LispCookbook
Getting Started: Suggestion to use official prebuilt binaries (at least for SBCL) than the distro
In particular, the SBCL distributed with Ubuntu 18.04 repository does not show line numbers on errors. I don't know how I lived without them until this point - line numbers as good error reporting was brought up in a compilers course we are having.
On a brief search, I came across this stackexchange question concerning better error reporting with SBCL. The suggestion is to use "non-customized" binaries and
(sb-ext:restrict-compiler-policy 'debug 3)
At this point, I found roswell not too smooth - it does say it is in beta - and hence unsuitable for beginners. Even with SBCL binaries, not all work on all versions (of linux). For instance, with the library versions available from the repository, on Ubuntu 18.04, I cannot run beyond sbcl-1.5.5 owing to glibc version limitations.
Mentioning these things should help speed setting things done more.
Personally - just so you're aware - I usually boot strap my own SBCL from source: I get SBCL binaries from upstream or distro, then usually git clone and make.sh. I've never used roswell or the other assisted-lisp toolings. Curious your perspective.
Roswell seems useful for anyone trying to make their packages portable; or distributing lisp apps; but it does need some more polish.
My concern is for beginners, who may think getting it from outside apt might be an issue. And the latest sbcl may not even work.