[no subject]

[GLS at MIT-AI (Guy L. Steele, Jr.)]

CC: GLS at MIT-AI

In system 25.0, with microcode 612, on LISP Machine Two:
I suggest that in FDEFINE when it tells you you are redefining
something illegally and asks whether to go ahead, if you say "No"
there shgould be some easy way to specify another symbol in whose
function cell the definition should be placed.  This could
be done by explicit question, or by making it recoverable with C.
(The idea of the latter is that the symbol is a "wrong type argument",
i.e. one which is already bound or something.)
The application happens when debugging a new version of a package
(in my case FORMAT).  I say (LOAD "LMIO;FORMAT" 'F0) to get it into
a new package.  It then tells me it is illegally redefining FORMAT;
I would like to say "no, don't clobber the system FORMAT function,
but instead call it F".