I haven't tracked down the cause, but in a trivial test case, read is more than 200x slower under 10.1.90 than under 9.2 and 10.1.10:
Executing this form: (show-time (lambda () (do ((i 0 (1+ i))) ((= i 1000)) (with-input-from-string "foo" read)))) here is the time under 9.2: ;process time: 30 (30 RUN + 0 GC); real time: 35 and under 10.1.10: ;process time: 40 (40 RUN + 0 GC); real time: 47 and under 10.1.90 at HEAD: ;process time: 8150 (8150 RUN + 0 GC); real time: 8149 Does anyone have a clue what might have caused this decline?