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Building, Distributing, and Contributing to Racket

The main Racket source code repository is

https://github.com/racket/racket

This guide explains how to build those sources, how to create Racket distributions like the ones at https://download.racket-lang.org, and how to contribute to Racket development.

1 Building Racket from Source

1.1 Git Repository versus Source Distribution
1.2 Git Repository Build Modes
1.3 Quick Instructions: In-Place Build
1.4 Quick Instructions: Unix-Style Install
1.5 More Instructions: Building Racket
1.6 More Instructions: Building Racket CS and Racket BC
1.7 Even More Instructions: Building Racket Pieces

1.7.1 Building Minimal Racket
1.7.2 Installing Packages
1.7.3 Linking Packages for In-Place Development Mode

2 Distributing Racket Variants

2.1 Running Build Farms
2.2 Generating Installer Web Sites
2.3 Managing Snapshot Web Sites
2.4 Separate Server and Clients
2.5 Creating a Client from an Installer Web Site

3 Contributing to Racket Development

3.1 Main-Repository Contributions
3.2 Distribution-Package Contributions
3.3 General Contribution Guidelines
3.4 More Resources

4 Zuo and the Racket Build System

5 Bootstrapping Racket

1. Building Racket from Source

In a checkout of the Racket Git repository, you could try just running

  make

but we recommend that you at least consider the information in Git Repository versus Source Distribution and Git Repository Build Modes.

1.1. Git Repository versus Source Distribution

Instead of building from the Git repository, consider getting source for the current Racket release from

http://download.racket-lang.org/

or get a source snapshot (updated daily) from

http://snapshot.racket-lang.org/

The Source + built packages options from those sites will build and install especially quickly, because platform-independent bytecode and documentation are pre-built.

In contrast to the Git repository, release and snapshot source distributions will work in the

  configure --prefix=... && make && make install

way that you probably expect.

1.2. Git Repository Build Modes

The rest of this chapter assumes that you’re sticking with the source repository. In that case, you still have several options:

  • In-place build — This mode is the default. It creates a build in the "racket" subdirectory and installs packages that you specify (or the "main-distribution" plus "main-distribution-test" package by default). Any package implementations that reside in the "pkgs" subdirectory are linked in-place. This is the most natural mode for developing Racket itself or staying on the bleeding edge. See Quick Instructions: In-Place Build for more instructions.

  • Unix-style install — This mode installs to a given destination directory (on platforms other than Windows), leaving no reference to the source directory. This is the most natural mode for installing once from the source repository. See Quick Instructions: Unix-Style Install for more instructions.

  • Minimal — This mode is like a source distribution, and it is described in the "src" subdirectory of "racket" (i.e., ignore the repository’s root directory and "pkgs" subdirectory). Build a minimal Racket using the usual configure && make && make install steps (or similar for Windows), and then you can install packages from the catalog server with raco pkg.

  • Installers — This mode creates Racket distribution installers for a variety of platforms by farming out work to machines that run those platforms. This is the way that Racket snapshots and releases are created, and you can create your own. See Distributing Racket Variants for more instructions.

  • In-place Racket BC build — This mode builds the old Racket implementation (where “BC” means “bytecode” or “before Chez Scheme”). Final executables with names that end in bc or BC are the Racket BC variants. See More Instructions: Building Racket CS and Racket BC for more information.

1.3. Quick Instructions: In-Place Build

On Unix (including Linux) and Mac OS, make (or make in-place) creates a build in the "racket" directory.

On Windows with Microsoft Visual Studio (any version between 2008/9.0 and 2022/17.0), nmake creates a build in the "racket" directory. If your command-prompt environment is not already configured for Visual Studio to run programs like nmake.exe and cl.exe, you run "racket/src/worksp/msvcprep.bat" (PowerShell: "racket/src/worksp/msvcprep.ps1"} and provide an argument that selects a build mode: x86 (32-bit Intel/AMD mode), x64 or x86_amd64 (64-bit Intel/AMD mode), or x64_arm64 (64-bit Arm mode). Any use of make described in this build guide should also work with nmake, except as noted.

