local's def vs. defvar

[Ambrevar]

The local macro supports defun, etc. but surprisingly it does not support defvar. Instead, the user must use def.

I wonder why that is. Wouldn't that trip the user? Why not supporting defvar for consistency?

[ruricolist]

I wanted to have defvar, but the semantics of a global defvar can't be fully imitated by a local binding. You can make a symbol locally special (using (declare (special ...)), but that binding is only visible in the dynamic environment of called functions if they opt in with a special declaration of their own.

Note that def is supported globally, so it is (at least) consistent.

[Ambrevar]

What about defparameter?

[ruricolist]

Same problem, alas.