question about compile-system

[Scott McKay <SWM@sapsucker.scrc.symbolics.com>]

    Date: Fri, 8 Jul 88 13:42:09 EDT
    From: royt@pravda.gatech.edu (Roy M Turner)

    I have a system that has several component systems, but even when I do:
	    compile system Medic :include-components yes
    it blithely *loads* the component systems rather than compiling them--even
    when there have been changes that would cause compilations if I compiled each
    of the component systems separately. According to the documentation, it should
    recursively perform the compilation. Have I misread the documentation, or what?

    Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I believed when I designed SCT, and still believe now, that it would be
a gross violation of any reasonable model of modularity for :Compile
System to cause any component systems to be compiled.  Consider a
component system which is used by a number of systems, but none of the
developers of those systems actually maintain the component: they just
use it.  (An example might be a component system which implements a
graphics imaging substrate, and the systems might be a Graphic Editor, a
CAD system, and a VLSI design system).  The maintainer of that component
system, and the other users, would have every right to be annoyed with
you for recompiling it when you recompiled your system.

Therefore, :Compile System only 1loads0 its component systems.  In order
to compile components, you must do them explicitly.  If your component
systems are truly just part and parcel of the main system, and have no
utility as stand-alone systems, then you could use 2defsubsystem0.

I notice that this is not mentioned anywhere in the document, so I have
cc'ed the appropriate parties here.