From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Kevin Rodgers Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: elisp's cl package. Don't understand the notice about eval-when-compile Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:53:28 -0600 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1238036084 2507 80.91.229.12 (26 Mar 2009 02:54:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:54:44 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Mar 26 03:56:02 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1LmflB-0005dD-Ah for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:56:01 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:36910 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Lmfjn-000744-TY for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:54:36 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Lmfia-0006iC-G6 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:53:20 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LmfiW-0006ch-QT for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:53:20 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=43697 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LmfiW-0006cO-LX for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:53:16 -0400 Original-Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2]:37951 helo=ciao.gmane.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LmfiW-0008TF-9M for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:53:16 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1LmfiU-0006MU-PE for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:53:14 +0000 Original-Received: from c-67-190-36-32.hsd1.co.comcast.net ([67.190.36.32]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:53:14 +0000 Original-Received: from kevin.d.rodgers by c-67-190-36-32.hsd1.co.comcast.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:53:14 +0000 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 38 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: c-67-190-36-32.hsd1.co.comcast.net User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (Macintosh/20090302) In-Reply-To: X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:63275 Archived-At: Xah Lee wrote: > in emacs lisp's CL package documentation “(info "(cl)Overview")”, it > has this passage: > > *Please note:* the "CL" functions are not standard parts of the > Emacs Lisp name space, so it is legitimate for users to define them > with other, conflicting meanings. To avoid conflicting with those > user > activities, we have a policy that packages installed in Emacs must not > load "CL" at run time. (It is ok for them to load "CL" at compile > time > only, with `eval-when-compile', and use the macros it provides.) If > you are writing packages that you plan to distribute and invite > widespread use for, you might want to observe the same rule. > > I don't quite understand it. > > If i distribute a package xyz.el, which calls > > (eval-when-compile (require 'cl)) > > And, this package does not require users to byte-compile it. Then, > how's the eval-when-compile solve the name conflict problem? > > does it imply that if you distribute a package using cl, it must be > byte compiled eventually? Of course, no library _must_ be compiled. But the unstated assumption is that every library is byte-compiled because of the performance benefits (during loading _and_ execution). And if you load and execute a compiled library that uses CL macros (but not CL functions) via eval-when-compile, then the obarray remains pure. :-) -- Kevin Rodgers Denver, Colorado, USA