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Commit 81452d5d authored by Robert Goldman's avatar Robert Goldman
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Cut the Markdown file to simply point to common-lisp.net project page.

With apologies, I do not have time to maintain two different front pages
for this project.

Since my efforts have so far gone to the HTML page, I am making that the
official portal and removing the content here.

See ASDF-devel email for discussion of this decision.
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ASDF: Another System Definition Facility ASDF: Another System Definition Facility
======================================== ========================================
What is ASDF? See the ASDF web page for details: <https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/>
-------------
ASDF is the de facto standard build facility for Common Lisp.
Your Lisp implementation probably contains a copy of ASDF,
which you can load using `(require "asdf")`.
If you come from the C/C++ world, ASDF covers a bit of what each of
`make`, `autoconf`, `dlopen` and `libc` do for C programs:
it orchestrates the compilation and dependency management,
handles some of the portability issues, dynamically finds and loads code,
and offers some portable system access library.
Except everything is different in Common Lisp, and ultimately much simpler overall,
though it does require acquiring some basic concepts
that do not exactly match those of the C and Unix world.
Importantly, ASDF builds all software in the current Lisp image,
as opposed to building software into separate processes.
Where to find ASDF?
-------------------
ASDF's home page contains more information and additional links, and can be found at:
<https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/>
The one and only official source control repository is at:
<https://gitlab.common-lisp.net/asdf/asdf>
The one and only official bug tracker is at:
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/asdf>
How to use ASDF?
----------------
To use ASDF, read our manual:
<http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf.html>
The first few sections,
[Loading ASDF](https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf/Loading-ASDF.html),
[Configuring ASDF](https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf/Configuring-ASDF.html) and
[Using ASDF](https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf/Using-ASDF.html)
will get you started as a simple user.
If you want to define your own systems, further read the section
[Defining systems with defsystem](https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf/Defining-systems-with-defsystem.html)
The manual is also in the [doc/](doc/) subdirectory, and can be prepared with:
make doc
ASDF 3 now includes an extensive runtime support library:
[UIOP, the Utilities for Implementation- and OS- Portability](uiop/).
Its documentation unhappily lies mainly in the source code and its docstrings.
See [uiop/README.md](uiop/README.md) for an introduction.
Quick Start
-----------
Just use `(require "asdf")` to load your implementation-provided ASDF.
If it is recent enough (3.0 or later, check its `(asdf:asdf-version)`),
then it will automatically upgrade to the ASDF provided as source code,
assuming the source code in under a path registered by the source-registry.
If it isn't present or isn't recent enough, we recommend you install a recent
ASDF release into your implementation using [tools/install-asdf.lisp](tools/install-asdf.lisp)
Building it
-----------
First, make sure ASDF is checked out under a path registered by the source-registry,
if that isn't the case yet (see the [manual](http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf.html)).
One place would be:
~/.local/share/common-lisp/source/asdf/
or, assuming your implementation provides ASDF 3.1 or later:
~/common-lisp/asdf/
If you cloned our git repository, rather than extracted a tarball,
bootstrap a copy of `build/asdf.lisp` with:
make
Testing it
----------
Before you may run tests, you need a few CL libraries.
The simplest way to get them is as follows, but read below:
make ext
_NOTA BENE_: You may also need to run `make ext` again
after you `git pull` or switch branch, to update the `ext/` directory.
This is unhappily not automatic.
If for some reason tests fail, particularly due to an error
compiling, loading or running a library, then run `make ext` and try again.
The above `make` target uses `git submodule update --init` to download
all these libraries using git. If you don't otherwise maintain your
own set of carefully controlled CL libraries, that's what you want to use.
However, it is only available if you have a git checkout of ASDF;
not if you used a tarball.
If you use a tarball or otherwise do maintain your own set
of carefully controlled CL libraries then you will want to use whichever tools
you use (e.g. `quicklisp`, `clbuild`, or your own scripts around `git`)
to download these libraries:
`alexandria`, `asdf-encodings`, `cl-launch`, `closer-mop`, `cl-ppcre`,
`cl-scripting`, `fare-mop`, `fare-quasiquote`, `fare-utils`, `inferior-shell`,
`lisp-invocation`, `named-readtables`, `optima`.
If you are a CL developer, you may already have them, or may want
to use your own tools to download a version of them you control.
If you use [Quicklisp](https://www.quicklisp.org/), you may let
Quicklisp download those you don't have.
In these cases, you may NOT want to use the git submodules from `make ext`.
Otherwise, if you want to let ASDF download known-working versions
of its dependencies, you can do it with:
make ext
ASDF by default uses Clozure Common Lisp (CCL) to run the scripts that orchestrate its tests.
By defining and exporting the variable `LISP` to be one of `ccl`, `sbcl` or `allegro`, you
can have it use an alternate Common Lisp implementation instead.
Install CCL (respectively SBCL or Allegro) and make sure an executable called
