doc/intro.xml

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   7
   8 <chapter id="introduction">
   9   <title>Introduction</title>
  10
  11   <sect1 id="purpose">
  12     <title>Purpose</title>
  13     <para>&clsql; is a Common Lisp interface to <glossterm
  14       linkend="gloss-sql">SQL</glossterm> databases.  A number of Common
  15       Lisp implementations and SQL databases are supported. The general
  16       structure of &clsql; is based on the
  17       <application>CommonSQL</application>
  18       package by Xanalys.
  19     </para>
  20   </sect1>
  21
  22   <sect1 id="history">
  23     <title>History</title>
  24     <para>
  25       &clsql; is written by Kevin M. Rosenberg and based substantially
  26       on Pierre R. Mai's excellent &maisql; package. The main changes
  27       from &maisql; are:
  28       <itemizedlist>
  29         <listitem>
  30           <para>port from the &cmucl; FFI to &uffi;.</para>
  31         </listitem>
  32         <listitem>
  33           <para>Optimized loading of integer and floating-point fields.</para>
  34         </listitem>
  35         <listitem>
  36           <para>new &acl; ODBC interface back-end.</para>
  37         </listitem>
  38         <listitem>
  39           <para>compatibility layer for &cmucl; specific code.</para>
  40         </listitem>
  41         <listitem>
  42           <para>much improved robustness for the &mysql; back-end
  43           along with version 4 client library support.</para>
  44         </listitem>
  45         <listitem>
  46           <para>improved system loading.</para>
  47         </listitem>
  48         <listitem>
  49           <para>improved packages and symbol export.</para>
  50         </listitem>
  51         <listitem>
  52           <para>transaction support.</para>
  53         </listitem>
  54       </itemizedlist>
  55     </para>
  56   </sect1>
  57
  58   <sect1 id="prerequisites">
  59     <title>Prerequisites</title>
  60
  61     <sect2>
  62       <title>&asdf;</title>
  63       <para>
  64         &clsql; uses &asdf; to compile and load its components.
  65         &asdf; is included in the <ulink
  66         url="http://cclan.sourceforge.net"><citetitle>&cclan;</citetitle></ulink>
  67         collection.
  68       </para>
  69     </sect2>
  70
  71     <sect2>
  72       <title>&uffi;</title>
  73       <para>
  74         &clsql; uses <ulink
  75         url="http://uffi.b9.com/"><citetitle>&uffi;</citetitle></ulink>
  76         as a <emphasis>Foreign Function Interface</emphasis>
  77         (<glossterm linkend="gloss-ffi">FFI</glossterm>) to support
  78         multiple &cl; implementations.
  79       </para>
  80     </sect2>
  81
  82     <sect2>
  83       <title>&md5;</title>
  84       <para>&clsql;'s postgresql-socket interface uses Pierre Mai's
  85         <ulink url="ftp://clsql.b9.com/">md5</ulink>
  86         module.
  87       </para>
  88     </sect2>
  89     <sect2>
  90       <title>Supported Common Lisp Implementation</title>
  91       <para>
  92         The implementations that support &clsql; is governed by the supported
  93         implementations of &uffi;. The following implementations are supported:
  94       </para>
  95       <itemizedlist mark="opencircle">
  96         <listitem><para>&acl; v6.2 on Debian Linux, FreeBSD 4.5, and Microsoft Windows XP.</para></listitem>
  97         <listitem><para>&lw; v4.3 on Debian Linux and Microsoft Windows XP.</para></listitem>
  98         <listitem><para>&cmucl; 18e on Debian Linux, FreeBSD 4.5, and Solaris 2.8.</para></listitem>
  99         <listitem><para>&sbcl; 0.8.5 on Debian Linux.</para></listitem>
 100         <listitem><para>&scl; 1.1.1 on Debian Linux.</para></listitem>
 101         <listitem><para>&openmcl; 0.14 on Debian Linux PowerPC.</para></listitem>
