builder

builder is a python module to build Makefile like scripts in Python.

Here is an example called example.py:

#!/usr/bin/env python

from builder import end_rules, rule, run, end_vars, touch

VERSION = '1'

end_vars()

rule('version', run('@echo $(VERSION)'))
rule('all', None, 'req', 'target')
rule('target', touch(), 'req')
rule('req', touch())
rule('fail', run('false'))
rule('env', run('env'))
rule('clean', run('-rm -f target req'))

end_rules()

There are 2 parts in all such scripts:

1. the definition of variables closed by the end_vars() call.
2. the definition of rules for building targets closed by the end_rules() call.

You can then call the script like this:

$ python example.py version VERSION=12
12

giving the version target you want to satisfy after the script name and overload the variable VERSION to 12.

rule function takes 2 mandatory arguments:

1. the name of the target.
2. the function returning the function to build the target. The returned function take 2 arguments: the target name and the list of dependencies. Predefined functions are available to simplify development:
   • run execute the given command. If the command starts with an @ then don't output the command. If the command starts with - then ignore its exit status.
   • touch create the files given in argument or the target if no argument is given. If the files already exist, the modification time is updated to the current time.
   • steps to execute multipe steps for a rule.

The remaining optional arguments are the target dependencies.