`ccl` (respectively `sbcl` or `alisp`) is in your `PATH`,
or that you export a variable `CCL` (respectively `SBCL` or `ALLEGRO`)
that points to the executable.
To use a further Common Lisp implementation, suitably edit the script
[`tools/asdf-tools`](tools/asdf-tools),
or, on Windows, the batch file [`tools/asdf-tools.bat`](tools/asdf-tools.bat).
(Note that as of SBCL 1.2.13, we recommend against using SBCL on Windows.)
Once you have all the required libraries and the asdf-tools script can find
a suitable Common Lisp implementation, you may run all the tests
on a given Common Lisp implementation `$L`, with your favorite installed system `$S`, using:
make t u l=$L s=$S
To run only the regression test scripts, try simply:
make l=$L test-scripts
Note that an executable `build/asdf-tools` is being built the first time you test ASDF.
When you update ASDF, via e.g. `git pull` or a branch switch, you may have to update it, with:
make build-asdf-tools
The reason this is not done automatically every time is because
building it depends on a working ASDF;
but when you're modifying ASDF and testing it, you cannot rely on a working ASDF:
indeed, a developer may not only make mistakes, but may deliberately
introduce or re-introduce bugs at some place to test code in another place.
Debugging it
------------
To interactively debug ASDF, you may load it in such a way that `M-.` will work,
by installing the source code, and running:
(asdf:load-system :uiop) ;; loading uiop is simple
(map () 'load ;; loading asdf/defsystem is tricky
(mapcar 'asdf:component-pathname
(asdf::required-components :asdf/defsystem :keep-component 'asdf:cl-source-file)))
Note that the above can be adapted in a general recipe to get all the files in a system, in order.
To also have the files in systems it transitively depends on, add the `:other-systems t` keyword
argument to the call to `asdf::required-components`.
To interactively use the `asdf-tools`, you need to either have
all its dependencies installed and configured.
If you're using them through the `ext/` directory and `make ext`,
then you may need to emulate what the script in [tools/asdf-tools](tools/asdf-tools) does
with respect to initializing the source-registry.
Note that it also declares a system for `cl-launch/dispatch`;
you can either do something similar, or expand the source for `cl-launch` with
`make -C ext/cl-launch source` so `cl-launch.asd` will be created.
What has changed?
-----------------
You can consult the [doc/Changelog](doc/Changelog) for an overview of the
significant changes in each release, and
the `git log` for a detailed description of each commit.
How do I navigate this source tree?
-----------------------------------
* [asdf.asd](asdf.asd)
* The system definition for building ASDF with ASDF.
* `*.lisp`
* The source code files for `asdf/defsystem`.
See [asdf.asd](asdf.asd) for the order in which they are loaded.
* [uiop/](uiop/)
* Utilities of Implementation- and OS- Portability,
the portability layer of ASDF. It has its own [README](uiop/README.md),
and functions all have docstrings.
* [Makefile](Makefile)
* a minimal `Makefile` for bootstrap and development purposes.
Most of the logic is in the [asdf-tools](tools/asdf-tools.asd) system below.
* [tools/](tools/)
* `asdf-tools`, a system to build, test and release ASDF. It includes:
* [asdf-tools](tools/asdf-tools) -- a shell script to run it as a shell command.
* [asdf-tools.bat](tools/asdf-tools.bat) -- a Windows batch file to run the above.
* [asdf-tools.asd](tools/asdf-tools.asd) -- system definition for asdf-tools
* `*.lisp` -- the source code for the `asdf-tools` system, except for the few files below.
* also a couple scripts to help ASDF users:
* [load-asdf.lisp](tools/load-asdf.lisp) -- a working example script to load, configure and use ASDF in a self-contained project
* [install-asdf.lisp](install-asdf.lisp) -- replace and update an implementation's ASDF
* [cl-source-registry-cache.lisp](cl-source-registry-cache.lisp) -- update a cache for the source-registry as a standalone script.
* [build.xcvb](build.xcvb)
* The system definition for building ASDF with XCVB.
It hasn't been tested or maintained for years and has bitrotten.
* [version.lisp-expr](version.lisp-expr)
* The current version. Bumped up every time the code changes, using:
make bump
* [doc/](doc/)
* documentation for ASDF, including:
* [index.html](doc/index.html) -- the web page for <http://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/>
* [asdf.texinfo](doc/asdf.texinfo) -- our manual
* [Makefile](doc/Makefile) -- how to build the manual
* [cclan.png](doc/cclan.png) [lisp-logo120x80.png](doc/lisp-logo120x80.png)
[style.css](doc/style.css) [favicon.ico](doc/favicon.ico)
-- auxiliaries of [index.html](doc/index.html)
* [test/](test/)
* regression test scripts (and ancillary files) for developers to check
that they don't unintentionally break any of the functionality of ASDF.
Far from covering all of ASDF, but a good start.
* [contrib/](contrib/)
* a few contributed files that show case how to use ASDF
or help with debugging it or debugging programs that use it.
* [debian/](debian/)
* files for packaging on Debian, Ubuntu, etc.
(now only present in the debian branch).
* [build/](build/)
* where the `Makefile` and `asdf-tools` store their output files, including
* `asdf.lisp` -- the current one-file deliverable of ASDF
* `asdf-XXX.lisp` -- for upgrade test purposes, old versions
* `results/` -- logs of tests that have been run
* `fasls/` -- output files while running tests.
* [ext/](ext/)
* external dependencies, that can be populated with `make ext`
or equivalently with `git submodule update --init`.
Depopulate it with `make noext`.
* [README.md](README.md)
* this file
* [TODO](TODO)
* plenty of ideas for how to further improve ASDF.
Last updated Tuesday, January 12th, 2016.
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