[Maxima-bugs] [maxima:bugs] #4565 Compilation on Windows using ECL

[Robert D. <rob...@us...>]

Hmm, I'm sorry to hear defsystem isn't working for ECL + Windows. Defsystem is an older system for building Lisp programs and indeed it hasn't been updated in decades to the best of my knowledge. I guess my advice is to try to solve the problems in ASDF, although I know that's easier said than done. 

I have a Windows system I can try it on, I will try to remember to try building with ECL in the near future.


---

**[bugs:#4565] Compilation on Windows using ECL**

**Status:** open
**Group:** None
**Labels:** build windows ecl 
**Created:** Tue Jun 03, 2025 01:59 PM UTC by Tobias
**Last Updated:** Fri Aug 29, 2025 07:48 AM UTC
**Owner:** nobody


I'm trying to compile Maxima on Windows to get it in conda. Current progress can be seen at:

Following the instructions in `install.lisp` using ecl and msvc compilers, I've encountered various issues and I would like to ask for help in overcoming them:
```
> ecl --load maxima-build.lisp --eval "(maxima-compile)" -eval "(quit)"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748855421706/work/src/maxima-build.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748855421706/work/src/../lisp-utils/defsystem.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748855421706/work/src/maxima-package.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748855421706/work/src/maxima.system"
An error occurred during initialization:
Reader error in file #<input stream #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748855421706/work/src/maxima.system" 0x2312b90ff00>, position 2024:
Cannot find the external symbol BUILD-FASL in #<"C" package>
```
Fixed by loading cmp before: (require 'cmp)
```
> ecl --load maxima-build.lisp -eval "(require 'cmp)" -eval "(maxima-compile)" -eval "(quit)" 
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/maxima-build.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/../lisp-utils/defsystem.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/maxima-package.lisp"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/_build_env/cmp.fas"
;;; Loading #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/maxima.system"
;;;
;;; Compiling C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/maxima-package.lisp.
;;; OPTIMIZE levels: Safety=2, Space=0, Speed=3, Debug=2
;;;
;;; Finished compiling C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/maxima-package.lisp.
;;;
An error occurred during initialization: decoding error on stream
<input stream #P"C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748857057656/work/src/binary-ecl/maxima-package.obj" 0x1a21b80ac80>
(:EXTERNAL-FORMAT (:UTF-8 :LF)):
  the octet sequence (134) cannot be decoded..
```
For some reason, it is trying to `load` the `obj` file, which fails (I can reproduce this error independently by invoking `load("<...>/maxima-package.obj")`). Loading the corresponding `fas` file works without error. 

Workaround:
```
   (require 'asdf)
   (push "./" asdf:*central-registry*)
   (asdf:make-build :maxima :type :fasl)
```
instead of `(maxima-compile)`

This seems to work a bit better but leads to
```
> COMPILE-FILE-ERROR while compiling #<cl-source-file "maxima" "server" "server">.
;;; Cannot find the external symbol +SIGPIPE+ in #<"EXT" package>.
```
Workaround or fix is to change the offending line to: 
```
> #+(and ecl (not win32)) (ext:set-signal-handler EXT:+SIGPIPE+ 'ext:quit)
```
This then brings up the next error:
```
> ;;; Compiling C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748925012035/work/src/factor.lisp.
An e;;; Compiling #<input stream C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748925012035/w.
rror occurred during initialization:
The special form c-inline cannot be used in the interpreter: ((P) (:OBJECT)
                                                              :OBJECT
                                                              "(#0)->symbol.stype &= ~stp_s"
                                                              :SIDE-EFFECTS T
                                                              :ONE-LINER NIL).
;;; Declaring P as NOT SPECIAL
```
My current workaround is to change `maxima::make-unspecial`  in `ecl-port.lisp`  to do nothing. Then at least the compilation seems to work fine for these files.

Which then yields the following error:
```
>;;; Finished compiling C:/ProgramData/miniforge3/conda-bld/maxima_1748880187432/work/src/init-cl.lisp.
;;;
Condition of type: SIMPLE-ERROR
Could not spawn subprocess to run "cl".
Windows library explanation: The parameter is incorrect.
Available restarts:
1. (RETRY) Retry COMPILE-BUNDLE-OP on #<system "maxima">.
2. (ACCEPT) Continue, treating COMPILE-BUNDLE-OP on #<system "maxima"> as having been successful.
3. (RETRY) Retry ASDF operation.
4. (CLEAR-CONFIGURATION-AND-RETRY) Retry ASDF operation after resetting the configuration.
5. (CONTINUE) Ignore initialization errors and continue.
6. (ABORT) Quit ECL unsafely, ignoring all existing threads.
```
No idea what's going wrong here/how to debug/where the error is.



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