initial-package

Arguments: configuration

This configuration option determines the initial current package of IDE Listeners. More specifically, initial-package returns a symbol whose symbol-name is the name (or a nickname) of the package that will initially be the value of *package* in any IDE Listener processes that are subsequently created.

(setf initial-package) may be called to establish the package to be used in the future (with a form like (setf (initial-package (configuration *ide-system*)) :mypackage), replacing :mypackage with a keyword naming the package you want), or the value may be set interactively in the list of all configuration options displayed by the Tools | Inspect System Data | IDE Configuration Options command. The value must be a symbol (not a package object); a keyword is recommended.

The default value is :cg-user, for the common-graphics-user package. IDE Listeners are in this package by default instead of the more traditional common-lisp-user package. The cg-user package is similar to the cl-user package, but additionally uses the common-graphics package so that Common Graphics code in that package does not have to qualify exported Common Graphics symbols.

When the prefs.cl options file is loaded at IDE startup time, the value of this option is restored before any IDE Listener processes are created. Therefore, initial-package may be set in any IDE session to establish the initial current package of all IDE Listeners in future IDE sessions. If you would rather start in the common-lisp-user package, for example, then set initial-package to :common-lisp-user (or :cl-user).

If no package with the specified name is found when (setf initial-package) is called, a new "empty" package with that name is created at that time. At IDE startup time, the package could be more fully defined later in the startup.cl file or in the source code of a project that is being initially loaded. This allows the "Listener 1" process to start up in the desired package and then to load application code that fully defines the package.

The current development configuration is the value of (configuration *ide-system*). (See configuration and *ide-system*.)

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Created 2010.1.21.