From owner-freebsd-ports  Tue Nov 19 06:21:47 1996
Return-Path: owner-ports
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id GAA07665
          for ports-outgoing; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 06:21:47 -0800 (PST)
Received: from chai.plexuscom.com (chai.plexuscom.com [207.87.46.100])
          by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id GAA07656
          for <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org>; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 06:21:44 -0800 (PST)
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by chai.plexuscom.com (8.7.6/8.6.12) with SMTP id JAA03882; Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:22:01 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199611191422.JAA03882@chai.plexuscom.com>
X-Authentication-Warning: chai.plexuscom.com: Host localhost [127.0.0.1] didn't use HELO protocol
To: Martin Cracauer <cracauer@cons.org>
Cc: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org, rpw3@sgi.com
Subject: Re: Interest in large collection of Lisp/Scheme implementations? 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 19 Nov 1996 10:57:32 +0100."
             <199611190957.KAA29674@knight.cons.org> 
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:22:01 -0500
From: Bakul Shah <bakul@plexuscom.com>
Sender: owner-ports@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

> - Is there some interest to have such a wide collection of
>   Lisp-related packages on FreeBSD or do you think is a rather
>   pointless or would you fear FreeBSD could be seen as some kind of
>   "new Lisp machine"? 

Can't speak for others but I'd love to see as wide a collection
of scheme/lisp packages as possible.

> I'm talking about more than just compiling these packages. I plan to
> make Common Lisp/Scheme libraries availiable for as many
> implementations as possible.

I hope the `ported' environment is not too different from what
one gets from `just compiling' these packages.

> I think we could make FreeBSD a nice platform for fans of dynamic
> languages.

It already is!  In the past I have run MzScheme, scm, scsh, STk,
elk, siod, psi, gambit, vscm, guile and a few more (whose names I
don't recall at the moment) on NetBSD as well as FreeBSD.

> I also plan
> to see how one can use FreeBSD's VM system to speed up some
> implementations and promote the results.

[Since you asked for feedback] IMHO, what is would be more useful is
a collection of separate packages useful for doing mundane things
(without having to use a full Lisp/Scheme environment ala
emacs/elisp and where one doesn't need to allocate 8Mbytes or more
of VM just to print hello world or scan through mail messages or
edit a file or count words in a file).  Packages for things like:
    syscall interface
    network programming
    text processing: editing, searching, transforming etc.
    shell programming
    mail processing
    HTML processing
and also more complex things like:
    X windows interface
    a generic C/C++ interface to use any C/C++ library
    support for dynamic loading/unloading of libraries

-- bakul