I downloaded and installed the latest tarball, did a M-x vm, and got (from C-h l): Invalid function: (macro . #<compiled-function (&rest forms) "...(16)" [let ((vm-sbe-buffer (current-buffer))) unwind-protect progn forms (and (not (eq vm-sbe-buffer (current-buffer))) (buffer-name vm-sbe-buffer) (set-buffer vm-sbe-buffer))] 5>) Loading vm-macro...done Loading vm-macro... Loading vm-window...done Loading vm-window... Loading vm-startup...done Loading vm-startup... I then loaded all the .el files in lisp/vm by hand. Then vm worked correctly. If I understand correctly the purpose of vm-macro, then it should never be loaded at runtime, only at compile time. Steve, this looks like a simple packaging/byte-compiling screwup. It's a showstopper. On the other hand, I am using that very VM to send this message, so consider this a qualified success... Martin