INSTALL.md

Installing Kiln

0. Clone Kiln where ASDF can find it. (Usually ~/common-lisp or ~/quicklisp/local-projects.)

1. Bootstrap the executable:

   • From a shell, run make in the Kiln directory.
   • OR, from a Lisp REPL, execute:

     > (asdf:make "kiln")

   This will generate an executable named kiln in the Kiln directory.

2. Symlink (don’t copy!) the kiln executable into your PATH.

   # Assuming XDG-compliant Linux.
   $ ln -s $(pwd -P)/kiln ${HOME}/.local/bin/kiln
   

   On an XDG-compliant Linux, with ~/.local/bin on the PATH, you can install with Make:

   $ make test && make install
   

3. Test Kiln is installed:

   $ kiln version
   

   If you want to make sure everything is working properly, you can tell Kiln to run a self-diagnostic:

   $ kiln self-test
   

You can now use Kiln for writing shebang scripts. The remaining steps are for writing package scripts.

1. Create a local-scripts system where ASDF can find it. Make it a package-inferred system:

   ;; In file local-scripts.asd.
   (defsystem "local-scripts" :class :package-inferred-system)

2. Write your first script as Lisp file in that directory. For example, write the following into local-scripts/hello:

   (defpackage :local-scripts/hello
     (:use :cl)
     (:documentation "Say hello"))
   (in-package :local-scripts/hello)
   
   ;; A Kiln script defines a single function named main
   ;; that takes a list of arguments.
   (defun main (args)
     (destructuring-bind (name) args
       (format t "Hello, ~a~%" name)))

3. Run your script with Kiln:

   $ kiln hello $(whoami)
   Hello