19 Compilation and Configuration

So far, we have talked about three main PLT Scheme executables:

• DrScheme, which is the development environment.

• mzscheme, which is the console-based virtual machine for running PLT Scheme programs (and that can be used as a development environment in interactive mode);

• mred, which is like "mzscheme", but for GUI applications.

Three more executables help in compiling PLT Scheme programs and in maintaining a PLT Scheme installation:

• mzc is a command-line tool for miscellaneous tasks, such as compiling Scheme source to bytecode, generating executables, and building distribution packages, and compiling C-implemented extensions to work with the run-time system. The mzc is described in mzc: PLT Compilation and Packaging.

  For example, if you have a program "take-over-world.ss" and you’d like to compile it to bytecode, along with all of its dependencies, so that it loads more quickly, then run

    mzc take-over-the-world.ss

• setup-plt is a command-line tool for managing a PLT Scheme installation, including manually installed packages. The setup-plt tool is described in setup-plt: PLT Configuration and Installation.

  For example, if you create your own library collection called "take-over", and you’d like to build all bytecode and documentation for the collection, then run

    setup-plt -l take-over

• planet is a command-line tool for managing packages that are normally downloaded automatically, on demand. The planet tool is described in PLaneT: Automatic Package Distribution.

  For example, if you’d like to see a list of PLaneT packages that are currently installed, then run

    planet show