h1. Description
erl_rake is a set of scripts to build erlang application with 'rake'.
To demonstrate the use of those scripts, erl_rake comes with sample
applications.

h2. Author
Nicolas Charpentier <open_source@charpi.net>

h1. How to use erlang rake libraries

erl_rake is designed to be used on project using standard OTP
directory layout.

TOP_DIR/
 +lib/
  +app1/
   +src/
   +priv/
   +doc/
   +ebin/

To build your project with rake and erl_rake, you have to put rakelib
directory under your top directory.

Once rakelib directory in place, you have to create 2 files in your TOP_DIR: a
_Rakefile_ and a configuration file named _erlang_config.rb_
Typical default Rakefile can be:
==
<pre>
#-*-ruby-*-
require 'rake'

task :default => ["erlang:compile", "erlang:releases"]
</pre>
==

and the erlang_config.rb:
==
<pre>
ERL_TOP="/usr/local/lib/erlang"
ERLC_FLAGS=""
ERL_FLAGS=""
USE_EMAKE=true
EMAKE_COMPILE_OPTIONS = []
</pre>

To compile erlang sources you can use Emake or compile files one by
one setting the configuration variable USE_EMAKE to true or false

h1. Tasks

Here is some details about rake tasks to build erlang stuff.

h2. otp:new_application[name]

Creates a new application skeleton.
You can change the version number of the application modifying the
file TOP_DIR/lib/<name>/vsn.config.

h2. otp:new_release[name]

Creates a new erlang release skeleton.
You can change the name of the release modifying the file TOP_DIR/lib/<name>/vsn.config

h2. erlang:compile

Compile everything and run tests.

h2. erlang:tests[name] and erlang:tests

Runs tests of a given application or on each applications with eunit.
If a file test.desc is found in the test directory of an application,
we will use it as an eunit test description.

h2. erlang:releases

Builds a tarball for each rel file found in the directory tree.
Releases tarball are generated in TOP_DIR/releases

h2. otp:start_local[name] and otp:start_local[name,daemon]

Starts a release in the developper environment.
Release configuration can be provided in the directory
TOP_DIR/lib/<rel>/release_config

One node started, you can connect to it using TOP_DIR/connect_local.