Robert, thanks for your reply. I have made some progress.
Just performed compiling #<INSTRUMENTED-CL-SOURCE-FILE "test-serial-system" "package"> but failed to mark it done
It would help to get a backtrace here. I can't tell from this if the error is happening in ASDF or in ASDF-DEPENDENCY-GROVEL (which probably isn't maintained).
The "failed to mark it done" is coming from ASDF. The ASDF version (bundled with SBCL) is, I think, 3.2.something. I tried it with Clozure CL, which has (on my system at least) ASDF 3.1.something, and the same operation succeeds. I guess I'm not too worried about it, since I now have a workaround, but I'm curious to know what's going on here.
Also whose run-tests.sh are these? ASDF's tests or ASDF-dependency-grovel's?
For the record, it's the run-tests.sh of asdf-dependency-grovel.
Again, it would help to have a backtrace from this circular dependency to help us get started (if you can share it -- I suppose your system could be private/proprietary).
About the circular dependency, it's in Maxima's ASDF file. After puzzling over a backtrace (thanks for the hint) I figured out it's because :serial t is specified, and a module depends on something later in the .asd. I moved the offending module and that resolved the dependency error. Hurray!
I wonder if we should adopt asdf-dependency-grovel into the ASDF group on cl.net's GitLab? There's no guarantee that would result in active maintenance, though -- it should be obvious that I don't have a lot of cycles to spare...
Well, I think that sounds like a good idea. I know developing new code is unlikely but it would be great to at least make any updates necessary to keep up with new ASDF versions.
asdf-dependency-grovel seems like a really great idea -- I am hoping to use it to analyze dependencies in Maxima, which, as you may know, is an ancient and pretty large system ... If asdf-dependency-grovel didn't exist, I would have to reinvent some wheels.
best,
Robert