[Ecls-list] Re: EVAL-WHEN gets out of control

[Marco Antoniotti]

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> Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 15:27:31 +0200
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> [This message is being forwarded to the ecls list, since it may be of interest
> for other people]
> 
> > Unfortunately it seems that I can't build ECLS anymore.  I can't
> > say for sure whether these latest changes did it since my previous
> > version was from time before the documentation string/help file
> > generation and Symbolics LOOP changes.  I'm doing default
> > "./configure && make" build.  Anyway, what happens is that I get
> > ecls_min built but then:
> > [...]
> > /home/azure/projects/software/3rdparty/ecls-compiled/src/lsp/defmacro.lsp
> > make[1]: *** [ecls] Error 139
> 
> I have solved the problem, which was due to a missing source file 
> (helpfile.lsp). Nevertheless, since anybody playing with the ECLS source may 
> find a similar type of errors let me explain what happened.
> 
> The build of ECLS consists on two steps. The first step builds the 
> interpreter and the core library, with the minimal functions to support a 
> lisp environment.
> 
> The second step is what I call the bootstrap process and consists on 
> compiling the lisp source files using this minimal environment. In order to 
> do so, all lisp files are loaded into the interpreter and then the compiler 
> is used to build the final "ecls" executable.
> 
> When ECLS stops during the boot process, without error messages, it means 
> that there is some error in the lisp source files. Since "conditions.lsp" can 
> only be loaded at the end, ECLS does not know what to do with the error 
> message and enters an endless loop which in some platforms leads to memory 
> exhaustion. This can only happen during boot process.
> 
> A way to detect the precise error is to enter GDB with 'gdb ecls_min' and do 
> a 'source .gdbinit'. These two steps set up a minimal set of breakpoints to 
> debug the interpreter. Next run the program as usual and type '(load 
> "compile.lsp")' when the lisp propmt appears. Typically, "ecls_min" will 
> begin to load the source files and at some point it will stop in the 
> FEerror() or error() functions, from which you can inspect the error 
> messages.

Speaking of which... I remember hacking a bit of the old EcoLisp in
order to get FError and friends to accept conditions (which at the
time I stealed from CMUCL implementation).

What is the status of the condition system in ECLS?

Cheers

-- 
Marco Antoniotti ========================================================
NYU Courant Bioinformatics Group        tel. +1 - 212 - 998 3488
719 Broadway 12th Floor                 fax  +1 - 212 - 995 4122
New York, NY 10003, USA                 http://bioinformatics.cat.nyu.edu
                    "Hello New York! We'll do what we can!"
                           Bill Murray in `Ghostbusters'.