In all cases, an in-place build includes (via links) a few packages that are in the "pkgs" directory. To get new versions of those packages, as well as the Racket core, then use git pull. Afterward, or to get new versions of any other package, use make in-place again, which includes a raco pkg update step.

See More Instructions: Building Racket for more information.

1.4. Quick Instructions: Unix-Style Install

On Unix (including Linux), make unix-style PREFIX=<dir> builds and installs into "<dir>" with binaries in "<dir>/bin", packages in "<dir>/share/racket/pkgs", documentation in "<dir>/share/racket/doc", etc.

On Mac OS, make unix-style PREFIX=<dir> builds and installs into "<dir>" with binaries in "<dir>/bin", packages in "<dir>/share/pkgs", documentation in "<dir>/doc", etc.

On Windows, Unix-style install is not supported.

A Unix-style install leaves no reference to the source directory.

To split the build and install steps of a Unix-style installation, supply DESTDIR=<dest-dir> with make unix-style PREFIX=<dir>, which assembles the installation in "<dest-dir>". Then, copy or move the content of "<dest-dir>" to the target root "<dir>"; take care to preserve file timestamps.

See More Instructions: Building Racket for more information.

1.5. More Instructions: Building Racket

The "racket" directory contains minimal Racket, which is just enough to run raco pkg to install everything else. A first step of make in-place or make unix-style is to build minimal Racket, and you can read "racket/src/README.txt" for more information, including information about dependencies. (The very first step of a build is to compile Zuo, which is a tiny variant of Racket that drives the rest of the build system.)

If you would like to provide arguments to configure for the minimal Racket build, then you can supply them with by adding CONFIGURE_ARGS="<options>" to make in-place or make unix-style.

The "pkgs" directory contains packages that are tied to the Racket core implementation and are therefore kept in the same Git repository. A make in-place links to the package in-place, while make unix-style copies packages out of "pkgs" to install them.

To install a subset of the packages that would otherwise be installed, supply a PKGS value to make. For example,

  make PKGS="gui-lib readline-lib"

installs only the "gui-lib" and "readline-lib" packages and their dependencies. The default value of PKGS is "main-distribution main-distribution-test". If you run make a second time, all previously installed packages remain installed and are updated, while new packages are added. To uninstall previously selected package, use raco pkg remove.

To build anything other than the latest sources in the repository (e.g., when building from the v6.2.1 tag), you need a catalog that’s compatible with those sources. Release tags starting with v7.1 include a default catalog that corresponds to the release. For earlier versions, the release distribution is configured to use a catalog specific to that release, so you can extract the catalog’s URL from there.

Using make (or make in-place) sets the installation’s name to development, unless the installation has been previously configured (i.e., unless the "racket/etc/config.rktd" file exists). The installation name affects, for example, the directory where user-specific documentation is installed. Using make also sets the default package scope to installation, which means that packages are installed by default into the installation’s space instead of user-specific space. The name and/or default-scope configuration can be changed through raco pkg config.

When make -j <n> is used to specify parallelism, the build system may be able to propagate that choice to intermediate steps and the raco setup part. A more portable alternative is to supply the JOBS variable:

  make JOBS=<n>

Setting JOBS works with other targets, including make unix-style. For backward compatibility, CPUS is recognized as an alias for JOBS.

Use make as-is to perform the same build actions as make in-place, but without consulting any package catalogs or package sources to install or update packages. In other words, use make as-is to rebuild after local changes that could include changes to minimal Racket. (If you change only packages, then raco setup should suffice.)

If you need even more control over the build, carry on to Even More Instructions: Building Racket Pieces further below.

1.6. More Instructions: Building Racket CS and Racket BC

The default build of Racket, also known as Racket CS, uses and incorporates Chez Scheme. Chez Scheme sources are included in the Racket repository.

Building Racket CS requires either an existing Racket or pb (portable bytecode) boot files for Chez Scheme. By default, pb boot files are downloaded from a separate Git repository by make. If you have Racket v7.1 or later, then you can choose instead to bootstrap using that Racket implementation with

  make cs BOOTFILE_RACKET=racket

The make bc target (or make bc-as-is for a rebuild) builds an older variant of Racket, called Racket BC, which does not use Chez Scheme. By default, the executables for the Racket BC variant all have a bc or BC suffix, and they coexist with a Racket CS build by keeping compiled files in a "bc" subdirectory of the "compiled" directory. You can remove the bc suffix and the subdirectory in "compiled" by providing RACKETBC_SUFFIX="" to make bc.

