informational message at
startup. (This makes it easier to write Lisp programs which work
-cleanly in Unix pipelines. See also the "--noprint" and
-"--disable-debugger" options.)
+cleanly in Unix pipelines. See also the "\-\-noprint" and
+"\-\-disable\-debugger" options.)
.TP 3
-.B --help
+.B \-\-help
Print some basic information about SBCL, then exit.
.TP 3
-.B --version
+.B \-\-version
Print SBCL's version information, then exit.
.PP
In the future, runtime options may be added to control behavior such
as lazy allocation of memory.
-Runtime options, including any --end-runtime-options option,
+Runtime options, including any \-\-end\-runtime\-options option,
are stripped out of the command line before the
Lisp toplevel logic gets a chance to see it.
The toplevel options supported by the standard SBCL core are
.TP 3
-.B --sysinit <filename>
+.B \-\-sysinit <filename>
Load filename instead of the default system-wide initialization file.
(See the FILES section.) There is no special option to cause no
system-wide initialization file to be read, but on a Unix system
-"--sysinit /dev/null" can be used to achieve the same effect.
+"\-\-sysinit /dev/null" can be used to achieve the same effect.
.TP 3
-.B --userinit <filename>
+.B \-\-userinit <filename>
Load filename instead of the default user initialization file. (See
the FILES section.) There is no special option to cause no user
-initialization file to be read, but on a Unix system "--userinit
+initialization file to be read, but on a Unix system "\-\-userinit
/dev/null" can be used to achieve the same effect.
.TP 3
-.B --eval <command>
+.B \-\-eval <command>
After executing any initialization file, but before starting the
read-eval-print loop on standard input, read and evaluate the command
-given. More than one --eval option can be used, and all will be read
+given. More than one \-\-eval option can be used, and all will be read
and executed, in the order they appear on the command line.
.TP 3
-.B --load <filename>
-This is equivalent to --eval '(load "<filename>")'. The special
+.B \-\-load <filename>
+This is equivalent to \-\-eval '(load "<filename>")'. The special
syntax is intended to reduce quoting headaches when invoking SBCL
from shell scripts.
.TP 3
-.B --noprint
+.B \-\-noprint
When ordinarily the toplevel "read-eval-print loop" would be executed,
execute a "read-eval loop" instead, i.e. don't print a prompt and
-don't echo results. Combined with the --noinform runtime option, this
+don't echo results. Combined with the \-\-noinform runtime option, this
makes it easier to write Lisp "scripts" which work cleanly in Unix
pipelines.
.TP 3
-.B --disable-debugger
-This is equivalent to --eval '(sb-ext:disable-debugger)'. By default,
+.B \-\-disable\-debugger
+This is equivalent to \-\-eval '(sb\-ext:disable\-debugger)'. By default,
a Common Lisp system tries to ask the programmer for help when it gets
in trouble (by printing a debug prompt, then listening, on
-*DEBUG-IO*). However, this is not useful behavior for a system running
+*DEBUG\-IO*). However, this is not useful behavior for a system running
with no programmer available, and this option tries to set up more
appropriate behavior for that situation. This is implemented by
-redefining INVOKE-DEBUGGER so that any call exits the process with a
-failure code after printing a backtrace, and by redefining *DEBUG-IO*
-to send its output to *ERROR-OUTPUT* and to raise an error if any
-input is requested from it. (Note that because it is implemented by
-modifying special variables and FDEFINITIONs, its effects persist in
-.core files created by SB-EXT:SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE. If you want to undo
-its effects, e.g. if you build a system unattended and then want to
-operate a derived system interactively, see the SB-EXT:ENABLE-DEBUGGER
-command.)
+redefining INVOKE\-DEBUGGER so that any call exits the process with a
+failure code after printing a backtrace. (Note that because it is
+implemented by modifying special variables and FDEFINITIONs, its
+effects persist in .core files created by SB\-EXT:SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE. If
+you want to undo its effects, e.g. if you build a system unattended
+and then want to operate a derived system interactively, see the
+SB\-EXT:ENABLE\-DEBUGGER command.)
.PP
-Regardless of the order in which --sysinit, --userinit, and --eval
+Regardless of the order in which \-\-sysinit, \-\-userinit, and \-\-eval
options appear on the command line, the sysinit file, if it exists, is
loaded first; then the userinit file, if it exists, is loaded; then
-any --eval commands are read and executed in sequence; then the
+any \-\-eval commands are read and executed in sequence; then the
read-eval-print loop is started on standard input. At any step, error
-conditions or commands such as SB-EXT:QUIT can cause execution to be
+conditions or commands such as SB\-EXT:QUIT can cause execution to be
terminated before proceeding to subsequent steps.
