When is a package name equivalent to a package?

[David A. Moon <Moon@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>]

    Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1985  10:13 EST
    From: Rob MacLachlan <RAM@CMU-CS-C.ARPA>

	Date: Tuesday, 23 April 1985  01:30-EST
	From: Jon White <JLW at SU-AI.ARPA>

	There is such consistency in this choice of phraseology that I take it to 
	mean that unless there is a clear statement that the argment must be a 
	package datatype, then it is permissible for it to be anything reasonably 
	coerceible to a package.  In this case, (intern ... 'KEYWORD) is the same 
	as  (intern ... "KEYWORD") and (intern ... (find-package "KEYWORD"))

    Does everyone agree that this is correct?  If this is the case, then
    may *package* be random things also?  Currently Spice Lisp requires
    every package argument to be a package.

I think the manual is quite clear.

p.183 requires that the value of *package* be a package.

p.182 specifies that certain functions, including INTERN, shall accept strings
and symbols in place of packages.  As is unfortunately typical of the CLM,
this specification is not repeated in the documentation of each of the affected
functions, so it's quite easy to overlook.