start-emacs-lisp-interface

Arguments: &optional use-background-streams emacs-listener-number port announce-to-file

This function is obsolete. It has been replaced by new-start-emacs-lisp-interface. This function is still defined to handle one anomalous case: you are using a 6.2 version of the Emacs-Lisp interface even though you are running Allegro CL 7.0. In that case, when you want to start theemacs-lisp interface and you are not doing so in the standard way (by calling the emacs function fi:common-lisp), you may have to use this function on the Lisp side. You are using the 7.0 Emacs-Lisp interface if evaluating the emacs variable fi:emacs-lisp-interface-version results in a value "3.9" or larger. (You can evaluate an emacs variable in the *scratch8 buffer by entering the variable name and then Control-J.) If you are using the 6.2 interface, we recommend you update to the 7.0 version.

This function starts the 6.2 emacs-lisp interface (see eli.htm) on the Lisp side. The only situation in which you should call this function is:

• You are running the 6.2 emacs-lisp interface
• You are trying to connect Emacs to an already running Lisp.

Starting the interface after Lisp is already running

You can start the interface after Lisp has been started, typically not in Emacs, with this function and the 6.2 emacs-lisp interface function fi:start-interface-via-file. This is typically done for debugging a running but apparently broken process. To do this, in Lisp call a form like:

(excl:start-emacs-lisp-interface t 1 7666 "~/.eli-startup")

Note we have specified the emacs-listener-number as 1 (it must not be a number already used for a *common-lisp* buffer, if any exist), the port as 7666 (it can be any valid port number on the machine that is not already in use and can be nil, which causes the system to choose an appropriate port number), and announce-to-file as the file that will be used (it will be created for this call). Then, sometime later on the emacs side, do this (the host is "pie"):

(fi:start-interface-via-file "pie" "*common-lisp*" "~/.eli-startup")

The arguments are the host running Lisp, the buffer name, and the filename.

The arguments to start-emacs-lisp-interface are:

• use-background-streams: if true, then the function use-background-streams is used to initialize background streams, which provide a separate buffer for debugging processes other than the listener process. The value of use-background-streams is passed to the function use-background-streams (see Debugging background processes in debugging.htm). The default value of use-background-streams is t.
• emacs-listener-number: a value should only be specified when starting using a file as described under the heading Starting the interface after Lisp is already running below. The valuie should be an integer which is not already used for a *common-lisp* buffer, if any exist. Typical values are 1 or 2 or 3.
• port: a value should only be specified when starting using a file as described under the heading Starting the interface after Lisp is already running below. The value can be it can be any valid port number on the machine that is not already in use. Specifying the value nil (the default) causes the system to choose an appropriate value for the port.
• announce-to-file: a value should only be specified when starting using a file as described under the heading Starting the interface after Lisp is already running below. This file (which should not already exists -- it will be created by this call) is the file used by Eamcs to communicate to Lisp.

Copyright (c) 1998-2022, Franz Inc. Lafayette, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
This page was not revised from the 10.0 page.
Created 2019.8.20.