 102       </itemizedlist>
 103     </sect2>
 104
 105     <sect2>
 106       <title>Supported &sql; Implementation</title>
 107       <para>
 108         Currently, &clsql; supports the following databases:
 109       </para>
 110       <itemizedlist mark="opencircle">
 111         <listitem><para>&mysql; v3.23.51 and v4.0.15.</para></listitem>
 112         <listitem><para>&postgresql; v7.2 with both direct API and TCP
 113         socket connections.</para></listitem>
 114         <listitem><para>&sqlite;.</para></listitem>
 115         <listitem><para>Allegro's ODBC interface (&aodbc;) using iODBC
 116         ODBC manager.</para></listitem>
 117       </itemizedlist>
 118     </sect2>
 119
 120   </sect1>
 121
 122   <sect1 id="installation">
 123     <title>Installation</title>
 124
 125     <sect2>
 126       <title>Ensure &asdf; is loaded</title>
 127       <para>
 128         Simply load the file <filename>asdf.lisp</filename>.
 129         <screen>
 130 (load "asdf.lisp")
 131         </screen>
 132       </para>
 133     </sect2>
 134
 135     <sect2>
 136       <title>Build &c; helper libraries</title>
 137       <para>&clsql; uses functions that require 64-bit integer
 138         parameters and return values. The &ffi; in most &clsql;
 139         implementations do not support 64-bit integers. Thus, C helper
 140         libraries are required to break these 64-bit integers into two compatible
 141         32-bit integers. The helper libraries reside in the directories
 142         <filename>uffi</filename> and <filename>db-mysql</filename>.
 143       </para>
 144
 145       <sect3>
 146         <title>&mswindows;</title>
 147         <para>
 148           Files named <filename>Makefile.msvc</filename> are supplied
 149           for building the libraries under Microsoft Windows.  Since
 150           &mswindows; does not come with that compiler, compiled
 151           <type>DLL</type> and <type>LIB</type> library files are
 152           supplied with &clsql;.
 153         </para>
 154       </sect3>
 155
 156       <sect3>
 157         <title>&unix;</title>
 158         <para>
 159           Files named <filename>Makefile</filename> are supplied for
 160           building the libraries under &unix;. Loading the
 161           <filename>.asd</filename> files automatically invokes
 162           <application>make</application> when necessary. So, manual
 163           building of the helper libraries is not necessary on most
 164           &unix; systems. However, the location of the &mysql; library
 165           files and include files may need to adjusted in
 166           <filename>db-mysql/Makefile</filename> on non-Debian
 167           systems.
 168         </para>
 169       </sect3>
 170
 171     </sect2>
 172
 173     <sect2>
 174       <title>Load &uffi;</title>
 175       <para>
 176         Unzip or untar the &uffi; distribution which creates a directory
 177         for the &uffi; files. Add that directory to &asdf;'s <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.
 178         You can do that by pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.
 179         The following example code assumes the &uffi; files reside in the
 180         <filename>/usr/share/lisp/uffi/</filename>
 181         directory.
 182         <screen>
 183 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/uffi/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 184 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op :uffi)
 185         </screen>
 186       </para>
 187     </sect2>
 188    <sect2>
 189      <title>Load &md5; module</title>
 190      <para>
 191        If you plan to use the clsql-postgresql-socket interface, you
 192        must load the md5 module.  Unzip or untar the cl-md5
 193        distribution, which creates a directory for the cl-md5 files.
 194        Add that directory to &asdf;'s
 195        <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.  You can do that by
 196        pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.  The
 197        following example code assumes the cl-md5 files reside in the
 198        <filename>/usr/share/lisp/cl-md5/</filename> directory.
 199        <screen>
 200 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/cl-md5/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 201 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op :md5)
 202        </screen>
 203      </para>
 204    </sect2>
 205
 206    <sect2>
 207      <title>Load &clsql; modules</title>
 208      <para>
 209        Unzip or untar the &clsql; distribution which creates a
 210        directory for the &clsql; files. Add that directory to &asdf;'s
 211        <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.  You can do that by
 212        pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.  The
 213        following example code assumes the &clsql; files reside in the
 214        <filename>/usr/share/lisp/clsql/</filename> directory. You need
 215        to load, at a minimum, the main <symbol>clsql</symbol> system
 216        and at least one interface system. The below example show loading
 217        all &clsql; systems.
 218
 219         <screen>
 220 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/clsql/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 221 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-base)              ; base CLSQL package
 222 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-mysql)             ; MySQL interface
 223 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-postgresql)        ; PostgreSQL interface
 224 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-postgresql-socket) ; Socket PGSQL interface
 225 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-aodbc)             ; Allegro ODBC interface
 226 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql)                   ; main CLSQL package
 227         </screen>
 228       </para>
 229     </sect2>
 230
 231     <sect2>
 232       <title>Run test suite</title>
 233       <para>
 234         After loading &clsql;, you can execute the test suite. A
 235         configuration file named
 236         <filename>.clsql-test.config</filename> must be created in
 237         your home directory. There are instructures on the format of
 238         that file in the <filename>tests/tests.lisp</filename> file in
 239         the &clsql; source directory. After creating that file, you
 240         can run the test suite with &asdf;:
 241         <screen>
 242           (asdf:operate 'asdf:test-op 'clsql)
 243         </screen>
 244       </para>
 245     </sect2>
 246
 247   </sect1>
 248
 249 </chapter>
 250