CLHS: Issue REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS Writeup

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## Issue REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS Writeup

    Issue:         REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS
    References:    *MODULES*, PROVIDE, REQUIRE, pp 188-191
                   LOAD, pp 426-427
    Category:      CHANGE
    Edit history:  Version 1 by Pierson 9/13/88
                   Version 2 by Pierson 9/19/88, change PROVIDE stuff per comments
                   Version 3 by Pierson 10/17/88, remove PROVIDE locaction specs.
                   Version 4 by Pierson 10/31/88, remove from language
                   Version 5 by Pierson 11/15/88, cleanup, fix discussion
                   Version 6 by Pierson 12/9/88, remove *MODULES* as well

    Problem description:

    PROVIDE and REQUIRE are a dual-purpose pair of functions that attempt
    to provide multi-file Common Lisp programs with a single mechanism to
    detect and correct incorrect load sequences.  These functions were
    also designed to be used for general file inclusion in Common Lisp.
    Unfortunately, the file loading feature of REQUIRE is specified such
    that it is inherently non-portable and environment dependent.

    Proposal (REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS:ELIMINATE):

    Remove PROVIDE, REQUIRE, and *MODULES* from the Common Lisp standard.

    Test Cases/Examples:

    (PROVIDE 'fft)

    Would not be Common Lisp.

    (REQUIRE 'fft)

    Would not be Common Lisp.

    Rationale:

    The file loading feature of REQUIRE is non-portable.  The remaining
    functionality of PROVIDE and REQUIRE (pushing and testing *MODULES*)
    can easily be implemented by user code.  Since some implementations
    will retain the automatic module loading features of REQUIRE and some
    won't, use of REQUIRE will almost always make code less portable.

    Current practice:

    All implementations currently support some sort of file loading via
    single-argument REQUIRE.  In general, the Lisp Machine implementations
    invoke the system module building/loading facility while the Unix
    implementations simply try to load a file in the current directory.

    Cost to Implementors:

    Implementations will have to move PROVIDE and REQUIRE to their package
    for implementation extensions and change their documentation to
    indicate that PROVIDE and REQUIRE are non-standard.  This is a fairly
    small change.

    Cost to Users:

    Non-portable programs that rely on PROVIDE and REQUIRE will probably
    be unaffected since implementations will probably maintain their
    existing functionality.  Since the current behavior is decidedly
    non-portable, portable programs have to aviod or special-case PROVIDE
    and REQUIRE anyway.

    Cost of non-Adoption:

    PROVIDE and REQUIRE will continue as impediments to portability.

    Benefits:

    The non-portability of PROVIDE and REQUIRE will be made obvious.

    Aesthetics:

    This simplifies the language by removing an environment-dependent
    feature.

    Discussion:

    The cleanup committee tried to come up with a proposal to restrict
    PROVIDE and REQUIRE to the portable subset of their functionality.
    This failed because several implementors objected that it compelled
    them to significantly reduce the functionality they provided users in
    order to create a trivial feature which any user could easily write
    for herself.

    Fahlman, Gregor, Grey, Loosemore, Moon, Pierson, Pitman, Steele, and
    Zacharias have expressed support for removing PROVIDE and REQUIRE from
    the language, at least as the lesser of several evils.

    JonL would much rather see PROVIDE and REQUIRE remain in the language
    as a safety net behind any implementation-specific system building
    facility.  Pierson likes the safety net idea, but doesn't think it's
    workable without forbidding REQUIRE from loading files.

    Pitman suggested that PROVIDE and REQUIRE should be depricated rather
    than removed entirely.  Pierson agrees, but notes that Larry wants us
    to deal with deprication versus elimination as a separate global topic.

    Several people have expressed a desire not to break existing user
    code.  If accepted, this proposal should not break existing code
    because all implementations are expected to retain their current
    PROVIDE and REQUIRE functionality as an extension to Common Lisp.

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