This is the source code distribution for Racket. For license
information, please see the file racket/doc/release-notes/COPYING.txt.
Compiled binaries, documentation, and up-to-date information are
available at http://racket-lang.org/; pre-compiled nightly builds are
available at http://pre.racket-lang.org/installers/.
The Racket and GRacket source code should compile and execute on
Windows, Mac OS X, or any Unix/X platform (including Linux).
Per-platform instructions are below.
Please report bugs via one of the following:
- DrRacket's "submit bug report" menu (preferred)
- http://bugs.racket-lang.org/
- the mailing list (users@racket-lang.org) (last resort)
-PLT
racket@racket-lang.org
========================================================================
Compiling for Windows
========================================================================
To compile with Microsoft Visual C, read the instructions in
"racket\src\worksp\README".
To compile with Cygwin tools, follow the Unix instructions below, and be
sure to configure with `--enable-shared'. The result is a Unix-style
build, not a Windows-style build (e.g., Racket's `system-type' procedure
returns 'unix, not 'windows, and `racket/gui' uses Gtk instead of
Win32).
========================================================================
Compiling for Mac OS X
========================================================================
First, install the Mac OS X Developer Tools from Apple. Then, follow
the Unix instructions below, but note the following:
* The Racket build creates a framework, "Racket.framework", which is
installed into "racket/lib". This framework is used by the `racket'
executable that goes into "racket/bin".
* The GRacket build creates a GUI-executable variant of the Racket
executable. The GRacket build process also downloads (from github)
pre-built libraries for Cairo, Pango, etc.
* The `--enable-shared' flag for `configure' must not be used, because
builds create and use frameworks by default. Furthermore,
`--disable-shared' is not supported. (Unless you use
`--enable-xonx'...)
* To build an X11- and Gtk-based GRacket, run `configure' with the
`--enable-xonx' flag. Frameworks are not used for such builds, so
`--enable-shared' is allowed. The `--enable-xonx' flag also affects
the Racket build, so that `system-type' reports 'unix. Pre-built
libraries are not downloaded in this mode; you must have Cairo,
Pango, and GTk installed.
* To use `--prefix' without `--enable-xonx', you must also supply
`--enable-macprefix'. BEWARE! The directory structure for a
non-xonx build does not fit a typical Unix directory structure. For
example, frameworks are written directly to a "lib" subdirectory, and
executables like "GRacket.app" are written directly to the prefix
directory. (Requiring `--enable-macprefix' with `--prefix' for a
non-xonx build helps prevent accidental installation of a Mac-style
directory structure on top of an existing Unix-style directory
structure.)
* Under Mac OS X 10.6 and later, `configure' by default selects
32-bit mode for building Racket. To build Racket in 64-bit mode,
use `--enable-mac64'.
========================================================================
Compiling for supported Unix variants (including Linux) or Cygwin
========================================================================
Quick instructions:
From this directory (where the `configure' file is), run the following
commands:
mkdir build
cd build
../configure
make
make install
This will create an in-place installation of Racket and store the
results of C/C++ compilation in a separate "build" subdirectory, which
is useful if you need to update your sources, delete the build, and
start from scratch.
You can also run the typical `./configure && make && make install' if
you don't anticipate updating/rebuilding, but it will be harder to
restart from scratch should you need to.
Detailed instructions:
0. If you have an old Racket installation in the target directory,
remove it (unless you are using an "in-place" build from a
repository as described below).
Also, make sure that you have libraries and header files for
Cairo, Pango, and GTk. These libraries are not distributed with
Racket. The configure process checks automatically whether these
libraries are available.
Finally, the content of the "foreign" subdirectory may require GNU
`make'. If the build fails with another variant of `make', please
try using GNU `make'.
1. Select (or create) a build directory.
It's better to run the build in a directory other than the one
containing `configure', especially if you're getting sources via
git. A common way to start a git-based build is:
cd [here]
mkdir build
cd build
where "[here]" is the directory containing this `README' file and
the `configure' script. The git repository is configured to support
this convention by ignoring `build' in this directory.
A separate build directory is better in case the Makefile
organization changes, or in case the Makefiles lack some
dependencies. In those cases, when using a "build" subdirectory,
you can just delete and re-create "build" without mangling your
source tree.