Along similar lines, you can add a cs suffix to the Racket CS executables and cause them to use a machine-specific subdirectory of "compiled" by providing RACKETCS_SUFFIX="cs" to make or make cs.

Use make both to build both Racket BC and Racket CS, where packages are updated and documentation is built only once (using Racket CS).

1.7. Even More Instructions: Building Racket Pieces

Instead of just using make in-place or make unix-style, you can take more control over the build by understanding how the pieces fit together. You can also read "Makefile", which defines and describes many variables that can be supplied via make.

1.7.1. Building Minimal Racket

Instead of using the top-level makefile, you can go into "racket/src" and follow the "README.txt" there, which gives you more configuration options.

If you don’t want any special configuration and you just want the base build, you can use make base with the top-level makefile.

Minimal Racket does not require additional native libraries to run, but under Windows, encoding-conversion, extflonum, and SSL functionality is hobbled until native libraries from the "racket-win32-i386" or "racket-win32-x86_64" package are installed.

On all platforms, from the top-level makefile, the PLT_SETUP_OPTIONS makefile variable is passed on to the raco setup that is used to build minimal-Racket libraries. See the documentation for raco setup for information on the options. (The JOB_OPTIONS makefile variable is also passed on, but it is meant to be set by some makefile targets when CPUS is non-empty.)

For cross compilation, add configuration options to CONFIGURE_ARGS="<options>" as described in the "README.txt" of "racket/src", but also add a RACKET=... argument for the top-level makefile instead of using --enable-racket=... for configure.

Specify SETUP_MACHINE_FLAGS=<options> to set Racket flags that control the target machine of compiled bytecode for raco setup and raco pkg install. For example SETUP_MACHINE_FLAGS=-M causes the generated bytecode to be machine-independent, which is mainly useful when the generated installation will be used as a template for other platforms or for cross-compilation.

1.7.2. Installing Packages

After you’ve built and installed minimal Racket, you could install packages via the package-catalog server, completely ignoring the content of "pkgs".

If you want to install packages manually out of the "pkgs" directory, the local-catalog target creates a catalog as "racket/local/catalog" that merges the currently configured catalog’s content with pointers to the packages in "pkgs". A Unix-style build works that way: it builds and installs minimal Racket, and then it installs packages out of a catalog that is created by make local-catalog.

To add a package catalog that is used after the content of "pkgs" but before the default package catalogs, specify the catalog’s URL as the SRC_CATALOG makefile variable:

  make .... SRC_CATALOG=<url>

1.7.3. Linking Packages for In-Place Development Mode

With an in-place build, you can edit packages within "pkgs" directly or update those packages with git pull plus raco setup, since the packages are installed with the equivalent of raco pkg install -i --static-link <path>.

Instead of actually using raco pkg install --static-link ..., the pkgs-catalog makefile target creates a catalog that points to the packages in "pkgs", and the catalog indicates that the packages are to be installed as links. The pkgs-catalog target further configures the new catalog as the first one to check when installing packages. The configuration adjustment is made only if no configuration file "racket/etc/config.rktd" exists already.

All other packages (as specified by PKGS) are installed via the configured package catalog. They are installed in installation scope, but the content of "racket/share/pkgs" is not meant to be edited. To reinstall a package in a mode suitable for editing and manipulation with Git tools, use

  raco pkg update --clone extra-pkgs/<pkg-name>

The "extra-pkgs" directory name is a convention that is supported by a ".gitignore" entry in the repository root.

2. Distributing Racket Variants

This chapter is about distributing variants of Racket, as opposed to distributing applications that are built with Racket. See raco distribute: Sharing Stand-Alone Executables for information about distributing applications.

Important: To build installers that can be distributed to other users, do not use make in-place or make unix-style, but instead start from a clean repository.

