[Ecls-list] build-program documentation problems

[Juan Jose Garcia-Ripoll]

Jeff Bowden wrote:
> 
> Oops.  I forgot to end with a question.  So, is this something you would
> like help with and if so, do you have any ideas about how it actually
> should work?

Definitively yes. What is implemented works for me, but it is probably
the worst among many possibilities. Regarding how that cookbook example
works, it is taking one compiled file ("hello.o") and liking it with the
basic libraries to produce the executable "myecl".

I think there should be at least one not too low-level interface to the
building process, so that an arbitrary user can easily build executables
up from
	- lisp compiled files (this is supported on all platforms)
	- C/C++ object files and libraries
	- customized initialization routines
The current interface does this using the :lisp-files and :ld-flags
arguments. The first one gets a list with lisp object files and lisp
libraries. The second one gets flags for the linker that may include
C/C++ object files and other things. There are two more keyword
arguments, :prologue-code and :epilogue-code, which capture the user
defined initialization process in the form of strings with C code.

I must admit that this is a bit obscure, and maybe we can produce a
better looking interface which is easier to use. For instance, there
could be a sort of minimal defsystem with which all these things could
be expressed. ECL indeed uses one during the build process --
src/util/system.lsp -- but it is not very convenient for common use as
it does not provide the possibility of nesting systems or building
programs.

Suggestions are wellcome.

Juanjo