OPEN for :OUTPUT with version :NEWEST

[Rob MacLachlan <RAM@CMU-CS-C>]

    I would agree that some clarification is called for.  I have been
in the position of having to write implementation independant file
handling code for the Hemlock text editor I am working on, and I have
had some difficulty.  In the DEC VAX implementation I have been using,
the implementer evidently decided that if an explicit version is
specified then an attempt to open for write will error, not supersede,
regardless of the :if-exists option.  Perhaps this is wrong, but the
manual is not very clear on this point.

   Another point about versions; not all operating systems have any
real concept of versions.  It would seem dubious to forbid an
implementation of Common Lisp on UNIX.

  It seems to me that the entire point of Pathnames is that they (may)
permit implementation independant file handling code to be written.
Implementers should be given plenty of rope, but it should be possible
to say something as simple as "I want to write this file" in a
portable fashion, or the whole exercise is pointless.

 Rob