Hello, about this error,
> > > solve([a=b,b=3],[a]) produces "Maxima encountered a Lisp error:"
with Maxima 5.10.0 + sbcl or clisp, I get an error message, "2 is not a list".
with Maxima 5.10.0 + gcl, I get "Inconsistent equations" (no Lisp error).
I am pretty sure this is because gcl is not checking as carefully as sbcl
or clisp; I have seen similar behavior of gcl vs clisp or sbcl before.
Fabrizio, can you please make a report in the bug tracker,
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=browse&group_id=4933&atid=104933
best,
Robert