3. Am I right that bug with incorrect system definition which loads "successfully" is not fixed yet? Touching the source would help to work around it.
But yes, if you have a bug in your .asd file, it's a bug.
I mean just the following known bug in asdf: ; file wrong-system.asd (defsystem :wrong-system :components (:some-trash) ) ; EOF This is SBCL 1.3.4, an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp. * (require 'asdf) ("ASDF" "asdf" "UIOP" "uiop") * (asdf:asdf-version) "3.1.6" * (setf asdf:*central-registry* '("c:/clcon/lp/")) * (asdf:load-system :wrong-system) While evaluating the form starting at line 1, column 0 of #P"c:/clcon/lp/wrong-system.asd": debugger invoked on a LOAD-SYSTEM-DEFINITION-ERROR ... error while parsing arguments to DESTRUCTURING-BIND ... restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name): 0: [RETRY ] Retry EVAL of current toplevel form. 1: [CONTINUE ] Ignore error and continue loading "wrong-system.asd". 2: [ABORT ] Abort loading file "wrong-system.asd" ... 0] 2 T * (asdf:load-system :wrong-system) T *