Tried a dirty patch so that I can move on until the proper patch arrives. Strange thing is, it doesn't work when it comes to hu.dwim.rdbms.oracle? Don't like second guessing you but maybe babel isn't doing this? *** Before the patch: BABEL> (let ((octet-array-utf-16le (make-array 6 :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8)                            :initial-contents (vector #X66 #X00 #X6F #X00 #X6F #X00))))      (babel:octets-to-string octet-array-utf-16le :encoding :utf-16)) "???" BABEL> *** After the path: BABEL> (let ((octet-array-utf-16le (make-array 6 :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8)                            :initial-contents (vector #X66 #X00 #X6F #X00 #X6F #X00))))      (babel:octets-to-string octet-array-utf-16le :encoding :utf-16)) "foo" BABEL> $ cat babel-src-enc-unicode.lisp.diff 548c548 <                       (t #+little-endian nil))))) ---

                       (t #+little-endian t))))) 602c602 <                      (t #+little-endian nil)))))

                      (t #+little-endian t)))))

But after the patch the trouble with hu.dwim.rdbms.oracle stays the same: $ rm -r .cache/common-lisp/sbcl-1.0.37-linux-x86-64/home/chris/code/lisp-tp/babel/ $ sbcl --eval "(progn (asdf::load-system 'symarena-oracle) (in-package "SYMORA"))" .. * (select-symtag) --TIME MARK 2010-11-04-- 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   About to BEGIN transaction in database #<ORACLE {1003B5A741}> 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Executing "SELECT SYMTAG_KEY FROM symtag" .. 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Preparing command: "SELECT SYMTAG_KEY FROM symtag" 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Fetching "??????????" from buffer at index 0 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Fetched: "???" 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Fetching "??????????" from buffer at index 0 .. 12:51 0           RDBMS DEBUG   Freeing environment handle of transaction #<#<STANDARD-CLASS NIL {1004F711B1}> :begin-executed-p #t {1003286641}> #<(AND (VECTOR T 8) (NOT SIMPLE-ARRAY)) {100415A8DF}> * (defparameter foostr (elt (elt * 0) 0)) FOOSTR * (list (elt foostr 0) (elt foostr 1) (elt foostr 2)) (#\U6600 #\U6F00 #\U6F00) * foostr "???" *       Regards, chris !DSPAM:4cd2a5dc48581985511769!