Use one non-Windows machine as a server, where packages will be pre-built. Then, as described below, create platform-specific installers on some number of client machines, each of which contacts the server machine to obtain pre-built packages. The server can act as a client, naturally, to create an installer for the server’s platform.

The distribution-build process is a collaboration between the Racket Git repository’s top-level makefile and the "distro-build" package.

2.1. Running Build Farms

The installers target of the makefile will do everything to generate installers: build a server on the current machine, run clients on hosts specified via CONFIG, and start/stop VirtualBox virtual machines or Docker containers that act as client machines.

If the server is already built, the installers-from-built target will drive the client builds without re-building the server.

See the documentation of the "distro-build" package for a description of the site-configuration module and requirements on client hosts.

If "my-site-config.rkt" is a configuration module, then

  make installers CONFIG=my-site-config.rkt

drives the build farm, and the resulting installers are in "build/installers", with a hash table mapping descriptions to installer filenames in "build/installer/table.rktd". A log file for each client is written to "build/log".

If you have the "distro-build-server" package installed in some Racket build (not the one for building installers), you can use

  make describe-clients CONFIG=my-site-config.rkt

to see, without building anything, the effect of the configuration in "my-site-config.rkt" and the planned build steps. See also the #:fake-installers? site-configuration option.

The default CONFIG path is "build/site.rkt", so you could put your configuration file there and omit the CONFIG argument to make. A default configuration file is created there automatically. Supply CONFIG_MODE=... to pass a configuration mode on to your site-configuration module (accessible via the current-mode parameter). Supply CLEAN_MODE=--clean to make the default #:clean? configuration for a client to #t instead of #f, supply RELEASE_MODE=--release to make the default #:release? configuration #t, supply SOURCE_MODE=--source to make the default #:source? configuration #t, and supply VERSIONLESS_MODE=--version to make the default #:versionless? configuration #t.

A configuration file can specify the packages to include, host address of the server, distribution name, installer directory, and documentation search URL, but defaults can be provided as make arguments via PKGS, SERVER plus SERVER_PORT plus SERVER_HOSTS, DIST_NAME, DIST_BASE, and DIST_DIR, DOC_SEARCH, respectively. The site configuration’s top-level options for packages and documentation search URL are used to configure the set of packages that are available to client machines to include in installers.

For each installer written to "build/installers", the installer’s name is

"<dist-base>-<version>-<platform>-<dist-suffix>.<ext>"

where <dist-base> defaults to "racket" (but can be set via DIST_BASE), <platform> is from (system-library-subpath #f) but normalizing the Windows results to "i386-win32" and "x86_63-win32", -<dist-suffix> is omitted unless a #:dist-suffix string is specified for the client in the site configuration, and <ext> is platform-specific: ".sh" for Unix (including Linux), ".dmg" or ".pkg" for Mac OS, and ".exe" for Windows.

The server supports both 'cs and '3m clients by creating built packages in machine-independent form (which is then recompiled to the client’s native format, still much faster than compiling from source). Set SERVER_COMPILE_MACHINE= to disable machine-independent format for built packages.

2.2. Generating Installer Web Sites

The site target of the makefile uses the installers target to generate a set of installers, and then it combines the installers, packages, a package catalog, and log files into a directory that is suitable for access via a web server.

Supply the same CONFIG=... and CONFIG_MODE=... arguments for site as for installers. The configuration file should have a #:dist-base-url entry for the URL where installers and packages will be made available; the installers target uses #:dist-base-url to embed suitable configuration into the installers. Specifically, installers are configured to access pre-built packages and documentation from the site indicated by #:dist-base-url.

Note that #:dist-base-url should almost always end with "/", since others URLs will be constructed as relative to #:dist-base-url.

The site is generated as "build/site" by default. A #:site-dest entry in the configuration file can select an alternate destination.

Use the site-from-installers makefile target to perform the part of site that happens after installers (i.e., to generate a site from an already-generated set of installers).

2.3. Managing Snapshot Web Sites

The snapshot-site makefile target uses site (so supply the same CONFIG=... and CONFIG_MODE=... arguments), and then treats the resulting site as a snapshot with additional snapshot-management tasks.

