GCL SI Manual: Compilation

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## 7 Compilation

Function: COMPILE (name &optional (definition nil))

  Package:LISP

  If DEFINITION is NIL, NAME must be the name of a not-yet-compiled function. In this case, COMPILE compiles the function, installs the compiled function as the global function definition of NAME, and returns NAME. If DEFINITION is non-NIL, it must be a lambda expression and NAME must be a symbol. COMPILE compiles the lambda expression, installs the compiled function as the function definition of NAME, and returns NAME. There is only one exception for this: If NAME is NIL, then the compiled function is not installed but is simply returned as the value of COMPILE. In any case, COMPILE creates temporary files whose filenames are "gazonk***". By default, i.e. if :LEAVE-GAZONK is not supplied or is NIL, these files are automatically deleted after compilation.

Function: LINK (files image &optional post extra-libs (run-user-init t) &aux raw init)

  Package:LISP

  On systems where dlopen is used for relocations, one cannot make custom images containing loaded binary object files simply by loading the files and executing save-system. This function is provided for such cases.

  After compiling source files into objects, LINK can be called with a list of binary and source FILES which would otherwise normally be loaded in sequence before saving the image to IMAGE. LINK will use the system C linker to link the binary files thus supplied with GCL’s objects, using EXTRA-LIBS as well if provided, and producing a raw_IMAGE executable. This executable is then run to initialize first GCL’s objects, followed by the supplied files, in order, if RUN-USER-INIT is set. In such a case, source files are loaded at their position in the sequence. Any optional code which should be run after file initialization can be supplied in the POST variable. The image is then saved using save-system to IMAGE.

  This method of creating lisp images may also have the advantage that all new object files are kept out of the lisp core and placed instead in the final image’s .text section. This should in principle reduce the core size, speed up garbage collection, and forego any performance penalty induced by data cache flushing on some machines.

  In both the RAW and SAVED image, any calls to LOAD binary object files which have been specified in this list will bypass the normal load procedure, and simply initialize the already linked in module. One can rely on this feature by disabling RUN-USER-INIT, and instead passing the normal build commands in POST. In the course of executing this code, binary modules previously linked into the .text section of the executable will be initialized at the same point at which they would have normally been loaded into the lisp core, in the executable’s .data section. In this way, the user can choose to take advantage of the aforementioned possible benefits of this linking method in a relatively transparent way.

  All binary objects specified in FILES must have been compiled with :SYSTEM-P set to T.

Special Form: EVAL-WHEN

  Package:LISP

  Syntax:

      (eval-when ({situation}*) {form}*)

  A situation must be either COMPILE, LOAD, or EVAL. The interpreter evaluates only when EVAL is specified. If COMPILE is specified, FORMs are evaluated at compile time. If LOAD is specified, the compiler arranges so that FORMs be evaluated when the compiled code is loaded.

Function: COMPILE-FILE (input-pathname &key output-file (load nil) (message-file nil) ;GCL specific keywords: system-p c-debug c-file h-file data-file)

  Package:LISP

  Compiles the file specified by INPUT-PATHNAME and generates a fasl file specified by OUTPUT-FILE. If the filetype is not specified in INPUT-PATHNAME, then ".lsp" is used as the default file type for the source file. :LOAD specifies whether to load the generated fasl file after compilation. :MESSAGE-FILE specifies the log file for the compiler messages. It defaults to the value of the variable COMPILER:*DEFAULT-MESSAGE-FILE*. A non-NIL value of COMPILER::*COMPILE-PRINT* forces the compiler to indicate the form currently being compiled. More keyword parameters are accepted, depending on the version. Most versions of GCL can receive :O-FILE, :C-FILE, :H-FILE, and :DATA-FILE keyword parameters, with which you can control the intermediate files generated by the GCL compiler. Also :C-DEBUG will pass the -g flag to the C compiler.

  By top level forms in a file, we mean the value of *top-level-forms* after doing (TF form) for each form read from a file. We define TF as follows:

  (defun TF (x) (when (consp x) (setq x (macroexpand x)) (when (consp x) (cond ((member (car x) ’(progn eval-when)) (mapcar ’tf (cdr x))) (t (push x *top-level-forms*))))))

  Among the common lisp special forms only DEFUN and DEFMACRO will cause actual native machine code to be generated. The rest will be specially treated in an init section of the .data file. This is done so that things like putprop,setq, and many other forms would use up space which could not be usefully freed, if we were to compile to native machine code. If you have other ‘ordinary’ top level forms which you need to have compiled fully to machine code you may either set compiler::*COMPILE-ORDINARIES* to t, or put them inside a

  (PROGN ’COMPILE ...forms-which-need-to-be-compiled)

  The compiler will take each of them and make a temporary function which will be compiled and invoked once. It is permissible to wrap a (PROGN ’COMPILE ..) around the whole file. Currently this construction binds the compiler::*COMPILE-ORDINARIES* flag to t. Setting this flag globally to a non nil value to cause all top level forms to generate machine code. This might be useful in a system such as PCL, where a number of top level lambda expressions are given. Note that most common lisps will simply ignore the top level atom ’compile, since it has no side effects.

