Hello,
Given a pathname to an .asd file, I sometimes load it using this hack:
(defun load-asd (path &rest options) (let ((asdf:*system-definition-search-functions* (cons (lambda (system) (when (string= (asdf::coerce-name system) (pathname-name path)) path)) asdf:*system-definition-search-functions*))) (apply #'asdf:load-system (pathname-name path) options)))
Other times I use:
(let ((asdf:*central-registry* (cons <directory-where-my-asd-lives> asdf:*central-registry*))) (asdf:load-system :some-system))
Also, I see that the slime-asdf contrib uses this definition:
(defun load-asd (pathname &key name &allow-other-keys) (asdf::load-sysdef (or name (string-downcase (pathname-name pathname))) pathname))
I wonder if ASDF could export LOAD-SYSDEF or perhaps have ASDF:LOAD-SYSTEM accept a pathname in addition to what it currently accepts.
Cheers,