hairylarryJun 26, 2025

My Lisp adventure so far.

I used portacle to install a lisp IDE in Emacs.
https://portacle.github.io/

And I squirreled around a bit with that trying to figure it out.

Then I used this article to set up for web development.

Lisp for the web - 5
https://dev.to/rajasegar/lisp-for-the-web-5-13ca

I had a problem getting the server to load but i checked around a bit and libssl wasn't installed.

I ran
sudo apt install libssl-dev
as described here

https://www.cyberithub.com/how-to-install-libssl-dev-package-on-ubuntu-22-04-lts-jammy/

and I now get the Welcome to Caveman2! screen.

#lisp

The Portacle Common Lisp Development Environment

Portacle is an easy to install, portable development environment for Common Lisp running on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Show threadZenie

@hairylarry

I respect your adventure.

It's unfortunate that people are still using portacle.
It's 8 years old. It's #emacs build is not current, the build flags are ancient!

The packages do work, but there have been improvements in the last 8 years.

The emacs config is here. Crufty.
Slime, Company, Magit, Paredit and Ag.

https://github.com/portacle/emacsd

Common lisp, #sbcl and #quicklisp are not difficult to install.

The portacle issues should give anyone pause.

https://github.com/portacle/portacle/issues

Portacle doesn't do that much. I think it would be better to install things yourself so you know what you have and avoid the cruft.

My experience may give me a bad POV.

GitHub - portacle/emacsd: Emacs configuration files for Portacle

Emacs configuration files for Portacle. Contribute to portacle/emacsd development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Jun 26, 2025 at 7:55amWeb
Show threadZenieJun 26, 2025

@hairylarry

Maybe just a nice how-to with a list of things to install would be better. I don't know. I see that portacle serves a purpose even if not ideal.

Show threadhairylarryJun 26, 2025

@Zenie

I read that portacle was good for people new to emacs and common lisp and I thought, that's me.

I'm not writing a tutorial. I'm documenting my experience.

Show threadZenieJun 26, 2025

@hairylarry

Yea, I came across portacle while reading up on common lisp last year. I was really surprised that it was recommended and that it was so old.

It isn't as bad as it could be, but it's not as good as it could be either. A clisp setup can be nicer. Emacs can be nicer and it doesn't need to be complicated either.

I think the automation is a bit overboard and you end up with an emacs configuration that doesn't provide much, but you still have to contend with it to grow beyond it.

I'm still looking forward to the things you do. I love lisp and it's great to see new people getting into it.

Show threadhairylarryJun 26, 2025

@Zenie

Thanks.

I'm on xubuntu.Do I need to uninstall stuff or will apt take care of that updating where necessary?

Show threadZenieJun 26, 2025

@hairylarry
I think you are fine really. If portacle built your emacs you could probably get a better build from apt.

Native compilation really speeds things up.
But it does need to be turned on at compile.

Emacs packages are all managed within emacs.
What you gained was a minimally functional lisp environment and what you lost is learning how to do it yourself, beyond that, learning other choices and tools that would be nice to have. You can still do that.

I just don't know if the value of portacle offsets it's antiquity. Or that it's ease is that easy over time.

Show threadhairylarryJun 26, 2025

@Zenie

I've been taking both routes. I have yet to display a web page but I think that's a matter of correct paths and learning how to edit/compile.

Thanks