A typical error is this:
You load the file and the reader sees the code:
SWANK is not loaded
(defun load-swank ()
"Load a swank server"
SWANK is not loaded
(ql:quickload 'swank)
SWANK is not loaded - remember, we are still reading the form.
(require 'swank)
SWANK is not loaded - remember, we are still reading the form.
Now use us a symbol in package which is not existing... the reader complains:
(setq swank:*use-dedicated-output-stream* nil) ; the package SWANK does not exist yet.
(setq slime-net-coding-system 'utf-8-unix)
(swank:create-server :port 4006))
Now you want to load SWANK:
(load-swank)
You can't use a symbol from a package which does not exist.
For example what works is this inside the function:
(setf (symbol-value (read-from-string "swank:*use-dedicated-output-stream*")) nil)
and so on.
You need to find the symbol at runtime of that function. Use (find-symbol "FOO" "SWANK")
(remember Common Lisp is upcase internally) or (read-from-string "SWANK::FOO")
.