New Common Lisp based repositories

I've expanded my repositories on people.debian.org. Add to /etc/apt/sources.list:

• for sarge (aka stable):

  deb http://people.debian.org/~pvaneynd/cl-sarge-packages ./

• for unstable (for packages still in the NEW queue and pre-release stuff):

  deb http://people.debian.org/~pvaneynd/cl-packages ./

• and finally (upon great request) for ubuntu/hoary:

  deb http://people.debian.org/~pvaneynd/cl-hoary-packages ./

I also subscribed the cl-debian mailing list to most Common Lisp packages in debian, so members will see traffic when people upload new versions etc. Feel free to suggest new packages by subscribing them to the pts@qa.

I'm also planning to upload an experimental lazy allocating sbcl to those repositories, but will not upload it into debian proper unless there is popular demand for it.

19b-pre1 as debian package

in the p.d.o/~pvaneynd repository and directly here.

created a MOTU Common Lisp team for ubuntu

I created a Common Lisp MOTU team for ubuntu. As the entry requirements for membership are quite a bit lower for ubuntu then for debian I hope that more people will want to co-maintain packages.
To this end I should investigate version control systems that can handle 'upstream' in CVS or darcs. Maybe the debian directory in darcs and then use dpatch to patch the original source.
In related news I got the lazy allocation patch for sbcl. In the end it gets pretty nice I only need to use the sigsegv handler for static, read-only and linkage-table space. For the dynamic space the lisp uses the C alloc function to allocate memory, and using this function you can mmap memory on the fly. This patch opens the way for having a bigger on-demand dynamic space or a dynamic space with holes. But reception to the patch has been rather cold. I'll try to create a sbcl-lazy package for debian anyway, but only on the p.d.o repository, not in unstable unless people demand it.

ubuntu too?

A user asked if the p.d.o repository would work with ubuntu. A quick check showed that it would not work (libc version conflict), but I guess this is just a false dependency and a quick rebuild should solve it. But I would rather not keep up with 2 build systems and 2 bts. So googling for 'debian developers faq to ubuntu' got me nothing.
I fear I will have to start listening to Queen and talk to the MOTU :-).

Repository for cl packages

To keep the momentum in the cl packages during the freeze I created a apt-getables repository. Add

deb http://people.debian.org/~pvaneynd/cl-packages ./

to /etc/apt/sources.list to get updates Common Lisp packages.

To slime or not to slime

I have mutilated the slime package of Sean Champ with the current CVS HEAD of slime, changed the version number to something without epoch and I'm actually pretty happy with it.

The moral problem now is to upload it, or not. There is a dire need for slime in debian and the package seems to work correctly. The problem is that the packager seems unresponsive to email already for quite a while and I don't want to hijack his package. Should I just bite the bullet and upload or wait a little more... Sigh.

European Common Lisp Meeting

Yesterday I went to the ECLM, which has out-grown Arthurs living room by a very wide margin indeed: 92 participants!
The talks were interesting and diverse. PrimeTrader looked like a real killer-app, but I must admit that I was confused when people starting laughing at the "simplified architecture" because I agree with the 'simple' part. My day-job must do more damage to my judgment then I feared.
The Slime and sbcl presentations both gave me a strong urge to package up some stuff, while the Linj (a non-DFSG free Lisp to Java and back converter) was impressive. Next time I'm forced to write Java I know what to do. For climacs I see a strong future not (only) as a general editor, but as a framework on which people can build LL editors. When the problem becomes too complex for a gui you need a LL, and if you need a LL, why not use an editor that 'knows' you LL and can make editing code a breeze?
The weak-references talk was good because it gave people clear instructions on how to solve most weak references related traps, while the presentation of the two CL vendors was impressively optimistic from the both of them. I've seen other feelings being transmitted.
Last and most importantly: I won a raffle and I could buy a signed copy of Practical Common Lisp and I must say the quote by Xach is correct: the book feels and reads really nice. Impressively nice in fact. I think it will convert people to CL just by the quality of the work itself! Oh, and it is also a nice CL book :-).
Several people insisted to buy me a drink for my debian work. I'm stunned...
My only regret is that we had to leave before I could chat with more people. The way back was a lot longer and slower then how we came, but still I managed to get home before 23:00.