[asdf-devel] Note on ASDF getting started guide...

[Robert Goldman]

Nikodemus Siivola wrote:
> 2009/10/5 Robert Goldman <rpgoldman at sift.info>:
> 
>> 2.  We might want to say "you might want to install ASDF yourself if you
>> want to get a particular version of ASDF."
> 
> Please don't say this, unless you also provide instructions that allow
> people installing their own ASDF's not break things like SBCL contrib
> modules.
> 
> "Why is SB-FOO broken?" is pretty frustrating when it turns out that
> they broke their own environment my installing another copy ASDF that
> messes with SBCL's assumptions about loading contrib modules.

Well, here's an example of why people might want to be loading their own:

Recently, we modified the default dependencies of the test-op, entirely
reasonably, so that by default you need to do a load-op on a system
before doing the test-op.  Unfortunately, this means that system
definitions written for new ASDF will not test-op properly on earlier
versions of ASDF.  [Worse, I don't believe we can even test asdf
versions properly --- seems like earlier versions don't have the
asdf:*asdf-version* variable defined.]

I'd be happy to update the manual to include instructions for people
installing git or downloaded versions of ASDF onto SBCL.  However, SBCL
is not my primary CL implementation, and I am not competent on my own to
do more than say "this might break contrib modules on SBCL."  Would it
be possible for someone (you?) to provide suitable instructions?  If you
do this, I will undertake to do the grunt work of getting those
instructions into the ASDF manual.

Alternatively, is it possible to modify the portable ASDF distro so that
out of the box it would be capable of not breaking contrib modules?

Best,
r