[Ecls-list] building open axiom with ECL on Mac OS X

[Gabriel Dos Reis]

Nick Walters <nickwalters99 at gmail.com> writes:

| Hello,
| 
| I am trying to get a working build of Open Axiom on Mac OS X. My requirements
| are such this must be built with ECL as opposed to one of the other Lisp
| compilers. I am building Open Axiom 1.4.1 with the latest ECL (11.1.1). I am
| able to build but when I try to run the open-axiom command, everything but the
| simplest functions are broken:

Hi Nick,

Thanks for doing this.
I am currently on travel attending CICM 2011 so I do not have direct
access to a mac. 

There were some issues with the released ECL-11.1.1 that were
resolved only in the cvs version (which regrettably also identifies
itself as ECL-11.1.1).  I do not know whether this is one of them.

>From your tests and the messages

[...]

| (2) -> integrate(x^2, x)
| 
| *  
|    >> System error:
|    * is not a valid type specifier.
| 
| (2) -> x^2
| 
| *  
|    >> System error:
|    * is not a valid type specifier.

it sounds as if ECL is having some difficulties with type specifiers
(OpenAxiom uses function type proclaimations to aid ECL's compiler with
better code generation.)

My experience with ECL is that it tends to lead to frustrating debugging
sessions.  Could you report the backtrace when this error occurs?  Here
is how you would do it: 

  1. start OpenAxiom
  2. Instruct OpenAxiom to BREAK into the ECL debugger by issueing

       )set break break

  3. try to evaluate any of the expressions that are causing troubles
     That should drop you into the ECL debugger in case an error occurs.

  4. enter

       :backtrace

  5.  send the stack trace.


| Has anyone successfully built and run Open Axiom with ECL on the Mac? I am
| using Mac OS X 10.6.8 with the latest Xcode tools. Any help is greatly
| appreciated. Thanks!

Last time I tried was on 04/11/2011 and I did not have any problem.

Thanks,

-- Gaby