Re: Clisp 96-04-17 for NT, how do you make it work?

[Marcus Daniels <marcus@sysc.pdx.edu>]

>>>>> "HR" == Harold Roussel <roussel@physics.mcgill.ca> writes:

HR> I downloaded the punimax symbolic math system, the clisp version,
HR> just to give it a try.  The compile was mostly fine, except for a
HR> few warnings, but when I tried to run it, with "lisp.run -M
HR> punimax.mem", it loaded the file for a few seconds and then went
HR> back to the command prompt without any error messages.  

I tried this and see the same problem.  It looks like it is
overflowing the C stack, but it isn't clear why.  

HR> Is there
HR> any way to get some kind of debug information from clisp?  And has
HR> anybody successfully compiled punimax on the latest version of
HR> clisp?

I don't happen to have a version of CLISP compiled for NT with
debugging info.  As of 1996-04-17 and cygwin b14, it should now be
easy to build one yourself.  CLISP using the cygwin toolchain more-or-less
configures like Unix GNU stuff now.  The two main hassles are 1) you
need to be careful about symlinks -- executables and directories won't
follow, so you need to build in src (the default), and 2) be careful
to setup your editor to stick to Unix-like no-CR newline conventions.

Also, if you try again to build it, It would probably be wise to push
`UNIX' on the *features* list and redump your lispinit.mem, so as to
reduce doubt about punimax portability problems.

To be perfectly frank, if it seems like I'm not enthusiastic about
tracking down bugs in the NT version of CLISP, it is mainly because I
don't have good access to an NT machine and (less so) because the
cygwin DLL continues to be in such rapid flux that I just end up
learning the hard way about known bugs.

My observation is that the cygwin toolkit is steadily improving with each
snapshot of cygwin, so I expect that CLISP on NT/win95 will too.

If you are looking for a stable platform to run punimax on, I'd 
suggest Linux (I just tested punimax on a Debian system).

Sorry I can't do more right now. 

BTW, there is a set of ifdefs in the CLISP code for a non-unixy
non-cygwin-DLL configuration.  Dedicated NT users would probably
prefer to use this configuration.