Robert Goldman rpgoldman@sift.info writes:
Well, for the record, compiling C source code is a perfectly legitimate thing for an ASDF system definition to do (at least when not in the context of a .deb).
I would disagree. Side effecting .asd files are evil and make other peoples lives very hard. (See e.g. http://www.mail-archive.com/asdf-devel@common-lisp.net/msg00949.html)
I think we are talking at cross-purposes.
It is quite possible to have an .asd file that contains a system with a C source file as one of its components. Loading that system would cause the C file to be compiled but is not at all a /side/ effect --- it is an intended effect of loading the system, of which the C file is a part.
IMHO, the right thing is for the C file to be compiled _when the ASDF system is installed_; that object code would then be loaded when the system is loaded.