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. Recently, the UncommonSQL
  27       package has been ported and integrated with &clsql;. The main changes
  28       from &maisql; are:
  29       <itemizedlist>
  30         <listitem>
  31           <para>port from the &cmucl; FFI to &uffi;.</para>
  32         </listitem>
  33         <listitem>
  34           <para>Optimized loading of integer and floating-point fields.</para>
  35         </listitem>
  36         <listitem>
  37           <para>new &acl; ODBC interface back-end.</para>
  38         </listitem>
  39         <listitem>
  40           <para>compatibility layer for &cmucl; specific code.</para>
  41         </listitem>
  42         <listitem>
  43           <para>much improved robustness for the &mysql; back-end
  44           along with version 4 client library support.</para>
  45         </listitem>
  46         <listitem>
  47           <para>improved system loading.</para>
  48         </listitem>
  49         <listitem>
  50           <para>improved packages and symbol export.</para>
  51         </listitem>
  52         <listitem>
  53           <para>transaction support.</para>
  54         </listitem>
  55         <listitem>
  56           <para>UncommonSQL support.</para>
  57         </listitem>
  58       </itemizedlist>
  59     </para>
  60   </sect1>
  61
  62   <sect1 id="prerequisites">
  63     <title>Prerequisites</title>
  64
  65     <sect2>
  66       <title>&asdf;</title>
  67       <para>
  68         &clsql; uses &asdf; to compile and load its components.
  69         &asdf; is included in the <ulink
  70         url="http://cclan.sourceforge.net"><citetitle>&cclan;</citetitle></ulink>
  71         collection.
  72       </para>
  73     </sect2>
  74
  75     <sect2>
  76       <title>&uffi;</title>
  77       <para>
  78         &clsql; uses <ulink
  79         url="http://uffi.b9.com/"><citetitle>&uffi;</citetitle></ulink>
  80         as a <emphasis>Foreign Function Interface</emphasis>
  81         (<glossterm linkend="gloss-ffi">FFI</glossterm>) to support
  82         multiple &cl; implementations.
  83       </para>
  84     </sect2>
  85
  86     <sect2>
  87       <title>&md5;</title>
  88       <para>&clsql;'s postgresql-socket interface uses Pierre Mai's
  89         <ulink url="ftp://clsql.b9.com/">md5</ulink>
  90         module.
  91       </para>
  92     </sect2>
  93     <sect2>
  94       <title>Supported Common Lisp Implementation</title>
  95       <para>
  96         The implementations that support &clsql; is governed by the supported
  97         implementations of &uffi;. The following implementations are supported:
  98       </para>
  99       <itemizedlist mark="opencircle">
 100         <listitem><para>&acl; v6.2 on Debian Linux, FreeBSD 4.5, and Microsoft Windows XP.</para></listitem>
 101         <listitem><para>&lw; v4.3 on Debian Linux and Microsoft Windows XP.</para></listitem>
 102         <listitem><para>&cmucl; 18e on Debian Linux, FreeBSD 4.5, and Solaris 2.8.</para></listitem>
 103         <listitem><para>&sbcl; 0.8.5 on Debian Linux.</para></listitem>
 104         <listitem><para>&scl; 1.1.1 on Debian Linux.</para></listitem>
 105         <listitem><para>&openmcl; 0.14 on Debian Linux PowerPC.</para></listitem>
 106       </itemizedlist>
 107     </sect2>
 108
 109     <sect2>
 110       <title>Supported &sql; Implementation</title>
 111       <para>
 112         Currently, &clsql; supports the following databases:
 113       </para>
 114       <itemizedlist mark="opencircle">
 115         <listitem><para>&mysql; v3.23.51 and v4.0.15.</para></listitem>
 116         <listitem><para>&postgresql; v7.2 with both direct API and TCP
 117         socket connections.</para></listitem>
 118         <listitem><para>&sqlite;.</para></listitem>
 119         <listitem><para>Allegro's ODBC interface (&aodbc;) using iODBC
 120         ODBC manager.</para></listitem>
 121       </itemizedlist>
 122     </sect2>
 123
 124   </sect1>
 125
 126   <sect1 id="installation">
 127     <title>Installation</title>
 128
 129     <sect2>
 130       <title>Ensure &asdf; is loaded</title>
 131       <para>
 132         Simply load the file <filename>asdf.lisp</filename>.
 133         <screen>
 134 (load "asdf.lisp")
 135         </screen>
 136       </para>
 137     </sect2>
 138
 139     <sect2>
 140       <title>Build &c; helper libraries</title>
 141       <para>&clsql; uses functions that require 64-bit integer
 142         parameters and return values. The &ffi; in most &clsql;
 143         implementations do not support 64-bit integers. Thus, C helper
 144         libraries are required to break these 64-bit integers into two compatible
 145         32-bit integers. The helper libraries reside in the directories
 146         <filename>uffi</filename> and <filename>db-mysql</filename>.
