Put the following code into a file, say "tmp.el": --------------------------------------------------------------------- (require 'edebug) (eval-after-load "edebug" (progn (put (quote defun) (quote edebug-form-spec) (quote (&define name lambda-list [&optional stringp] [&optional ("interactive" (&or stringp def-form))] def-body))))) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Then from the command line: xemacs -vanilla -eval '(load-file "tmp.el")' I have tried it on windows 2000 with xemacs-21.4.3, xemacs-21.5.1, emacs-20.7.1 and in each case I got the error: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Symbol's function definition is void: &define --------------------------------------------------------------------- emacs-20.7.1 on Linux gave the same error message. xemacs-21.2.46 both mule and no-mule on Linux loaded *without* complains. BUT! The second load goes ok in all tested emacsens: xemacs -vanilla -eval '(condition-case nil (load-file "~/tmp.el")\ (error (setq failed t))) (load-file "~/tmp.el")' All emacsens that failed <<-eval '(load-file "tmp.el")'>> succeeded in the second case and set `failed' to `t'. Nick.