Can we split out some issues here? I think there's a lot of good stuff in this message, but having it all grouped together may not be helpful:
1. Growth of asdf.lisp
a. desirable? b. Should we be splitting the file up more? This seems likely to be helpful to diff, but would lead to one-time merge conflicts hard to get through, so possibly should be carefully scheduled.
2. :contingent-on dependency. Is this ticketed? Could we put a ticket on launchpad about this?
3. graphing utility
a. core asdf? I'm inclined to think not. b. contrib to be packaged with asdf when distributed. Seems like an appealing alternative.
4. hierarchical names: this one isn't of central interest to me, so I haven't reviewed it carefully.
5. asdf-output-locations
a. desirable? b. contrib versus integral c. configuration
Possibly each of these should go in its own mailing list thread and/or ticket. The questions seem to be substantially policy ones, so possibly for discussion on the mailing list.
Best, Robert