#+TITLE: Notes on Packaging ABCL for Distribution


* ABCL-AIO

The standard ABCL build process as described in the ~build.xml~ file
and executed by the Ant build tool results in two archive artifacts:
~abcl.jar~ and ~abcl-contrib.jar~.  ~abcl.jar~ contains all the Java
and Common Lisp code necessary that constitute the ANSI conforming
implementation runtime, plus the latest stable ASDF. The
~abcl-contrib.jar~ (aka "contrib") artifact contains additional Common
Lisp-only code that extends the implementation in useful manners.  At
some point in the future,

We create two separate jar artifacts in order to:

1. Place an upper bound of size and complexity of ~abcl.jar~
   regardless of what we package in ~abcl-contrib.jar~.  Having a
   restricted core ANSI implementation plus ASDF enables us to:

   1.1. More easily bootstrap ABCL when porting to JVM runtimes other
        than the OpenJDK (Davlik, CLR, …)

   1.2. Subsequently use ASDF to package ABCL extension components.
   
2. Clearly mark which parts of the code-base are covered under
   GPLv2+classpath from those that may have other licensing terms.  By
   making the loading of the "abcl-contrib" a dynamic, user-initiated,
   operation, we maintain our license compliance.  Providing, but not
   shipping, ABCL-AIO, defers possible infringement to the User who
   redistributes the resulting jar artifact.

Users often want to simply package both artifacts in a single jar for
deployment convenience.  abcl-1.5.0 introduced the build machinery to
create such an "all-in-one" artifact via the [[https://github.com/armedbear/abcl/blob/master/build.xml#L517][~abcl-aio.jar~]] target.
Upon invoking the ~abcl-aio.jar~ target
#+begin_src shell
ant -f build.xml abcl-aio.jar
#+end_src
the resulting artifact contains both the core implementation and the
ABCL contrib which may be run as usual via
#+begin_src shell
java -jar dist/abcl-aio.jar
#+end_src

* ASDF-JAR contrib

The ASDF-JAR contrib provides a mechanism for package ASDF systems and
their recursive dependencies in a jar archive.  

An example of using this to package the CL-PPCRE system from
Quicklisp:
#+begin_src lisp
;; 
(require :abcl-contrib)
(require :quicklisp-abcl)
(ql:quickload :cl-ppcre)

(require :asdf-jar)
(asdf-jar:package :cl-ppcre)
#+end_src

results in a jar archive at something like
~#P"/var/tmp/cl-ppcre-all-2.1.1.jar"~.

This jar archive may be loaded in a version of the implementation via

#+begin_src lisp
(require :abcl-contrib)
(require :asdf-jar)
(setf *load-verbose* t) ;; so we can verify where the load is coming from
(asdf-jar:add-to-asdf #P"/var/tmp/cl-ppcre-all-2.1.1.jar")
(asdf:load-system :cl-ppcre)
#+end_src

=asdf-jar= uses all items declared in the ASDF definitions so it won't
work well for:

1. An ASDF system which depends on artifacts that are not declared as
   existing on the file-system via an explicit reference within the
   ASDF source reference mechanism.

2. Libraries such as CFFI which depend on items to be have been make
   available via an operating system packaging mechanism.

* Implementation Status

Ideally, we would like allow the AIO mechanism to include additional
ASDF systems in the single jar artifact.  

Currently one can hack this together by:

1.  Manually extracting the ~abcl-aio.jar~ artifact to a file-system.

2.  Placing the necessary ASDF systems in the resulting "contrib"
    directory.

3.  Recreating the single archive from the file-system contents.

* TODO Future directions

Obviously, we could provide more convenience in packaging ABCL
applications as single archives .  Rather than mucking around in the
Ant build system, I would rather that we add the necessary machinery
=ABCL-BUILD= contrib as it will make customization much easier for
those who know Common Lisp.

Patches towards easier use are gratefully solicited.


* Colophon
  #+begin_example
  Mark <evenson.not.org@gmail.com>
  Created: <2019-11-25 Mon>
  Revised: <2023-06-12 Mon 09:09>
  #+end_example