Dear Geoff,
If you are still interested in becoming ASDF maintainer, which I hope you are, or even just developer, here is a post linking to some suggested things to read about the state of ASDF: http://fare.livejournal.com/176185.html
I am still interested, even enthusiastic. I will read that and see how I feel with respect to time commitment and ambition. That said, I'm very much interested in taking part in ASDF, even if not in the capacity of maintainer.
[NB: continuing this previously private mail thread in asdf-devel]
If you're looking at where the action is, there are two branches that still haven't been merged into master: * the minimakefile branch, where I translated all the release and test code from shell scripts to CL scripts, with various improvements, paving the way for possible future improvements. I believe this branch is ready, but Robert is just lacking time to fully assess it; also, he was hoping for Kambiz Darabi's promised use of git submodules to manage all the dependencies of ASDF — though I don't believe this branch makes the issue any worse.
* the syntax-control branch, where I introduce control for the *readtable* variable, allowing for safe compilation at a REPL (or other) where the *readtable* was overridden (to e.g. use fare-quasiquote or reader-interception, etc.) Unhappily, this branch requires more development: it seems that at least *package* needs the same treatment; and ideally all the variables of with-standard-io-syntax, though that might cause "interesting" backward compatibility issues. Also, Robert mentions that some large software he is using is somehow failing with this branch, for reasons he hasn't pinpointed. If and when this branch is merged into master (if ever), it deserves a version bump to 3.2 or some such. Even if the default changes to something safer than now, some backward compatibility mode is probably required to cater to the needs of all users.
Robert may have further comments or clarifications.
—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org There is neither early nor late to fall in love. Only the right time.