LibCL is a self-contained collection of portable, free Common Lisp libraries.

Today, it has the feel of a linux distribution -- a bundle of packages that are mostly developed independently. Tomorrow, it will grow into a more cohesive system, built around a community of developers who write Common Lisp.

Getting Started

• Download a package
• Follow the instructions in the included INSTALL.txt
• Read about the libraries in the included index.html

Compatibility and Testing

The first LibCL release may be a bit rough, but it has been tested for basic operation on a few platforms. Future releases should run all unit tests bundled with the libraries and produce an OS/implementation matrix showing the general fitness of each entry.

Release Schedule

LibCL will issue releases on a quarterly cycle. Target dates are the last Wednesday of February, May, August, and November. Alpha freeze (no new libs) is the Wednesday two weeks before release; beta freeze (system-specific tweaks and critical bugfixes only) is one week before release.

Prior Art

LibCL is not the first collection of packages for easy install... In no particular order, here's a partial list of predecessors and contemporaries.

• CMU AI Repository
• Starter Pack
• ASDF-Install
• Lispbox
• Lisp in a box
• CL Gardeners
• CLOCC
• Lispy
• clbuild
• CL-Librarian
• lisp-libs.git
• Mudballs

LibCL Difference

• Simple install -- download a single file per release
• Integration -- libraries are tested to work with each other
• Community building -- aiming for shared licensing and ownership of packages
• Platform neutrality -- the libraries should be portable across implementations and OSs
• Accountability -- public read-only git repositories track full history