Re: Stumpwm & using Lisp in guix - particularly quicklisp

[Trev <trev@trevdev.ca>]

Paul Jewell <paul@teulu.org> writes:

> Hi Trev,
>
> Thanks for the reply!
>
> On 25/12/2022 07:41, Trev wrote:
>> Paul Jewell via <help-guix@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>>> Good morning Guix,
>>>
>>> I have a working stumpwm config which I use on my desktop gentoo
>>> installation, and I want to use the same configuration file under guix.
>>> Unfortunately I run into a problem as when stumpwm starts, it complains
>>> it can't find package "ql". Quicklisp is installed in my user home
>>> directory, but this is clearly not being seen by stumpwm. I also note
>>> that packages I can install through quicklisp are also packaged in guix
>>> (e.g. alexandria). When I start sbcl in a terminal, everything works as
>>> expected, and quicklisp is seen.
>>>
>>> This leads me to some questions:
>>>
>>>    * How do I configure stumpwm on my system so it looks in my home
>>>      directory, and observes my .sbclrc file when starting?
>>>    * What is the guix recommended way for working with lisp packages?
>>>      Should I avoid using quicklisp, and instead use the provided
>>>      packages in guix? I am unable to find any documentation (either
>>>      official or blog posts etc) explaining this.
>>>
>>> Many thanks!
>> I have no experience with quicklisp and am new to Common Lisp in
>> general, but I do use guix and am getting happier with every hack I make
>> on stumpwm and I can tell you what has worked for me:
>>
>> 1. Use the supported asdf system that Guix uses to package lisp programs
>> and extensions.
>>
>> 2. Install your stumpwm, repl & extensions in the same profile, be that
>> profile your system or your home/user space.  This helps a sbcl find
>
>
> I have now gone down this path, and nearly everything is working as 
> expected. The only problem I am tripping up with is sbcl-slime-swank is 
> trying to (require 'sb-cltl2) and failing, even though I have added 
> sbcl-trivial-cltl2 to my system configuration. It seems I am not the 
> only person who has tripped over this issue, although the previous 
> message thread [1] didn't link the problem to sbcl-slime-swank. When I 
> comment out the code in my configuration which adds swank, I am up and 
> running.
>
> This is what I have included in my system configuration:
>
> "stumpwm"
> "sbcl-cl-ppcre"
> "sbcl-trivial-cltl2"
> "sbcl-alexandria"
> "sbcl-clx-xembed"
> "sbcl-clx-truetype"
> "sbcl-stumpwm-ttf-fonts"
> "sbcl-stumpwm-swm-gaps"
> "sbcl-stumpwm-stumptray"
> "sbcl-slime-swank"
>
> although having looked in the source for the package definition for 
> stumpwm, some of these are superfluous.
>
> Do you use sbcl-slime-swank in your configuration, and if so, did you 
> come across this problem with cltl2?

At the time of my trying swank I ran into some problem that I now cannot
recall.  It was probably related to this.  I got about 5 minutes in and
tried stumpwm+slynk and emacs-sly instead.  That worked out of the box
for me and I have not looked back.

A shame since swank/slime seems like the "it thing" when it comes to CL
REPLs.  I had already spent so much time troubleshooting/debugging other
things that evening that I had no patience left for swank left.

FYI Sly has cat ascii art in the REPL.  This amuses me as it feels like
a whimiscal piece of João Távora that you otherwise do not see much of.

>
>
> [1] https://www.mail-archive.com/help-guix@gnu.org/msg13498.html
>

-- 

Trev : 0FB7 D06B 4A2A F07E AD5B  1169 183B 6306 8AA1 D206