diff --git a/base/strings.lisp b/base/strings.lisp
index a8c28c19b25189df79ecabc4bb5ae468bdd7d0a7..ce024ae93bb5e12387fa6b02f1f7d0c2550aa5c7 100644
--- a/base/strings.lisp
+++ b/base/strings.lisp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 
 (defun conc-string (&rest rest)
   "make a string by concatenating stuff"
-  (apply #'asdf:strcat (mapcar #'->string rest)))
+  (apply #'strcat (mapcar #'->string rest)))
 ))
 
 (eval-now
diff --git a/fare-utils.asd b/fare-utils.asd
index 60a72b3725e533d01af90f504c582aba286a775c..ae8bd19a9d4ef22dfea303e10171358602db9a92 100644
--- a/fare-utils.asd
+++ b/fare-utils.asd
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 It contains a lot of basic everyday functions and macros,
 but also a library of pure and stateful datastructures,
 and Lisp extensions for memoization and reader interception."
-  :depends-on ((:version :asdf "2.019"))
+  :depends-on (:asdf-utils)
   :components
   ((:file "package")
 
diff --git a/filesystem/pathnames.lisp b/filesystem/pathnames.lisp
index c59ef4614eb31fbe7046dc27c7761fc1b10271e5..59a463a416e52e9becd7bb925261e9072a9483a8 100644
--- a/filesystem/pathnames.lisp
+++ b/filesystem/pathnames.lisp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ of the directory of the given pathname"
 
 (defun directory-name-p (name)
   (and (stringp name)
-       (eql #\/ (asdf:last-char name))))
+       (eql #\/ (last-char name))))
 
 (defun portable-pathname-string-component-char-p (c)
   (declare (type character c))
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ erroring out if some source of non-portability is found"
     (and (consp directory) (eq (car directory) :absolute))))
 
 (defun portable-namestring-absolute-p (namestring)
-  (eql (asdf:first-char namestring) #\/))
+  (eql (first-char namestring) #\/))
 
 (defun portable-pathname-absolute-p (name)
   (etypecase name
@@ -220,10 +220,10 @@ erroring out if some source of non-portability is found"
      (cond
        ((equal x "")
 	(error "empty namestring"))
-       ((eql (asdf:last-char x) #\/)
+       ((eql (last-char x) #\/)
 	(pathname x))
        (t
-	(pathname (asdf:strcat x "/")))))
+	(pathname (strcat x "/")))))
     (pathname
      (if (or (pathname-name x)
              (pathname-type x)
diff --git a/package.lisp b/package.lisp
index f92776e2e55d56d3fbbffcb81c5c264922e43ba6..7303f73b1149c4d04fdf983d8674ba5ef883e273 100644
--- a/package.lisp
+++ b/package.lisp
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 |#
 
 (defpackage #:fare-utils
-  (:use #:common-lisp) ;; #:asdf
+  (:use #:common-lisp #:asdf-utils)
   #+genera (:import-from #:scl #:boolean)
   ;; #+clisp (:shadow :with-gensyms)
   (:export