Maxima encountered a Lisp error on start up


On Tue, 16 Feb 2010, Nicolas FRANCOIS wrote:

< Le Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:35:54 +0000 (GMT),
< Leo Butler <l.butler at ed.ac.uk> a ?crit :
< 
< > Nicolas,
< > A good place to start is to tell us the information from
< > 
< > build_info();
< 
< (%i1) build_info();
< Maxima version: 5.17.1
< Maxima build date: 14:9 7/13/2009
< host type: i686-pc-linux-gnu
< lisp-implementation-type: GNU Common Lisp (GCL)
< lisp-implementation-version: GCL 2.6.7
<  
< > Assuming I've guessed this information correctly...
< > There are two related problems which seem to have caught many
< > Ubuntu packages out. The first is that Ubuntu made a decision to
< > enforce a security policy at the kernel level in Karmic. The
< > security policy in question is to strictly enforce the aliasing
< > rules in C. My understading of the situation is that GCL, which
< > your Maxima is using, is caught out here. You'll find many projects
< > have been caught out (search for 'strict aliasing'), a big reason
< > behind the disappointment that is karmic.
< 
< OK, I'll check the Ubuntu forum. Maybe some geek will fix the GCL
< problem, or bring a package with another Lisp interpreter.
< 
< Many thanks, Leo.
 
Nicolas,
The version of Maxima & GCL you are using are somewhat out-of-date. The Ubuntu
repository ought to have Maxima 5.20.1 and GCL 2.6.8....

I just checked and 5.20.1 is available from the Debian repositories
in sid (unstable), although not from Ubuntu's Karmic repos. Could I ask
you to put in a request to Ubuntu that 5.20.1 be added to
karmic-updates, while you are on the Ubuntu forum?

You will find some solutions to your immediate problem on the Ubuntu
forum, and in recent posts to this list. However, it is preferable to
go through your distribution's official machinery to obtain the
solution: it shows the distribution's managers that there are users who
want Maxima and want it kept up to date; and, (optimistically), it will
benefit more users of Maxima if it is kept up to date on the
repositories. 

Leo
-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.