Shen under CLisp

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

I got this in email

I had build S39.2 by clisp in Windows10 and alpineLinux,

but run clisp-shen.exe and get the error immediately:

Shen, www.shenlanguage.org, copyright (C) 2010-2024, Mark Tarver

version: S39.2, language: Common Lisp, platform: CLISP 2.49

port 3.3, ported by Mark Tarver

(0-) READ-CHAR on #<CLOSED INPUT UNBUFFERED FILE-STREAM CHARACTER @1> is illegal

Does shen source no longer support clisp?

Apparently not; though not by design.  History: CLisp was the original CL under which Qi ran and then Shen.  It is significantly slower than SBCL (4X?, it's a long time since I ran it).  When SBCL first appeared as a fork of CMUCL, CLisp was significantly more stable.  Hence it ran in parallel with the SBCL platform.  However SBCL became more stable and there was little use for CLisp so nobody has used this port for a long time.   The querent has a use for CLisp so I'll look into this.

Mark

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

The main issue seems to be that Windows has left CLisp behind.

CLisp is not active in the way that SBCL is and consequently the

CLisp version I am using (2010) does not interact well with Windows

11.  

ChatGPT has this to say

  On Windows, the official CLISP 2.49 (2010) binary has a long-standing bug in its file-loading system. When you use (load "file.lsp"), CLISP sometimes passes an invalid directory handle to Windows, producing the error “Win32 error 267 (ERROR_DIRECTORY): The directory name is invalid.” This happens even though the file exists, especially when CLISP starts in a drive-relative path (like C:) or when files are stored in protected or virtual folders such as Program Files or OneDrive. The issue is caused by CLISP’s outdated Windows pathname handling, not by your code or filesystem.  

I'll put this request on ice since I have no access to any binary later than 2010.  This is apparently when the CLisp site ceased to be actively developed.  It may be possible to rebuild from sources a modern version, and I'll accept any pointer to a modern binary.  But it is a lot of work for a Lisp not so actively used.

Mark

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

OK; I have installed Shen 39.1 under CLisp on Windows 10 and as near

as I cam make ouy, it works fine.

M.

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

I'll put this up as a binary on the download page for people to play with.  But as I said it is slower than

SBCL and has less stack apparently - it blows up on the test suite.

M.

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

OK; It's on shenlanguage.org/download/ShenCLisp.zip  

I'll change the doc with a link tomorrow.

M.

[dr.mt...@gmail.com]

As a PS it works under Windows 11!  I just have to use Windows 10 to install it.  

M.

On Saturday, 18 October 2025 at 00:57:47 UTC+1 dr.mt...@gmail.com wrote: