Re: :append keyword on compile-file

[John Diamant <hpfclp!diamant@hplabs.HP.COM>]

> Subject: :append keyword on compile-file
> From: "Timothy P. Daly" <hpfclp!hplabs!DALY@ibm.com>
> 
> Has anyone implemented a compile-file extension that would allow
> the fast load file to be updated?
> 
> I would like to be able to say:
> 
> (COMPILE-FILE "foo.lisp" :APPEND "foo.bin")
> 
> 
> This would enable me to supercede functions that exist in a fast load
> file without recompiling the world.

While this is possible to implement, I doubt it would have the effect you
desire.  It is quite common for a FASL (fast load) file to have information
like a symbol table at the beginning of the file.  Appending to a FASL file
might require extending or modifying the symbol table (or other preliminary
structures in the file).  Efficiently implementing what you suggest implies
a sequential ordering of the FASL file that may not exist.  Thus, this option
may be implementable by everyone, but it might be vastly more efficient in
some implementations, and in fact, under certain circumstances may not gain
much at all.

John Diamant
Systems Software Operation	UUCP:  {hplabs,hpfcla}!hpfclp!diamant
Hewlett Packard Co.		ARPA/CSNET: diamant%hpfclp@hplabs.HP.COM
Fort Collins, CO