Moving this question from https://gitlab.common-lisp.net/asdf/asdf/-/issues/52

To reiterate, I believe that the instructions in https://common-lisp.net/project/asdf/asdf/Upgrading-ASDF.html 'Upgrading ASDF' could use some clarification.

I am attempting to run a newer version of ASDF than that provided by my impl. The text I'm having issue with is:

> If your implementation already provides ASDF 3 or later (and it should), but you want a more recent ASDF version than your implementation provides, then you just need to ensure the more recent ASDF is installed in a configured path, like any other system. We recommend you download an official tarball or checkout a release from git into ~/common-lisp/asdf/.
> Once the source code for ASDF is installed, you don’t need any extra step to load it beyond the usual (require "asdf"): ASDF 3 will automatically look whether an updated version of itself is available amongst the regularly configured systems, before it compiles anything else.

First, it says I should download an official tarball. I looked to the best of my ability and could not find one. Even if I had found one, I don't know what I'd do with it.
So I moved to the second option and cloned ASDF to `~/common-lisp/asdf/` and built it successfully.

I verify that indeed I am running a newer ASDF. However, I noticed `~/comon-lisp/asdf/ext/` includes certain third-party libraries bundled in the repo. These are being prioritized over Quicklisp libraries, and it's causing conflicts.

So my question is:

May I get clarification on how I may build & install ASDF such that the implementation-bundled one will automatically find the newer version, while omitting the libraries ext/ directory from being picked up?

Thanks all!