[asdf-devel] Cache? Translations? How to get rid of them?

[Faré]

Dear Juanjo,

OK, so
1- you want an ASDF operation that dumps some description of
  things to be loaded.
2- you want to use a .asd itself as the output of that operation.
3- you want some location-independence in that description.

I presume the role of 2- is so that the result be somewhat interchangeable
with the original source being packaged? But is that the case?
Does interchangeability really bring more value than it creates confusion?

For instance, XCVB-master (the module that can control XCVB from within
current Lisp image) uses "manifest" files (or SEXPs) as a delivery mechanism
telling it what files to load -- however, said mechanism is anything but
location-independent, unless you use logical pathnames.

Now, maybe logical pathnames are exactly the mechanism to use here,
whether you use ASDF, XCVB-master, or some other homegrown delivery target.

> I mean that the set of files should then be installed anywhere the user
> wants -- as far as it is a path reachable by ASDF and the files remain
> together, in the same directory. Using logical pathnames is not an option
> because we can not know where the user wants to have the files.
>
I think there's a key constraint I don't understand here.

Independently from how they are represented in the delivery file,
how are you supposed to locate the components being delivered?
Are they to be in a path relative to e.g. the truename of the description?
In some known system path such as /usr/lib?
Anywhere in some library search path?
Some combination of the above?
Note that if a search path is required,
you'll need some additional facility anyway.

> What is the purpose of this? Well, it would make software distribution very
> easy, in particular for Linux-like distributions, but it would also be
> useful for users that want to deliver a program and a set of extensions in
> the form of ASDF system definitions -- a tool they are already familiar with
>
Sounds good.

[ François-René ÐVB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ]
If the Bible proves that God exists then comic books prove the existence
of Superman.	— seen on #Atheism IRC