[Ecls-list] xcvb support for ecl

[Faré]

I've reactivated XCVB thanks to Peter Keller, and decided that the
biggest barrier to adoption was the ability to support as many
platforms as ASDF does. The trickiest platform out there is certainly
ECL, with its link model. Could Juanjo or another hacker work with me
and/or Peter over skype and/or IRC to get the damn thing working?

If I understand correctly,
* I want to compile everything I will later link into a .o with
(compile-file lsp-file :system-p t :output o-file)
* If I want to load, I first have to convert to a fasl with
(c::build-fasl fas-file :lisp-files (list o-file))
* If I want to link files together, I call (c::builder ...) and there
I'm not sure exactly what to do or not to do

Things I don't understand:
* When to or not to produce and/or use a static or dynamic library, in
the context of an overall Lisp application [IIUC, make systems into a
.a for easier linking, otherwise load individual files as .so]
* How to make sure the initialization functions of objects and
libraries are called [IIUC, nothing required]
* What to put or not to put in the prologue and epilogue. [IIUC, only
prologue required, when building a .exe, and that can be standardized
into setting a few variables and jumping to a main lisp function]
* If using .a libraries, do I coalesce previous libraries in a bigger
one, or get a chain of libraries that require each other? [IIUC, a
chain]
* Same question when using .so files. [IIUC, it depends and it's complicated]
* In a chain of .so libraries that require each other, what is the
proper way to load them, and how do I control the load path?

The asdf-ecl sources are a great help, but not enough to my inexperienced eyes.

Also, if I want fuller support for ECL, I'll need to better understand
how to fork with it, use run-program, etc.

[ François-René ÐVB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ]
An anarchist is a man who is careful to always use pedestrian crossings,
because he utterly detests talking with policemen. — Georges Brassens