Roswell¶

ID: roswell
Links: Home page · Documentation · Repository
Upstream stars: ⭐ 1,907
Last commit: 2026-09-04
Version requirement: >= 22.12.14.113
Platforms: 🅱️ BSD · 🐧 Linux · 🍎 macOS · ⨂ Unix · 🪟 Windows
Operations: installed · install
purl types: pkg:roswell/
CLI name: ros
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: roswell
Source: roswell.py

Roswell, a Common Lisp implementation installer and launcher.

Important

A roswell package is a Lisp implementation, not a Lisp library. ros install accepts both an implementation and a Quicklisp system, but ros list installed answers for implementations alone: a system installed with ros install cl-ppcre never appears there.

What `mpm` adds to `roswell`¶

mpm reaches across every manager at once, not roswell alone: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover roswell alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Operations¶

Operation	Supported	Notes
`installed`	✅
`outdated`
`orphans`
`search`
`install`	✅
`upgrade`	❌	The `ros update` command upgrades Quicklisp systems, never the implementations the listing reports.
`upgrade_all`
`remove`	❌	The `ros delete` command reports success and breaks roswell’s own runtime, so `mpm` will not drive it.
`sync`
`cleanup`
`doctor`

Configuration¶

Ignore roswell on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-roswell option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
roswell = false
```
Raise the timeout of all roswell calls:
```
[mpm.overrides.roswell]
timeout = 900
```

Run mpm config-template roswell to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

[mpm.overrides.roswell]
cli_names = [
    "ros",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = []
pre_args = []
pre_cmds = []
requirement = ">=22.12.14.113"
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "--version",
]
version_regexes = [
    "roswell\\s+(?P<version>[^\\s(]+)",
]

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around roswell, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --roswell dump roswell.toml, then mpm restore roswell.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --roswell sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation¶

mpm runs this manager as the current user and never prepends sudo by default. Flip the policy for its privileged operations with --sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

None of its operations is privileged.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

State of Roswell’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None (installs Lisp implementations from GitHub releases)

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

Registry: GitHub release assets
Retraction: None: withdrawing a build is the upstream author deleting their own release or tag. Nothing sits between them and the user
Publish date: ✅ server-set published_at on each release (REST API)

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Reference traces¶

A collection of raw native outputs captured from the manager’s own CLI and recorded in the manager source. If you know Roswell well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ ros list installed
sbcl-bin/2.6.8

Version check¶

The version is probed by running:

$ ros --version
roswell 26.02.116(NO-GIT-REVISION)

and extracted with:

r"roswell\s+(?P<version>[^\s(]+)"

Upstream project¶

Metrics	`roswell/roswell`
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Popularity
Metadata

Changelog¶

8.0.0 (2026-09-20)
- Add the Roswell package manager, listing and installing the Common Lisp implementations it manages.