Test code to show problem with dynamic memory, macros, and compile. I have found a situation where compiling exhausts memory but loading does not. I originally found this using with deftest of https://github.com/fukamachi/prove I created a test project called prove-fail https://github.com/aarvid/prove-fail to demonstrate the error. This projects eliminates prove as a dependency but still demonstrates the problem. The code emulates what prove does. To generate the test code (deftests.lisp): (ql:quickload :che-gen-code) (che-gen-code::gen-test-file) To exhaust dynamic memory do either of the three below: (ql:quickload :comp-heap-exhaust :verbose t) or (asdf:load-system :comp-heap-exhaust :verbose t) or (ql:quickload :alexandria) (load "package.lisp") (load "macros.lisp") (compile-file "deftests.lisp" :verbose t) To "load" the file do the following: (ql:quickload :alexandria) (load "package.lisp") (load "macros.lisp") (load "deftests.lisp" :verbose t) "Load" should work fine.