Edit System is anti-modularity

[Dodds@YUKON.SCRC.Symbolics.COM (Douglas Dodds)]

    Date: Tue, 7 May 1991 11:37 EDT
    From: jbarnett@charming.nrtc.northrop.com

    The Edit System command processor command defaults :Include-components to Yes.
    Thus, if I am compulsive and reference the TCP system from my Defsystem, then type
    "Edit system my-system" to a command processor, I get the TCP source slammed into
    edit buffers, one per file.  Is there a flag to surpress this unmodular behavior?
    By the way, I think its nice (though I realy don't care) that it
    includes the juniors
    defined by Defsubsystem.  The problem is that I don't want to see everybody else's
    code, just my system's.

I don't have a particularly strong defense of that default, but since
you know what it is, what's wrong with typing "Edit System <system>
:I C No"?

I would also comment that making (for example) IP-TCP a component system
of your own application's system is not the right way to require the
presence of a generally used system that your system depends on.  The
right construct for that is to use :REQUIRED-SYSTEMS (:IP-TCP) as an
option in your DEFSYSTEM.

(See also :LOAD-WHEN-SYSTEMS-LOADED, for optional parts of your system
that have dependencies on generally used systems that might or might not
be loaded.)