Re: PCL

[Gregor J. Kiczales <gregor@parc.xerox.com>]

   Date: Tue, 3 Jul 90 21:12 +0930
   From: Jenny.Rowland@lv.sait.edu.au

   I have some files relating to PCL - the latest version seems to be
12/7/88.

Actually, the latest version is May of 90.  Following is the standard
information about PCL which may be helpful to you.

Portable CommonLoops (PCL) started out as an implementation of
CommonLoops written entirely in CommonLisp.  It is in the process of
being converted to an implementation of CLOS.  Currently it implements a
only a subset of the CLOS specification.  Unfortunately, there is no
detailed description of the differences between PCL and the CLOS
specification, the source code is often the best documentation.

  Currently, PCL runs in the following implementations of
  Common Lisp:

   EnvOS Medley
   Symbolics (Release 7.2)
   Lucid (3.0)
   ExCL (Franz Allegro 3.0.1)
   KCL (June 3, 1987)
   AKCL (1.86, June 30, 1987)
   Ibuki Common Lisp (01/01, October 15, 1987)
   TI (Release 4.1)
   Coral Common Lisp (Allegro 1.2)
   Golden Common Lisp (3.1)
   CMU
   VAXLisp (2.0)
   HP Common Lisp
   Pyramid Lisp

There are several ways of obtaining a copy of PCL.

*** Arpanet Access to PCL ***

The primary way of getting PCL is by Arpanet FTP.

The files are stored on arisia.xerox.com.  You can copy them using
anonymous FTP (username "anonymous", password "anonymous"). There are
several directories which are of interest:

/pcl

This directory contains the PCL sources as well as some rudimentary
documentation (including this file).  All of these files are combined
into a single Unix TAR file.  The name of this file is "tarfile".

Extract the individual files from this tarfile by saying:

tar -xf tarfile *

where `tarfile' is the name you have given the tarfile in your
directory.  Once you have done this, the following files are of special
interest:

readme.text   READ IT

notes.text    contains notes about the current state of PCL, and some
              instructions for installing PCL at your site.  You should
              read this file whenever you get a new version of PCL.

get-pcl.text  contains the latest draft of this message


/pcl/doc

This directory contains TeX source files for the most recent draft of
the CLOS specification.  There are TeX source files for two documents
called concep.tex and functi.tex.  These correspond to chapter 1 and 2
of the CLOS specification.


/pcl/archive

This directory contains the joint archives of two important mailings
lists:

  CommonLoops@Xerox.com

    is the mailing list for all PCL users.  It carries announcements
    of new releases of PCL, bug reports and fixes, and general advice
    about how to use PCL and CLOS.

  Common-Lisp-Object-System@Sail.Stanford.edu

    is a small mailing list used by the designers of CLOS.

The file cloops.text is always the newest of the archive files.

The file cloops1.text is the oldest of the archive files.  Higher
numbered versions are more recent versions of the files.

*** Getting PCL on Macintosh floppies *** 

PCL is listed in APDAlog.  It is distributed on Macintosh floppies.
This makes it possible for people who don't have FTP access to arisia
(but who do have a Macintosh) to get PCL.

For $40 you receive a version of PCL and a copy of the CLOS spec (X3J13
document number 88-002R).  The APDAlog catalog number is T0259LL/A and
you can order by calling:

  From the U.S.   (800)282-2732
  From Canada     (800)637-0029
  International   (408)562-3910
  FAX             (408)562-3971


NOTE:  Whenever there is a new release of PCL you want, you should
probably wait a couple of months before ordering it from APDAlog.  We
want to let new PCL's stabilize a bit before sending it to them, and it
will take them some time to integrate the new disks into their
distribution.

*** Using the BITFTP server at Princeton ***

For people who can't FTP from Internet (Arpanet) hosts, but who have
mail access to the BITNET, there exists a way to get the PCL files using
the BITFTP service provided by Princeton Univerity.  If you know exactly
where to find the files that interest you, this is quite easy.  In
particular, you have to know:

 * the Internet host name of the host that maintains the files (such
   as `arisia.Xerox.COM')
 * the directory where to find the files, relative to the root of the
   FTP tree (i.E. `pub')
 * whether the files are binary or ASCII text.
 * the names of the files (say `pcl90.tar.Z' and `pcl90.README')

To do this, send a message to BITFTP@PUCC (or BITFTP@PUCC.BITNET if you
aren't on BITNET itself).  The subject line of the message will be
ignored.  The text (body) of the message should be:

        FTP arisia.xerox.com UUENCODE
        CD pcl
        BINARY
        GET tarfile
        QUIT

Then you wait (probably for about a day when you are in Europe) and
eventually you will receive E-Mail messages from BITFTP@PUCC (or
BITFTP2%PUCC...) with subject lines like `uudecoded file tarfile part
13'.  Then you have to carefully concatenate the contents of ALL of
these files in the correct order.

  Note: The following works on our Suns and should work on any
  Berkeley UNIX machine.  If you don't have the `compress' or `zcat'
  program, you can get a free version (with MIT's X Window System
  distribution, for example).

The resulting file can be `uudecode'd like this:

        dagobert% uudecode name-of-the-assembled-file

This will give you a file tarfile.Z (it may actually have a different
name; then you may want to rename it in the first place).  The `.Z' at
the end means that the file you now have is compressed.  You can
uncompress it with `uncompress tarfile.  You can untar the uncompressed
file with `tar -xvf tarfile'.

This will write all files in the tarfile to the current directory.

If you want to know more about the BITFTP service, send a letter to
`BITFTP@PUCC' that contains the single line `HELP'.

*** Xerox Internet Access to PCL ***

Xerox XNS users can get PCL from {NB:PARC:XEROX}<PCL>



Send any comments, bug-reports or suggestions for improvements to:

   CommonLoops.pa@Xerox.com

Send mailing list requests or other administrative stuff to:

  CommonLoops-Request@Xerox.com


Thanks for your interest in PCL.
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