For snapshot management, the destination of the files generated for site (as specified by #:site-dest) should be within a directory of snapshots. The configuration file can use (current-stamp) to get a string that represents the current build, and then use the string both for #:dist-base-url and #:site-dest. Normally, the stamp string is a combination of the date and Git commit hash.

Snapshot management includes creating an "index.html" file in the snapshots directory (essentially a copy of the snapshot’s own "index.html") and pruning snapshot subdirectories to keep the number of snapshots at the amount specified by #:max-snapshots configuration-file entry (with a default value of 5).

Use the snapshot-at-site makefile target to perform the part of snapshot-site that happens after site (i.e., to manage snapshots around an already-generated site).

2.4. Separate Server and Clients

Instead of using the installers makefile target and a site configuration file, you can run server and client processes manually.

Roughly, the steps are as follows

  • On the server machine:

      make server PKGS="<pkgs>"

    See step 2 in the detailed steps below for more information on variables other than PKGS that you can provide with make.

  • On each client machine:

      make client SERVER=<address> PKGS="<pkgs>"

    See 4 in the detailed steps below for more information on variables other than SERVER and PKGS that you can provide with make.

In more detail, the steps are as follows:

  • Build racket on a server.

    The base target of the makefile will do that, if you haven’t done it already. (The server only works on non-Windows platforms, currently.)

  • On the server, build packages and start a catalog server.

    The server-from-base target of the makefile will do that.

    Alternatively, use the server target, which combines base and server-from-base (i.e., steps 1 and 2).

    The SERVER_PORT variable of the makefile choose the port on which the server listens to clients. The default is port 9440.

    The SERVER_HOSTS variable of the makefile determines the interfaces at which the server listens. The default is localhost which listens only on the loopback device (for security). Supply the empty string to listen on all interfaces. Supply multiple addresses by separating them with a comma.

    The PKGS variable of the makefile determines which packages are built for potential inclusion in a distribution.

    The DOC_SEARCH variable of the makefile determine a URL that is embedded in rendered documentation for cases where a remote search is needed (because other documentation is not installed).

    The SRC_CATALOG variable determines the catalog that is used to get package sources and native-library packages. The default is http://pkgs.racket-lang.org.

    The SERVER_PKG_INSTALL_OPTIONS variable determines extra flags that are passed to raco pkg install when installing on the server (to create package builds that are sent to clients). For example, SERVER_PKG_INSTALL_OPTIONS=--source could be useful to ensure that the server always builds from sources.

    The PACK_BUILT_OPTIONS variable can be set to --mode <mode> to set the package mode for built packages. The default infer mode infers uses the package’s distribution-preference "info.rkt" field, if any, infers binary if the package has any native libraries and no Racket sources, and infers built otherwise.

    The server provides README files from the "build/readmes" directory. If "README.txt" does not exist when the sever is started, a default file is created (and clients download "README.txt" by default).

    If you stop the server and want to restart it, use the built-package-server makefile target instead of starting over with the server target.

  • On each client (one for each platform to bundle), build racket.

    This is the same as step 1, but on each client. If the client and server are the same, there’s nothing more to do for step 3.

  • On each client, create an installer.

    The client target of the makefile will do that.

    Provide SERVER as the hostname of the server machine, but a localhost-based tunnel back to the server is more secure and avoids the need to specify SERVER_HOSTS when starting the server in step 2. Also, provide SERVER_PORT if an alternate port was specified in step 2.

    Provide the same PKGS (or a subset) as in step 2 if you want a different set than the ones listed in the makefile. Similarly, DOC_SEARCH normally should be the same as in step 2, but for a client, it affects future documentation builds in the installation.

    Alternatively, use the client target, which combines base and client-from-base (i.e., steps 3 and 4).

    On Windows, you need NSIS installed, either in the usual location or with makensis in your command-line path.

    To create a release installer, provide RELEASE_MODE as --release to make. A release installer has slightly different defaults that are suitable for infrequently updated release installations, as opposed to frequently updated snapshot installations.

    To create a source archive, provide SOURCE_MODE as --source to make.

    To create an archive that omits the version number and also omit and version number in installer paths, provide VERSIONLESS_MODE as --versionless to make.

