Release 6

[DCP at SCRC-QUABBIN]

[I tried to send this Thursday night, but misspelled info-lispm.  The
examples here have already been answered, but maybe that's good in that
it will allow a more global picture of what I'm trying to say.]

I just (textually) scanned my mailbox, and it appears to me that a lot
of the bug reports are knee-jerk reactions.  For example (sorry not to
include references, I don't have Zmail fired up yet):

LOOP grinding is broken.  No example was provided.  If this is in
reference to the way Zwei now indents LOOP, many consider it a feature.
There is a variable (zwei:*inhibit-fancy-loop-indentation*) that turns
it off.  The variable is in the Release notes I believe (which you
probably don't have yet) and can also be found by disassembling
zwei:indent-loop

DEFF loses when not at top level.  That is true.  DEFF is a special form
that is only intended to be used at top level.  THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE
OF A MUCH LARGER GENERAL CHANGE.  Many things were made more consistent
with the introduction of lexical scoping.  Another things you will find
is that you can't funcall special forms.  For example,
	(funcall #'or a b c)
will no longer work.  It is a mistake it ever did.

There are three things I ask before spouting bug reports: (1) Try to
find some release notes or use the document examiner to scan them (I
know this isn't as good as paper for rapid scanning), (2) Think about
the reasonableness of what used to work and why it may have changed, (3)
compare the behavior of the system with the specifications of Common
Lisp, especially with language issues; if there is a conflict in
semantics between Release 5 and Common Lisp, Common Lisp will often win.
We are not IBM; complete compatibility is not a goal.