From: Richard Lee
Subject: Re: Lucid Lisp error type question
Date: 
Message-ID: <RLEE.95Jan23163755@nlp.vienna.itd.sterling.com>
>>>>> "Jim" == Jim McDonald <········@kestrel.edu> writes:
········@kestrel.edu (Jim McDonald) writes:

 Jim> Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp

 Jim> In article <··················@nlp.vienna.itd.sterling.com>, ····@vienna.itd.sterling.com (Richard Lee) writes:
 Jim> |> Question:
 Jim> |> What error type does Lucid Common Lisp produce when GC fails --
 Jim> |> ie, recovers so little garbage that it has to leave GC and EGC
 Jim> |> turned off? 

 Jim> I don't have the answer you need offhand, but conceptually the
 Jim> out-of-space errors are generated in two steps.  The first error
 Jim> occurs when GC discovers it cannot get enough memory to copy the
 Jim> dynamic semi-space.  In that case it gives you the option of
 Jim> aborting right then or of continuing to cons into the other
 Jim> semi-space, with no hope of surviving the next GC.  If you opt for
 Jim> the latter you can run until the next full GC, at which point the
 Jim> program must abort.

Right.  What I'm trying to do is to catch the first error -- the point
at which GC finishes and then the system complains "GC and EGC disabled:
...".  Apparently, the error type I get at that point is just
'simple-error, so I need to also check the format string.

This, as you implied, makes for a more graceful exit of my program.
-- 
Richard Lee   ····@vienna.itd.sterling.com   Sterling Software, Vienna VA
     "Don't take life so serious, son...  It ain't NOHOW permanent."