2. From your build directory, run the script `configure' (which is in
the same directory as this README), with optional command-line
arguments `--prefix=TARGETDIR' or `--enable-shared' (or both).
For example, if you want to install into "/usr/local/racket" using
dynamic libraries, then run:
[here]configure --prefix=/usr/local/racket --enable-shared
Again, "[here]" is the directory path containing the `configure'
script. If you follow the convention of running from a "build"
subdirectory, "[here]" is just "../". If you build from the current
directory, "[here]" is possibly unnecessary, or possibly just "./",
depending on your shell and PATH setting.
If the `--prefix' flag is omitted, the binaries are built for an
in-place installation (i.e., the parent of the directory containing
this README will be used directly). Unless `--enable-shared' is
used, the "racket" directory can be moved later; most system
administrators would recommend that you use `--enable-shared', but
the Racket developers distribute binaries built without
`--enable-shared'.
The `configure' script generates the makefiles for building Racket
and/or GRacket. The current directory at the time `configure' is
run will be used as working space for building the executables
(independent of `--prefix'). This build directory does not have to
be in the source tree, even for an "in-place" build. It's ok to run
`configure' from its own directory (as in the first example above),
but it's better to pick a separate build directory that is otherwise
empty (as in the second example).
The `configure' script accepts many other flags that adjust the
build process. Run `configure --help' for more information. In
addition, a specific compiler can be selected through environment
variables. For example, to select the SGI compilers for Irix
instead of gcc, run configure as
env CC=cc CXX=CC [here]configure
To add an include path, be sure to use CPPFLAGS="-I..." instead
of CFLAGS="-I...". The CPPFLAGS variable controls C pre-processing,
which includes C compilation, and the Racket build normally uses
the C pre-processor directly for some parts of the build.
For cross compilation, set the compiler variables to a compiler for
the target platform compiler, but also set CC_FOR_BUILD to a
compiler for the host platform (for building binaries to execute
during the build process). If the target machine's stack grows up,
you'll have to supply `--enable-stackup'; if the target machine is
big-endian, you may have to supply `--enable-bigendian'.
If you re-run `configure' after running `make', then products of the
`make' may be incorrect due to changes in the compiler command line.
To be safe, run `make clean' each time after running `configure'.
To be even safer, run `configure' in a fresh build directory every
time.
When building for multiple platforms or configurations out of the
same source directory, beware of cached `configure' information in
"config.cache". Avoid this problem entirely by using a separate
build directory (but the same source) for each platform or
configuration.
3. Run `make'. [As noted in step 0, this must be GNU `make'.]
With Cygwin, you may need to use `make --unix'.
Binaries and libraries are placed in subdirectories of the build
directory. For example, the `racket3m' binary appears in the
"racket" directory.
4. Run `make install'.
This step copies binaries and libraries into place within the target
installation. For example, the "racket" binary is copied into the
"bin" directory for an in-place build, or into the executable
directory for a --prefix build.
For a `--prefix' build, this step also creates a "config.rkt" module
in a "config" collection, so that various Racket tools and libraries
can find the installation directories. At this stage, in case you
are packaging an installation instead of installing directly, you
can redirect the installation by setting the "DESTDIR" environment
variable. For example, `make DESTDIR=/tmp/racket-build install'
places the installation into "/tmp/racket-build" instead of the
location originally specified with `--prefix'. The resulting
installation will not work, however, until it is moved to the
location originally specified with `--prefix'.
Finally, the `make install' step compiles ".zo" bytecode files for
installed Racket source, and generates launcher programs like
DrRacket. Use `make plain-install' to install without compiling
".zo" files or creating launchers.
If the installation fails because the target directory cannot be
created, or because the target directory is not the one you want,
then you can try repeating step 4 after running `configure' again
with a new `--prefix' value. That is, sometimes it is not necessary
to repeat step 3 (so try it and find out). On other platforms and
configurations, it is necessary to start with a clean build
directory when changing the `--prefix' value, because the path gets
wired into shared objects.
If you build frequently from the git-based sources, beware that you
may accumulate user- and version-specific information in your
"add-ons" directory, which you can most easily find by evaluating
(find-system-path 'addon-dir)
in Racket. In addition, if you configure with `--enabled-shared',
you may accumlate many unused versions of the dynamic libraries in
your installation target.
