[plt-dev] planet compilation not happening for recursive requires

I noticed that when I require robby/redex:4, which triggers a download
of schematics/schemeunit:2.11, that the schemeunit code is not
compiled. I see messages like this one:

PLaneT:   skipping:
C:\cygwin\home\robby\svn\plt\collects\teachpack\htdc\info.ss
orig-registry #<module-registry> current-registry #<module-registry>

and like this:

PLaneT:   skipping:
C:\cygwin\home\robby\svn\plt\collects\dynext\private\info.ss
compiled-paths's first element changed; current value (), first
element was #<path:compiled>

I believe that the first problem is traceable to resolver.ss, where a
new namespace is created before setup plt is called, with this funny
comment:

           ;; oh man is this a bad hack!
           (parameterize ([current-namespace (make-namespace)])
             (let ([ipp (dynamic-require 'setup/plt-single-installer
                                         'install-planet-package)])
               (ipp path the-dir (list owner (pkg-spec-name pkg)
                                       extra-path maj min))))))


So ... anyone know if that bad hack is still required, or why it was
required in the first place?

Thanks,
Robby