This requirement is non-standard. Can it be worked around on the Genera side?

There is no workaround on the Genera side (I would have done so if possible and saved the trouble of updating every third party package we use!). Here's a bit more detail on the requested change from some other upstream project pull-requests:

Briefly, the attribute line sets certain properties of the file when it is read, and these are used when compiling and loading. For example 'Syntax' specifies one of the (at least) three dialects of LISP that Genera runs:

LISP             -> ZetaLisp
COMMON-LISP      -> CLtL2
ANSI-COMMON-LISP -> ANSI LISP

A common problem is people putting COMMON-LISP (CltL2) in for Syntax. It's close enough that it will sometimes work, but often introduces subtle bugs. This is probably partly because emacs also uses this line to set some editing modes and people do not realize that they have real meaning to some compilers and are not just cosmetic.

The Package attribute is equivalent to (in-package). Genera honors (in-package), but not until after compiling and loading the file using the Package attribute. If the Package attribute wasn't set, it uses the current package, which is often the last file compiled, so you end up with the definitions being loaded into packages off by one.

Fortunately the fix is easily made by adding syntax and package attributes in the file attribute line at the top of the file.

Bump. I'd love to delete my fork of this from the repo. Can we please get this merged?