After an "in-place" install without git, the "racket/src" directory is
no longer needed, and it can be safely deleted. Build information is
recorded in a "buildinfo" file in the installation.
For a build without `--prefix' (or with `--enable-origtree') and without
`--enable-shared', you can safely move the install tree, because all
file references within the installation are relative.
========================================================================
Cross-compiling
========================================================================
Cross-compilation requires at least two flags to `configure':
* `--host=OS', where OS is something like `i386-gnu-linux'
* `--enable-racket=RACKET', where RACKET is a path to a Racket
executable for the version being compiled that runs on the build
(i.e., you must compile on the build machine to cross-compile)
The `--enable-racket' flag is needed because building and installing
Racket requires running (an intermediate version of) Racket.
========================================================================
CGC versus 3m
========================================================================
Racket and GRacket have two variants: CGC and 3m. The CGC variant is
older, and it cooperates more easily with extensions written in C. The
3m variant is the default: it is more robust and usually provides better
overall performance.
The default build mode creates 3m binaries only. To create CGC binaries
in addition, run `make cgc' in addition to `make', or run `make both'.
To install both variants, use `make install-both' instead of just `make
install'. Alternately, use just `make cgc' and `make install-cgc' to
build and install just the CGC variants.
CGC variants are installed with a "cgc" suffix. To swap the default
build and install mode, supply `--enable-cgcdefault' to `configure'. In
that case, CGC variants are built by default, `make 3m' creates 3m
binaries, and `make install-both' installs CGC variants without a suffix
and 3m variants with a "3m" suffix.
========================================================================
Embedded Paths in the Executables
========================================================================
On all platforms, the Racket and GRacket binaries embed a path to the
main "collects" directory of library collections. This path can be
relative to the executable. Multiple paths can be provided, in which
case the first path is the main "collects" path, and additional paths
are placed before the main path (but after a user-specific "collects"
path) in the default collection path list.
The paths are embedded in the binary immediately after a special
"coLLECTs dIRECTORy:" tag. Each path must be NUL terminated, the entire
list of paths must end with an additional NUL terminator, and the
overall list must be less than 1024 bytes long.
As an alternative to editing an exeuctable directly, the
`create-embedding-executable' procedure from `compiler/embed' can be
used to change the embedded path. For example, the following program
clones the Racket executable to "/tmp/mz" and changes the embedded path
in the clone to "/tmp/collects":
(require compiler/embed)
(create-embedding-executable "/tmp/mz" #:collects-path "/tmp/collects")
Similarly, `raco exe' mode accepts a `--collects' flag to set the
collection path in the generated executable.
Under Windows, executables also embed a path to DLLs. For more
information, see "worksp\README".
Paths to all other installation directories are found through the
"config.rkt" library of the "config" collection. Search the
documentation for "config search paths" for more information.
========================================================================
Porting to New Platforms
========================================================================
At a mininum, to port Racket to a new platform, edit "racket/sconfig.h"
to provide a platform-specific compilation information. As distributed,
"racket/sconfig.h" contains configurations for the following platforms:
Windows (x86)
Mac OS X (PPC, x86, x86_64)
Linux (x86, x86_64, PPC, 68k)
Cygwin (x86)
Solaris (x86, Sparc)
FreeBSD (x86)
OpenBSD (x86)
NetBSD (x86)
If your platfrom is not supported by the Boehm garbage collector
(distributed with Racket source), provide the `--enable-sgc' flag to
`configure'.
========================================================================
Additional Compilation Notes
========================================================================
Garbage Collector
-----------------
The conservative garbage collector distributed with Racket (in the "gc"
directory) has been modified slightly from Boehm's standard
distribution. Mostly, the change modify the way that object
finalization is handled.
Configuration Options
---------------------
By default, Racket is compiled without support for single-precision
floating point numbers. This and other options can be modified by
setting flags in "racket/sconfig.h".
Modifying Racket
----------------
If you modify Racket and change any primitive syntax or the collection
of built-in identifers, be sure to turn off USE_COMPILED_STARTUP in
"schminc.h". Otherwise, Racket won't start. See "schminc.h" for
details.
