---
name: "ros-use"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "roswell"
version: "26.10.119-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ros-use"
---

# ros-use(1)

ros-use - sets the default implementation used by roswell # synopsis

**ros \[options\] use** impl\[/version\]

impl : The name of an implementation which is already installed. New implementations can be downloaded by [*ros-install*(1)](/ros-install/1.md). The list of installed implementations is available in [*ros-list*(1)](/ros-list/1.md).

version: : The version specifier. The string representation of the version (e.g. .) depends on each implementation and roswell generally follows the representation used by the implementation. In addition, *a special version name “system”* tells roswell to use the implementation that is installed in your system, which should be in PATH.

## example

ros use sbcl : use the latest SBCL among several versions of SBCLs installed by *ros-install*. This is compiled from the source, which may take some time to install but allows SLIME to jump to the implementation source code.

ros use sbcl-bin : use the latest stable SBCL binary downloaded from vendor’s website. Roswell uses this by default. `sbcl-bin` tends to be an older version compared to `sbcl`, but surely newer than your *apt-get* installed counterpart!

ros use sbcl/1.3.1 : use the compiled SBCL 1.3.1.

ros use sbcl-bin/1.3.1 : use the prebuilt SBCL 1.3.1.

ros use sbcl/system : use the SBCL available in the PATH.

ros use ccl : use the CCL compiled from the source. Same set of version specifiers as for SBCL can be applied.

Roswell also supports *abcl*, *acl*, *clisp*, *cmu* and *ecl*.

## SEE ALSO

[*sbcl*(1)](/sbcl/1.md), [*ros*(1)](/ros/1.md), [*ros-install*(1)](/ros-install/1.md), [*ros-list*(1)](/ros-list/1.md)

## AUTHORS

Roswell Project Team.