I hadn't tested the minimakefile branch with quicklisp, so of course it wasn't working. Fixed. All you need to bootstrap the asdf-tools is a recent quicklisp (and possibly removing antique cl-ppcre packages from debian that might take precedence).
I just realized that with quicklisp, asdf:load-system seems to load already-installed quicklisp packages, but not install new ones, for which you need ql:quickload. Xach, is that on purpose?
—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org I'll start exercising as soon as I'm into shape.