Re: defsystem-3.x & clisp

[Bruno H. <ha...@il...>]

Marco Antoniotti writes:

> > (eval-when (compile load eval) (unless (find-package "MAKE") ...))
> > 
> > I can load the file, but I cannot compile it.
> > any ideas?
> 
> Nope.  It seems like a CLisp problem.

Nope. The problem is the

     (unless (find-package "MAKE") (make-package ...))

code. It is pre-CLtL1 code and has a lot of portability problems. Which is
why IN-PACKAGE and DEFPACKAGE are introduced in CLtL2 and ANSI CL.

More in detail. Once upon a time, there were many packages using an
unprotected

     (make-package ...)

or

     (unless (find-package "MAKE") (make-package ...))

call at top level. In order to compile them correctly, clisp executes
any MAKE-PACKAGE form with constant arguments at compile time.

Now, you wrap the thing in eval-when, whence clisp will at compile-time
execute the form

     (unless (find-package "MAKE") (make-package ...))

followed by

     (make-package ...)

The latter gives the error message.

This entire find-package/make-package/use-package/etc. stuff was recognized
to be so messy 8 years ago that they added DEFPACKAGE to the language.
Please use it.

The right way to make a package declaration is thus

     (defpackage "MAKE" ...<lots of nicknames and other options>)

     (in-package "MAKE") ; or (in-package :MAKE)

In the latter in-package form, be sure to give a self-evaluating argument.
CLtL1 in-package evaluates its argument, CLtL2 in-package does not.

Bruno