[slime-devel] Re: make swank safe if loaded into an image with an older version of swank in the image

[Madhu]

* Marco Baringer <87bq6waeto.fsf at arsenic.bese.it> :
Wrote on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:04:03 +0100:

| Madhu <enometh at meer.net> writes:
|
|> * Marco Baringer <87r6ftszlo.fsf at arsenic.bese.it> :
|> | ok, since we even suggest doing this is the documentation i will stop
|> | deleting the swank-loader package (but i'll keep deleting the other
|> | packages unless you can convince me otherwise).
|>
|> It is still a bad idea for the same reason.  Variables set earlier in
|> the session in the other packages will be wiped out of you delete the
|> package.  Definitely not what I want when I want DEFVAR to behave as
|> specified on reloading.
|
| well, the entire point of the patch is remove defvars from the swank
| package. if you have an older slime in an image and attempt to load a
| newer slime and the defvars don't get reset you'll a totally broken
| slime and very confusing error messages.

Which defvars are give you a problem when reloading?

I find this sledgehammer solution of deleting packages both bad design
taste and bad lisp coding style.

The cost to getting back the old behaviour is now forking off a
my-swank-loader.lisp without the 3 lines which delete the packages at
the beginning, and using that instead.  The benefits (to me and others
who do not dump swank in images) is nil.

Maybe someone should commit Sam's patch of splitting up swank-loader
into three files so asdf can use it, and other people with other loading
requirements can also use parts of it easily?

--
Madhu