    To change the human-readable name of the distribution as embedded in the installer, provide DIST_NAME to make. The default distribution name is Racket. Whatever name you pick, the Racket version number is automatically added for various contexts.

    To change the base name of the installer file, provide DIST_BASE to make. The default is racket.

    To change the directory name for installation on Unix (including Linux), provide DIST_DIR to make. The default is racket.

    To add an extra piece to the installer’s name, such as an identifier for a variant of Linux, provide DIST_SUFFIX to make. The default is "", which omits the prefix and its preceding hyphen.

    To set the description string for the installer, provide DIST_DESC to make. The description string is recorded alongside the installer.

    To set the initial package catalogs URLs for an installation, provide DIST_CATALOGS_q to make. Separate multiple URLs with a space, and use an empty string in place of a URL to indicate that the default catalogs should be used. The _q in the variable name indicates that its value can include double quotes (but not single quotes)—which are needed to specify an empty string, for example.

    To select a "README" file for the client, provide README to make. The README value is used as a file name to download from the server.

    To create a ".tgz" archive instead of an installer (or any platform), set TGZ_MODE to --tgz.

    For a Mac OS installer, set SIGN_IDENTITY as the name to which the signing certificate is associated. Set MAC_PKG_MODE to --mac-pkg to create a ".pkg" installer instead of a ".dmg" image.

    For a Windows installer, set OSSLSIGNCODE_ARGS_BASE64 as a Base64 encoding of an S-expression for a list of argument strings for osslsigncode. The -n, -t, -in, and -out arguments are provided to osslsigncode automatically, so supply the others.

    The SERVER_CATALOG_PATH and SERVER_COLLECTS_PATH makefile variables specify paths at SERVER plus SERVER_PORT to access the package catalog and pre-built "collects" tree needed for a client, but those paths should be empty for a server started with make server, and they are used mainly by make client-from-site (described below).

    The UPLOAD makefile variable specifies a URL to use as an upload destination for the created installed, where the installer’s name is added to the end of the URL, or leave as empty for no upload.

On each client, step 4 produces a "bundle/installer.txt" file that contains the path to the generated installer on one line, followed by the description on a second line. The installer is also uploaded to the server, which leaves the installer in a "build/installers" directory and records a mapping from the installer’s description to its filename in "build/installers/table.rktd".

If you provide JOB_OPTIONS=<options> for either a client or server build, the options are used both for raco setup and raco pkg install. Normally, JOB_OPTIONS is used to control parallelism.

2.5. Creating a Client from an Installer Web Site

If you (or someone else) previously created an installer site with make site, then make client-from-site in a clean repository creates an installer for the current platform drawing packages from the site.

At a minimum, provide SERVER, SERVER_PORT (usually 80 or 443), SERVER_URL_SCHEME (if https instead of http) and SITE_PATH (if not empty, include a trailing /) makefile variables to access a site at

http://$(SERVER):$(SERVER_PORT)/$(SITE_PATH)

The client-from-site makefile target chains to make client while passing suitable values for DIST_CATALOGS_q, DOC_SEARCH, SERVER_CATALOG_PATH, and SERVER_COLLECTS_PATH. Supply any other suitable variables, such as DIST_NAME or RELEASE_MODE, the same as for make client.

3. Contributing to Racket Development

The Racket developers are happy to receive bug reports and improvements to the implementation and documentation through GitHub issues and pull requests:

The Racket distribution includes scores of packages that have their own separate repositories, which somewhat complicates the process of sending pull requests. The mechanism is the same, but see Distribution-Package Contributions for more guidance.

By making a contribution, you are agreeing that your contribution is licensed under the LGPLv3, Apache 2.0, and MIT licenses. Those licenses are available in the Racket Git repository in the files "LICENSE.txt", "LICENSE-APACHE.txt", and "LICENSE-MIT.txt".

3.1. Main-Repository Contributions

The main Racket Git repository contains the implementation of everything that is in the Minimal Racket distribution. That includes the runtime system, core libraries, and raco pkg so that other packages can be installed.

The main Racket repository also has the source to the Racket Reference, Racket Guide, and other core-ish documentation, including the source to the document that you are reading. Those document sources are in the repository’s "pkgs" directory.

