17.3.4 Installing a Language

So far, we have used the reader meta-language to access languages like "literal.rkt" and "dollar-racket.rkt". If you want to use something like #lang literal directly, then you must move "literal.rkt" into a Racket collection named "literal".

There are two ways to create the "literal" collection (see also Adding Collections):

• You can create a directory either in the main Racket installation or in a user-specific directory. Use find-collects-dir or find-user-collects-dir from setup/dirs to find the directory:

  > (require setup/dirs)

  > (find-user-collects-dir)

  #<path:/home/racketeer/.racket/5.3.6/collects>

  Move "literal.rkt" to "literal/lang/reader.rkt" within the directory reported by find-collects-dir or find-user-collects-dir. That is, the file "literal.rkt" must be renamed to "reader.rkt" and placed in a "lang" sub-directory of the "literal" collection.

  .... (the main installation or the user’s space)

  |- "collects"

  |- "literal"

  |- "lang"

  |- "reader.rkt"

• Alternatively, move "literal.rkt" to "literal/lang/reader.rkt" for any directory name "literal". Then, in the directory that contains "literal", use the command line

    raco link literal

  to register the "literal" directory as the "literal" collection.

After moving the file, you can use literal directly after #lang:

#lang literal

Technology!

System!

Perfect!

See raco: Racket Command-Line Tools for more information on using raco.

You can also package a collection for others to install by using the raco pack command-line tool:

  raco pack --collect literal.plt literal

Then, others can install the "literal" collection using raco setup:

  raco setup -A literal.plt

See PLaneT: Automatic Package Distribution for more information about PLaneT packages.

Another approach is to distribute your language as a PLaneT package. A drawback of using a PLaneT package is that users must type #lang planet followed by a PLaneT path to access the language. The advantages are that the PLaneT package can be installed automatically, it can be versioned, and it co-exists more easily with other packages.