  Defentry, clines, and defcfun also result in machine code being generated.

## subsection Evaluation at Compile time

In GCL the eval-when behaviour was changed in order to allow more efficient init code, and also to bring it into line with the resolution passed by the X3j13 committee. Evaluation at compile time is controlled by placing eval-when special forms in the code, or by the value of the variable compiler::*eval-when-defaults* [default value :defaults]. If that variable has value :defaults, then the following hold:

Eval at Compile Type of Top Level Form

Partial:

  defstructs, defvar, defparameter

Full:

  defmacro, defconstant, defsetf, define-setf-method, deftype, package ops, proclaim

None:

  defun, others

By ‘partial’ we mean (see the X3J13 Common Lisp document (doc/compile-file-handling-of-top-level-forms) for more detail), that functions will not be defined, values will not be set, but other miscellaneous compiler properties will be set: eg properties to inline expand defstruct accessors and testers, defstruct properties allowing subsequent defstructs to include this one, any type hierarch information, special variable information will be set up.

Example:

    (defun foo () 3)
    (defstruct jo a b)

As a side effect of compiling these two forms, foo would not have its function cell changed. Neither would jo-a, although it would gain a property which allows it to expand inline to a structure access. Thus if it had a previous definition (as commonly happens from previously loading the file), this previous definition would not be touched, and could well be inconsistent with the compiler properties. Unfortunately this is what the CL standard says to do, and I am just trying to follow it.

If you prefer a more intuitive scheme, of evaling all forms in the file, so that there are no inconsistencies, (previous behaviour of AKCL) you may set compiler::*eval-when-defaults* to ’(compile eval load).

The variable compiler::*FASD-DATA* [default t] controls whether an ascii output is used for the data section of the object file. The data section will be in ascii if *fasd-data* is nil or if the system-p keyword is supplied to compile-file and *fasd-data* is not eq to :system-p.

The old GCL variable *compile-time-too* has disappeared.

See OPTIMIZE on how to enable warnings of slow constructs.

Function: PROCLAIM (decl-spec)

  Package:LISP

  Puts the declaration given by DECL-SPEC into effect globally. See the doc of DECLARE for possible DECL-SPECs.

Function: PROVIDE (module-name)

  Package:LISP

  Adds the specified module to the list of modules maintained in *MODULES*.

Function: COMPILED-FUNCTION-P (x)

  Package:LISP

  Returns T if X is a compiled function; NIL otherwise.

Function: GPROF-START ()

  Package:SYSTEM

  GCL now has preliminary support for profiling with gprof, an externally supplied profiling tool at the C level which typically accompanies gcc. Support must be enabled at compile time with –enable-gprof. This function starts the profiling timers and counters.

Function: GPROF-QUIT ()

  Package:SYSTEM

  GCL now has preliminary support for profiling with gprof, an externally supplied profiling tool at the C level which typically accompanies gcc. Support must be enabled at compile time with –enable-gprof. This function reports the profiling results in the form of a call graph to standard output, and clears the profiling arrays. Please note that lisp functions are not (yet) displayed with their lisp names. Please see also the PROFILE function.

Function: GPROF-SET (begin end)

  Package:SYSTEM

  GCL now has preliminary support for profiling with gprof, an externally supplied profiling tool at the C level which typically accompanies gcc. Support must be enabled at compile time with –enable-gprof. This function sets the address range used by GPROF-START in specifying the section of the running program which is to be profiled. All subsequent calls to GPROF-START will use this new address range. By default, the range is set to begin at the starting address of the .text section, and to end at the current end of the running core. These default values can be restored by calling GPROF-SET with both argments set to 0.

Variable: *DEFAULT-SYSTEM-P*

  Pakcage:COMPILER Specifies the default setting of :SYSTEM-P used by COMPILE. Defaults to NIL.

Variable: *DEFAULT-C-FILE*

  Pakcage:COMPILER Specifies the default setting of :C-FILE used by COMPILE. Defaults to NIL.

Variable: *DEFAULT-H-FILE*

  Pakcage:COMPILER Specifies the default setting of :H-FILE used by COMPILE. Defaults to NIL.

Variable: *DEFAULT-DATA-FILE*

  Pakcage:COMPILER Specifies the default setting of :DATA-FILE used by COMPILE. Defaults to NIL.

Variable: *FEATURES*

  Package:LISP List of symbols that name features of the current version of GCL. These features are used to decide the read-time conditionalization facility provided by ’#+’ and ’#-’ read macros. When the GCL reader encounters

      	#+ feature-description form

  it reads FORM in the usual manner if FEATURE-DESCRIPTION is true. Otherwise, the reader just skips FORM.

      	#- feature-description form

  is equivalent to

      	#- (not feature-description) form

  A feature-description may be a symbol, which is true only when it is an element of *FEATURES*. Or else, it must be one of the following:

      (and feature-desciption-1 ... feature-desciption-n)
      (or  feature-desciption-1 ... feature-desciption-n)
      (not feature-desciption)

  The AND description is true only when all of its sub-descriptions are true. The OR description is true only when at least one of its sub-descriptions is true. The NOT description is true only when its sub-description is false.

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