Finally, the main repository includes a few other packages that are especially tightly bound to the runtime-system implementation, such as the "compiler-lib" package or the "racket-test" package. Those package sources are also in the repository’s "pkgs" directory.

To develop improvements to any of those parts of Racket, following the usual GitHub-based workflow:

  • Fork the Racket repository.

  • Create an in-place build as described in Building Racket from Source.

  • Make your changes and rebuild with make or make as-is or raco setup, where raco setup is the best choice when modifying Racket libraries that are in "collects" or a package. If your changes involve modifying things that are part of the racket executable, then a simple make may not suffice; see “Modifying Racket” in "racket/src/README.txt" for more information.

  • Commit changes to your fork and submit a pull request.

See the General Contribution Guidelines.

3.2. Distribution-Package Contributions

If you find yourself changing a file that is in a "share/pkgs" subdirectory (either installed as part of a Racket release or as a product of an in-place build), then that file is not part of the main Racket Git repository. It almost certainly has its own Git repository somewhere else, possibly within https://github.com/racket, but possibly in another user’s space. The name of the directory in "share/pkgs" is almost certainly the package name.

To start working on a package <pkg-name> from a Racket release or snapshot, you first need to adjust the package installation to use the source specified by the main package catalog

  raco pkg update --no-setup --catalog https://pkgs.racket-lang.org <pkg-name>

and then in the directory you’d like to hold the package’s source

  raco pkg update --clone <pkg-name>

will clone the package’s source Git repository into "<pkg-name>" within the current directory.

Alternatively, if you already have an in-place build of the main Racket repository, you can start working on a package <pkg-name>, by going to the root directory of your Racket repository checkout and running

  raco pkg update --clone extra-pkgs/<pkg-name>

That will create "extra-pkgs/<pkg-name>" as a clone of the package’s source Git repository, it will replace the current installation of the package in your Racket build to point at that directory, and then it will rebuild (essentially by using raco setup) with the new location of the package installation. Now you can edit in "extra-pkgs/<pkg-name>", and your changes will be live.

Some information that might improve your experience:

  • You can add --no-setup to the raco pkg update command to skip the raco setup step, which makes sense if you want to make changes and then run raco setup yourself.

  • A package is sometimes a subdirectory within a Git repository, and it would be better if the checkout in "extra-pkgs" matched the repository name instead of the package name. If you know the repository name, you can use

      raco pkg update --clone extra-pkgs/<repo-name> <pkg-name>

    to make the distinction.

  • This same approach will generally work if you’re starting from a distribution installer instead of the checkout of the Racket sources from the main Git repository. You’ll need write permission to the installation, though, so that raco pkg update can redirect the package. Also, there’s no particular reason to use extra-pkgs in that case.

  • If you’re done and want to go back to the normal installation for <pkg-name>, use

      raco pkg update --lookup <pkg-name>

  • See Developing Packages with Git for more information about how packages are meant to work as Git repositories.

Note that none of this is necessary if you’re modifying a package in the main Racket repository’s "pkgs" directory. Those are automatically linked in place for an in-place build of Racket.

3.3. General Contribution Guidelines

When you make a pull request, the Racket developers will help you get the improvement in shape to merge to the Racket repository. You can make that process faster by keeping a few guidelines in mind:

  • Try to follow the style guide.

  • When you fix a bug or create a new feature, include a test case for it.

    Note that core Racket tests are in "pkgs/racket-test-core/tests/racket", and tests for other libraries are also sometimes in a separate "-test" package.

  • Include new or updated documentation as appropriate.

    To locate a documentation (Scribble) source file, visit the current documentation in a browser, and click at the page heading. A box will appear with a URL to a documentation source. Note that while it is likely that the documentation source will not be the file that you want to edit exactly, it should give you a rough idea for where it is. Particularly, the Racket reference is in "pkgs/racket-doc/scribblings/reference", and the Racket guide is in "pkgs/racket-doc/scribblings/guide".

    When adding to a library or extending an existing binding’s behavior, be sure to include a history note in the documentation to record the change.

  • Build with your changes.

    Don’t break the Racket build. That means at least checking that raco setup runs and completes without errors. If you added or modified documentation, visually inspect the newly rendered documentation to make sure it reads as intended.

