- "Execute the body, asynchronously interrupting it and signalling a
-TIMEOUT condition after at least EXPIRES seconds have passed."
+ "Execute the body, asynchronously interrupting it and signalling a TIMEOUT
+condition after at least EXPIRES seconds have passed.
+
+Note that it is never safe to unwind from an asynchronous condition. Consider:
+
+ (defun call-with-foo (function)
+ (let (foo)
+ (unwind-protect
+ (progn
+ (setf foo (get-foo))
+ (funcall function foo))
+ (when foo
+ (release-foo foo)))))
+
+If TIMEOUT occurs after GET-FOO has executed, but before the assignment, then
+RELEASE-FOO will be missed. While individual sites like this can be made proof
+against asynchronous unwinds, this doesn't solve the fundamental issue, as all
+the frames potentially unwound through need to be proofed, which includes both
+system and application code -- and in essence proofing everything will make
+the system uninterruptible."