This document outlines the process of cross-compiling Common Lisp applications for Windows from a Linux environment, as successfully implemented for a Raylib-based game.

Abstract: This article details the comprehensive workflow for cross-compiling Common Lisp programs for Windows using a Linux development setup. It covers the essential steps including setting up a MinGW-w64 toolchain for C code compilation, installing a Windows-native SBCL (Steel Bank Common Lisp) environment within Wine, integrating this Wine-based SBCL as a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) in a Linux Emacs IDE for interactive development, dynamically loading Windows DLLs into a Lisp image, and finally, generating standalone Windows .exe executables. The author highlights the surprising smoothness of the process, noting specific configurations for tools like vend and Sly, and observing differences in path handling and the resulting executable size between Linux and Windows builds.

Summarizing the Process of Cross-compiling Common Lisp for Windows (Note: As this is a text document, starting timestamps are not applicable.)

• Project Context: The author successfully enabled Windows support for their Raylib bindings library and the game "Aero Fighter" from Linux, finding the process surprisingly smooth.
• Cross-compiling C Code:
  • Windows executables can be produced from Linux by installing the mingw-w64-toolchain (e.g., pacman -S mingw-w64-toolchain on Arch Linux).
  • C code is compiled using x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc and run via wine ./a.exe.
• Linking to Windows DLLs:
  • Raylib can be cross-compiled to a .dll by modifying its src/Makefile to specify PLATFORM_OS=WINDOWS and the MinGW compiler.
  • C programs can then link to this .dll using -L"." -lraylib.
• Installing Windows-based SBCL:
  • The SBCL .msi installer for Windows is run using wine.
  • The installed SBCL binary (sbcl.exe) runs within Wine, and its *features* list confirms the :WIN32 environment.
  • Key Takeaway: SBCL handles Windows pathnames by populating the :device field (e.g., "Z" for Z:/), but conveniently uses / as the path component separator.
• Emacs Integration with Wine-based SBCL:
  • vend, a Common Lisp dependency manager, facilitates running the Wine-based SBCL as a REPL.
  • This setup allows vend to access Linux filesystem paths (available through Wine as Z:/), making dependency management seamless.
  • Emacs Lisp IDEs like Sly can be configured to use this Wine-based SBCL, enabling interactive Windows-specific development.
• Loading Windows DLLs into Lisp:
  • The load-shared-object function is used to dynamically load .dll files into the Lisp image.
  • The :dont-save t option is crucial when building executables, allowing the Lisp image to run with DLLs from a different location than where they were compiled.
• Building Executables:
  • A simple build.lisp script leveraging sb-ext:save-lisp-and-die creates the .exe file.
  • Key Takeaway: Windows executables generated this way are significantly larger (around 4x) than their Linux counterparts, as core compression is not available for Windows builds.