-Note that when running SBCL with the --core option, using a core file
-created by a user call to the SB-EXT:SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE, the toplevel
+Note that when running SBCL with the \-\-core option, using a core file
+created by a user call to the SB\-EXT:SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE, the toplevel
options may be under the control of user code passed as arguments to
-SB-EXT:SAVE-LISP-AND-DIE. For this purpose, the --end-toplevel-options
+SB\-EXT:SAVE\-LISP\-AND\-DIE. For this purpose, the \-\-end\-toplevel\-options
option itself can be considered a toplevel option, i.e. the user core,
at its option, may not support it.
In the standard SBCL startup sequence (i.e. with no user core
-involved) toplevel options and any --end-toplevel-options option are
+involved) toplevel options and any \-\-end\-toplevel\-options option are
stripped out of the command line argument list before user code gets a
chance to see it.
SBCL currently runs on X86 (Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD), Alpha
(Linux, Tru64), PPC (Linux, Darwin/MacOS X), SPARC (Linux and Solaris
2.x), and MIPS (Linux). For information on other ongoing and possible
-ports, see the sbcl-devel mailing list, and/or the web site.
+ports, see the sbcl\-devel mailing list, and/or the web site.
SBCL requires on the order of 16Mb RAM to run on X86 systems, though
all but the smallest programs would be happier with 32Mb or more.
compiling a file containing
(DECLAIM (FTYPE (FUNCTION (T) NULL) SOMETIMES))
(DEFUN SOMETIMES (X) (ODDP X))
-(DEFUN FOO (X) (IF (SOMETIMES X) 'THIS-TIME 'NOT-THIS-TIME))
-then running (FOO 1) gives NOT-THIS-TIME, because the compiler
+(DEFUN FOO (X) (IF (SOMETIMES X) 'THIS\-TIME 'NOT\-THIS\-TIME))
+then running (FOO 1) gives NOT\-THIS\-TIME, because the compiler
relied on the truth of the DECLAIM without checking it.
Some things are implemented very inefficiently.
multidimensional arrays of floating point numbers.
.TP 3
\--
-The DYNAMIC-EXTENT declaration isn't implemented at all, not even
+The DYNAMIC\-EXTENT declaration isn't implemented at all, not even
for &REST lists or upward closures, so such constructs always allocate
their temporary storage from the heap, causing GC overhead.
.TP 3
(DEFUN F ...)
(DECLAIM (NOTINLINE F)),
doesn't do what you'd expect. (Instead, you have to declare the
-function as SB-EXT:MAYBE-INLINE to get the desired effect.)
+function as SB\-EXT:MAYBE\-INLINE to get the desired effect.)
.TP 3
\--
There are several nonconforming bits of type syntax. E.g. (1) The type
enough information to reproduce the symptoms reliably, and if you say
clearly what the symptoms are. E.g. "There seems to be something wrong
with TAN of very small negative arguments. When I execute
-(TAN LEAST-NEGATIVE-SINGLE-FLOAT) interactively on sbcl-1.2.3 on my
-Linux 4.5 X86 box, I get an UNBOUND-VARIABLE error."
+(TAN LEAST\-NEGATIVE\-SINGLE\-FLOAT) interactively on sbcl-1.2.3 on my
+Linux 4.5 X86 box, I get an UNBOUND\-VARIABLE error."
.SH SUPPORT
Various information about SBCL is available at
-<http://sbcl.sourceforge.net/>. The mailing lists there are the
-recommended place to look for support.
+<http://ww.sbcl.org/>. The mailing lists there are the recommended
+place to look for support.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.I sbcl.core
dumped memory image containing most of SBCL, to be loaded by
the 'sbcl' executable. Looked for in $SBCL_HOME,
-unless overridden by the --core option.
+unless overridden by the \-\-core option.
.TP
.I sbclrc
optional system-wide startup script, looked for in $SBCL_HOME/sbclrc
-then /etc/sbclrc, unless overridden by the --sysinit command line
+then /etc/sbclrc, unless overridden by the \-\-sysinit command line
option.
.TP
.I .sbclrc
optional per-user customizable startup script (in user's home
-directory, or as specified by --userinit)
+directory, or as specified by \-\-userinit)
.SH AUTHORS
Dozens of people have made substantial contributions to SBCL and its
subsystems, and to the CMU CL system on which it was based, over the
years. See the CREDITS file in the distribution for more information.
+
+.SH SEE ALSO
+
+Full SBCL documentation is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If is has
+been installed, the command
+.IP
+.B info sbcl
+.PP
+should give you access to the complete manual. Depending on your
+installation it may also be available in HTML and PDF formats in eg.
+.IP
+.B /usr/local/share/doc/sbcl/
+.PP
+See the SBCL homepage
+.IP
+.B http://www.sbcl.org/
+.PP
+for more information, including directions on how to subscribe to the
+sbcl\-devel and sbcl\-help mailing-lists.
projects / sbcl.git / blobdiff