I have lots of ideas for more metadata that can be gathered automatically or semi-automatically. It should be straightforward if time-consuming to set up automatic testing, even if it's as simple as "Does library foo compile and load on implementation bar on operating system baz?" Same with gathering data to answer questions like "What foreign libraries are needed for this project?" or "What is the license for this project?"
If you'd like to give the early version a try, drop me an email ([email protected]) or visit freenode #quicklisp.
Maybe testing can just start with a TAP library.
POD-like documentation would be a little harder with reader-macros. Maybe a syntax can be defined that doesn't step on too many toes...
Either way, I'll be taking a look at it ASAP. Cheers.
Most of them seem to just download the source from some repository and stop once it builds. It's a step up from the manual or scripted process from before, but it's hardly anything on the scale of CPAN.
It's probably too much to ask, but I'd love to see something like an actual CPAN for Lisp. A centralized, mirrored archive network. Standardized package meta-data. Standardized documentation tools. Author verification that doesn't require the users to store individual author keys on their rings.
But I suppose the reason it hasn't been done is:
1. Lispers don't care/need/desire it 2. It would take a significant group effort and most people would rather be hacking something else 3. What we have works well enough that it doesn't justify the effort to go that last 10%
Still... one can dream (and I'd throw in my hat to help too).