    A common mistake is to just run a modified library or its tests, but where a change creates a new package dependency that will only be detected by a full raco setup. Really: run raco setup.

  • For changes to the C code, ensure your code follows the C99 standard.

    On Unix systems, extensions that are part of the _DEFAULT_SOURCE pre-processor flag are also allowed. See the glibc manual for more details.

3.4. More Resources

For additional pointers on how to contribute to Racket, see

https://github.com/racket/racket/wiki/Ways-to-contribute-to-Racket

4. Zuo and the Racket Build System

Racket builds with many options, and the build needs to work in a variety of environments. That variability is difficult to manage through a traditional makefile. The Racket build is mostly driven instead with Zuo, which is a tiny, Racket-like scripting language with facilities inspired by make and Shake. When you build Racket with make, the makefile target ensures that zuo is built, and then it bounces the build request to a "main.zuo" script.

Racket makefiles build zuo using the CC_FOR_BUILD makefile variable plus CFLAGS_FOR_BUILD. The CC_FOR_BUILD variable defaults to using the CC makefile variable plus -O2, while CC normally defaults to cc. If you need to specify a C compiler or options for building Zuo, supply CC=<compiler>, CC_FOR_BUILD=<compiler>, and/or CFLAGS_FOR_BUILD=<flags> to make.

In you have zuo installed, you can generally substitute zuo . in place of make when building Racket components. You can even use just zuo in place of make if you’re not providing additional target or variable arguments to make, but otherwise . is needed after zuo to select the main.zuo script in the current directory. In most cases, it doesn’t matter whether you use make or zuo ., but if you move deep enough into the Racket build tree, there are only Zuo scripts. To install Zuo, you can use the usual configure && make && make install in "racket/src/zuo".

Even when you run zuo directly, configuration information is frequently read from "Makefile" or "Mf-config". The latter name is used when the makefile exists only for recording a configuration and does not provide targets. When you run a configure script, configuration choices are recorded in a generated "Makefile" or "Mf-config".

By convention, a source file "build.zuo" is analogous to "Makefile.in": it is meant to be instantiated in a build directory as "main.zuo". Instead of copying and updating, as typically happens to convert "Makefile.in" to "Makefile", a "main.zuo" is typically instantiated as a small module, possibly by copying a "buildmain.zuo" file to "main.zuo". That "main.zuo" reaches "build.zuo" using a source directory that is recorded in an accompanying "Makefile" or "Mf-config".

5. Bootstrapping Racket

Although Racket is implemented in Racket, you do not normally need an existing Racket installation to build Racket. Distribution archives include the needed bootstrapping artifacts in a portable form. The Racket Git repository similarly includes some of those artifacts checked in directly, and some are in a separate repository that is downloaded by make. Specifically:

  • "racket/src/cs/schemified" includes macro-expanded, schemified versions of layers that are implemented in Racket for Racket CS, and these are checked into the Git repository;

  • "racket/src/bc/srcstartup.inc" is the macro-expanded expander (as implemented in Racket) for Racket BC, and it is checked into the Git repository; and

  • "racket/src/ChezScheme/boot/pb" contains Chez Scheme pb (portable bytecode) boot files, normally downloaded from a separate Git repository in a branch that has a single commit (i.e., no history of old versions within the branch).

If you modify certain pieces of Racket, you will need an existing build of Racket to bootstrap. That includes the Chez Scheme implementation (at least for some kinds of modifications), the Racket macro expander, and in the case of Racket CS, the "thread", "io", "regexp", and "schemify" layers.

For more information about modifying Chez Scheme, see "racket/src/cs/README.txt". As explained there, you can create new boot files in "racket/src/ChezScheme/boot/pb" or platform-specific boot files using even a relatively old version of Chez Scheme or Racket.

For information about modifying the macro expander for Racket CS and/or BC, see "racket/src/expander/README.txt". Building the expander may require a relatively new version of Racket, perhaps even the very latest version before the change.

Finally, for information about modifying the other layers for Racket CS, see "racket/src/cs/README.txt". Rebuilding these layers requires a relatively new version of Racket, too.