(message (Hello 'Harald) (you :wrote :on '(Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:11:59 +0100 (CET))) ( HHO> As to why, well, slime is the front end and swank is the back end, and HHO> the two need to talk the proper protocol. Swank is compiled for HHO> efficiency reasons. well, i meant what does it compile when it's already loaded -- in response to events in REPL. i've found single place where it does (compile nil: (let ((regex-hash (make-hash-table :test #'equal))) (defun compiled-regex (regex-string) (or (gethash regex-string regex-hash) (setf (gethash regex-string regex-hash) (if (zerop (length regex-string)) (lambda (s) (check-type s string) t) (compile nil (slime-nregex:regex-compile regex-string))))))) i suspect it's highly likely that ABCL chokes on attempts to compile some regex function.. but it's not that simple -- possibly it's superposition of several bugs in ABCL :). ) (With-best-regards '(Alex Mizrahi) :aka 'killer_storm) "?? ???? ??????? ?????")