Question 1

What is glensing?

Accepted Answer

Gravity Lensing is a package registry for Common Lisp. It provides a searchable web interface for discovering Common Lisp libraries, with package details, dependencies, and usage information.

Question 2

What is area51?

Accepted Answer

area51 is a package manager CLI for Common Lisp. It handles dependency resolution, version locking, and reproducible builds for your projects.

Question 3

How do I install area51?

Accepted Answer

Run the following command in your terminal:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gr8distance/area51/main/install.sh | bash

Question 4

How do I add a package?

Accepted Answer

Use the add command:
area51 add <package-name>
This updates both your area51.lisp manifest and .asd system definition automatically.

Question 5

Where are packages stored?

Accepted Answer

Downloaded packages are cached in ~/.area51/packages/. The Quicklisp index is cached in ~/.area51/quicklisp/ and refreshed every 24 hours.

Question 6

Is Quicklisp required?

Accepted Answer

No. area51 is a standalone package manager. It fetches package metadata from glensing and downloads sources directly. You do not need Quicklisp installed.

Question 7

How do I publish a package?

Accepted Answer

Package publishing is coming soon. Currently, glensing indexes packages from the Quicklisp distribution. Stay tuned for direct publishing support.

Question 8

Is glensing free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Both Gravity Lensing and area51 are free and open source software.