[closure-devel] Use of (make-pathname ... :type :unspecific)

Zach Beane xach at xach.com
Mon Jun 13 19:51:22 UTC 2011


In src/parse/html-parser.lisp, there's this form:

    (make-pathname :directory '(:relative "resources") :type :unspecific)

19.2.2.2.3 says this:

    Whether a value of :unspecific is permitted for any component on any
    given file system accessible to the implementation is
    implementation-defined. A conforming program must never
    unconditionally use a :unspecific as the value of a pathname
    component because such a value is not guaranteed to be permissible
    in all implementations.

CLISP signals an error on the form.

What's the :type :unspecific for? It seems to work on CLISP (and all
other implementations I tried) without it; is it a precaution against a
*default-pathname-defaults* that apparently has a value for :type?

Zach




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