[cclan-list] wither ASDF

[Gary K. <gw...@me...>]

The recent traffic regarding ASDF features, missing features, lost  
patches, and a possible move leaves me wondering (again) about the  
more basic question of where ASDF and ASDF-Install should head. These  
are very different pieces of software so I'm going to focus on just  
ASDF for now.

Questions (or perhaps vague musings) that I have from time to time are:

* What is ASDF?

* how does ASDF related to SBCL? Is there a special relationship? Is  
it more special than it needs to be?

* who pushes ASDF forward and in what direction?

* how do we get ASDF to be included in all Lisp distributions?

* how do we make ASDF better?

* how does ASDF relate to ASDF-Install and what about these new- 
fangled kids like mudballs, cl-build, and so on.

* Who wants to lead ASDF development (and who has the time!)

* Is ASDF maintenance a democracy, an oligarchy or a monarchy (and, in  
every case, who is doing the directing?)

For the last few years, ASDF has been stable (but perhaps too stable).  
There are a lot of directions it could go.

IMHO, ASDF should not change greatly but should keep improving around  
the edges. I'll try to write up a list of ideas for ASDF later tonight  
or tomorrow. Maybe that could be used for discussion?

Other thoughts and reaction welcome.

--
Gary Warren King, metabang.com
Cell: (413) 559 8738
Fax: (206) 338-4052
gwkkwg on Skype * garethsan on AIM * gwking on twitter