Hello, This is with asdf 3.1.7.27, Armed Bear Common Lisp 1.4.0 Java 1.6.0_41 Sun Microsystems Inc. OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM, Emacs & Slime The following example code from the ASDF manual (asdf:defsystem "hello-lisp" :description "hello-lisp: a sample Lisp system." :version "0.0.1" :author "Joe User <joe@example.com>" :licence "Public Domain" :depends-on ("optima.ppcre" "command-line-arguments") :components ((:file "packages") (:file "macros" :depends-on ("packages")) (:file "hello" :depends-on ("macros")))) when executed via the ABCL command line gives a relative path error Invalid relative pathname #P"packages.lisp" for component ("hello-lisp" "packages") Restarts: 0: RETRY Retry ASDF operation. 1: CLEAR-CONFIGURATION-AND-RETRY Retry ASDF operation after resetting the configuration. 2: TOP-LEVEL Return to top level. If that code is in a file, then the file compiles cleanly: CL-USER(6): (load (compile-file "test.asd")) ; Compiling /home/mv/projects/poi+excel/test.asd ... ; (IN-PACKAGE :CL-USER) ; (ASDF/PARSE-DEFSYSTEM:DEFSYSTEM "hello-lisp" ...) ; Wrote /home/mv/projects/poi+excel/test.abcl (0.021 seconds) T CL-USER(7): I am looking for confirmation of this and second opinions before taking up at the ASDF mailing list. Thanks, Mirko