quick-build is a simple and robust one file, one package build system,
similar to faslpath, in 182 lines of code
(117 of which are not blank, not comments, not docstrings).
Unhappily, it remains unpublished and its IP status is unclear as of April 2014.
asdf/package-system is mostly compatible with it,
modulo a different setup for toplevel hierarchies.
faslpath is similar to the latter quick-build
and our yet latter asdf/package-system extension,
except that it uses dot . rather than slash / as a separator.
https://code.google.com/p/faslpath/
mk-defsystem)
and defsystem (defsystem-4, kmp's Memo 801).
DEFSYSTEM: A make for Common Lisp, A Thoughtful Re-Implementation of an Old Idea”, 2002.
The defsystem-4 proposal available in the CLOCC repository.
defsystem-3.x.