3.4.2 Foreign Definitions

In order to understand what a foreign definition is, you need to understand how Declt works first. This was briefly explained in the introduction, but here is the story again: Declt first loads the ASDF system from which it retrieves modules and components, notably including Lisp files. It then scans all live packages and collects those which were defined within that system (i.e. those the source of which belong to that system). Finally, it collects all definitions for the symbols in those packages.

That is the extent of what is documented by Declt. In this context, a foreign definition is a definition that Declt’s current information collection scheme would miss. This includes, for instance, definitions found in one of the system’s files, but belonging to a package that was not defined in the system itself.

Declt currently does not document foreign definitions, although in some cases, it is already possible to avoid missing them. In fact, the very question of deciding on whether foreign definitions should actually be documented is still open for discussion. See the TODO file in the distribution for more information.