 147       </para>
 148
 149       <sect3>
 150         <title>&mswindows;</title>
 151         <para>
 152           Files named <filename>Makefile.msvc</filename> are supplied
 153           for building the libraries under Microsoft Windows.  Since
 154           &mswindows; does not come with that compiler, compiled
 155           <type>DLL</type> and <type>LIB</type> library files are
 156           supplied with &clsql;.
 157         </para>
 158       </sect3>
 159
 160       <sect3>
 161         <title>&unix;</title>
 162         <para>
 163           Files named <filename>Makefile</filename> are supplied for
 164           building the libraries under &unix;. Loading the
 165           <filename>.asd</filename> files automatically invokes
 166           <application>make</application> when necessary. So, manual
 167           building of the helper libraries is not necessary on most
 168           &unix; systems. However, the location of the &mysql; library
 169           files and include files may need to adjusted in
 170           <filename>db-mysql/Makefile</filename> on non-Debian
 171           systems.
 172         </para>
 173       </sect3>
 174
 175     </sect2>
 176
 177     <sect2>
 178       <title>Load &uffi;</title>
 179       <para>
 180         Unzip or untar the &uffi; distribution which creates a directory
 181         for the &uffi; files. Add that directory to &asdf;'s <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.
 182         You can do that by pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.
 183         The following example code assumes the &uffi; files reside in the
 184         <filename>/usr/share/lisp/uffi/</filename>
 185         directory.
 186         <screen>
 187 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/uffi/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 188 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op :uffi)
 189         </screen>
 190       </para>
 191     </sect2>
 192    <sect2>
 193      <title>Load &md5; module</title>
 194      <para>
 195        If you plan to use the clsql-postgresql-socket interface, you
 196        must load the md5 module.  Unzip or untar the cl-md5
 197        distribution, which creates a directory for the cl-md5 files.
 198        Add that directory to &asdf;'s
 199        <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.  You can do that by
 200        pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.  The
 201        following example code assumes the cl-md5 files reside in the
 202        <filename>/usr/share/lisp/cl-md5/</filename> directory.
 203        <screen>
 204 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/cl-md5/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 205 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op :md5)
 206        </screen>
 207      </para>
 208    </sect2>
 209
 210    <sect2>
 211      <title>Load &clsql; modules</title>
 212      <para>
 213        Unzip or untar the &clsql; distribution which creates a
 214        directory for the &clsql; files. Add that directory to &asdf;'s
 215        <varname>asdf:*central-registry*</varname>.  You can do that by
 216        pushing the pathname of the directory onto this variable.  The
 217        following example code assumes the &clsql; files reside in the
 218        <filename>/usr/share/lisp/clsql/</filename> directory. You need
 219        to load, at a minimum, the main <symbol>clsql</symbol> system
 220        and at least one interface system. The below example show loading
 221        all &clsql; systems.
 222
 223         <screen>
 224 (push #P"/usr/share/lisp/clsql/" asdf:*central-registry*)
 225 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-base)              ; base CLSQL package
 226 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-mysql)             ; MySQL interface
 227 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-postgresql)        ; PostgreSQL interface
 228 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-postgresql-socket) ; Socket PGSQL interface
 229 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-aodbc)             ; Allegro ODBC interface
 230 (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op 'clsql)                   ; main CLSQL package
 231         </screen>
 232       </para>
 233     </sect2>
 234
 235     <sect2>
 236       <title>Run test suite</title>
 237       <para>
 238         After loading &clsql;, you can execute the test suite. A
 239         configuration file named
 240         <filename>.clsql-test.config</filename> must be created in
 241         your home directory. There are instructures on the format of
 242         that file in the <filename>tests/tests.lisp</filename> file in
 243         the &clsql; source directory. After creating that file, you
 244         can run the test suite with &asdf;:
 245         <screen>
 246           (asdf:operate 'asdf:test-op 'clsql)
 247         </screen>
 248       </para>
 249     </sect2>
 250
 251   </sect1>
 252
 253 </chapter>
 254