INSTALL.lisp

   1 Maxima can be built using a purely Lisp-based procedure.
   2 This procedure is not yet as polished as the GNU Autotools system
   3 described in the file INSTALL.
   4 However, it may be more convenient on a system (e.g., Windows)
   5 which does not have the GNU Autotools installed.
   6
   7 User feedback on this procedure would be greatly appreciated.
   8
   9 Note: xmaxima cannot be built using this procedure.
  10
  11 Note (2): Plotting on Windows does not (yet) work using this procedure.
  12
  13
  14 To build Maxima:
  15
  16 (0) cd to the top-level Maxima directory (i.e., the directory
  17     which contains src/, tests/, share/, and other directories).
  18
  19 (1) Launch your Lisp implementation.
  20
  21 (2) Load the file configure.lisp:
  22
  23     (load "configure.lisp")
  24
  25 (3) Generate configuration files:
  26
  27     (configure)
  28
  29     You will be prompted for several inputs.
  30     Press carriage return to accept the default values.
  31
  32     The configure process can be automated through the use
  33     of keyword arguments to configure.  For example,
  34
  35       (configure :interactive nil)
  36
  37     will use the default values for all options and will not
  38     prompt for any input.
  39     See the file configure.lisp for more details.
  40
  41 (4) Quit Lisp,
  42
  43     (quit)
  44
  45     and cd to the directory src/.
  46
  47 (4.1) GCL only: Create these directories if they do not already exist:
  48
  49     binary-gcl
  50     binary-gcl/numerical
  51     binary-gcl/numerical/slatec
  52
  53 (4.2) GCL only: Create an empty sys-proclaim.lisp file, restart Lisp and do:
  54
  55     (load "generate-sys-proclaim.lisp")
  56
  57     Delete the directory binary-gcl and repeat step (4.1) before continuing to
  58     step (5).
  59
  60 Maxima builds with defsystem. The file maxima-build.lisp is provided
  61 for rudimentary guidance in using defsystem. Experts should feel free
  62 to substitute their knowledge of defsystem for the following steps.
  63
  64 (5) Restart Lisp, and load maxima-build.lisp:
  65
  66     (load "maxima-build.lisp")
  67
  68 (6) Compile the Lisp source code:
  69
  70     (maxima-compile)
  71
  72 (7) Quit Lisp, and restart Lisp.
  73
  74 (8) Load the compiled Lisp files:
  75
  76     (load "maxima-build.lisp")
  77     (maxima-load)
  78
  79 (9a) Run Maxima from the loaded image.
  80
  81     (cl-user::run)
  82
  83     That should bring up the Maxima input prompt.
  84
  85 (9b) As an alternative to executing maxima immediately, most Lisps support
  86     dumping the compiled application as an image that can later be loaded in
  87     one piece. Often Lisp implementations additionally allow to specify a
  88     start-up function that runs the application contained in the image on
  89     loading it. In the case of maxima the start-up function that does this
  90     is CL-USER::RUN.
  91
  92     There is a function MAXIMA-DUMP in src/maxima-build.lisp to dump an image.
  93     At present it works for Clisp, SBCL, GCL, CMUCL, Scieneer, Allegro and CCL.
  94     Reinhard Oldenburg writes, in reference to Lispworks:
  95     "(maxima-dump) works when threading is disabled."
  96     Some Lisp implementations (SBCL, GCL, CMUCL, Scieneer, maybe others)
  97     terminate after saving the image.
  98
  99     In order to save an image, enter the following at the Lisp input prompt:
 100
 101     (maxima-dump)
 102
 103 (10) Execute the saved image.
 104
 105     Each Lisp implementation allows one to specify the name of the
 106     image to be executed in a slightly different way.
 107     Two scripts, maxima and maxima.bat,
 108     are provided to specify the command line options appropriately.
 109
 110     Unix systems and Windows with Bourne shell:
 111
 112     sh maxima
 113      --- or ---
 114     chmod a+x maxima
 115     ./maxima
 116
 117     (Even if Bourne shell is not available on your system,
 118     it is worth looking at the way images are invoked at the end of the script.)
 119
 120     Windows without Bourne shell:
 121
 122     maxima.bat
 123
 124 (11) Test the build. At the Maxima prompt, enter:
 125
 126     run_testsuite();
 127