dale: a paranoid D task runner

EXAMPLE

$ cd example

$ dub run dale
Running .dub/build/test/arithmancy-test-unittest

$ dub run dale -- -h
Usage: ../.dub/build/bin/dale [OPTIONS]
-l    --list
-v --version
-h    --help This help information.

ABOUT

dale is a task runner for D projects, a more portable alternative to makefiles. dale wraps common dub workflows, providing a convenient way to kick off your various build commands.

DUB

https://code.dlang.org/packages/dale

LICENSE

BSD-2-Clause

RUNTIME REQUIREMENTS

• D 2+

INSTALL

$ dub fetch dale

SETUP

dale.d

Write some tasks in a dale.d build configuration script at the top-level directory of your D project:

import dl;

immutable VERSION = "0.0.1";

@(TASK)
void banner() {
    writefln("arithmancy %s", VERSION);
}

@(TASK)
void test() {
    exec("dub", ["test"]);
}

@(TASK)
void build() {
    deps(test);
    exec("dub", ["build"]);
}

@(TASK)
void clean() {
    exec("dub", ["clean"]);
}

@(TASK)
void main(string[] args) {
    phony([&clean]);
    mixin(yyyup!("args", "build"));
}

dub.sdl / dub.json

Now, wire up the dale command line interface by configuring your top-level dub.sdl or dub.json:

configuration "shi_sha" {
    targetName "dale"
    targetType "executable"
    targetPath ".dub/build/shi_sha"
    mainSourceFile "dale.d"
    dependency "dale" version="0.0.1"
}

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "shi_sha",
            "targetName": "dale",
            "targetType": "executable",
            "targetPath": ".dub/build/shi_sha",
            "mainSourceFile": "dale.d",
            "dependencies": {
                "dale": "0.0.1"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Watch how he behaves... I hope dale is practicing good manners :P

What happens when you run:

• dub run dale -- banner?
• dub run dale -- test?
• dub run dale -- clean?
• dub run dale -- build?
• dub run dale -- -h?
• dub run dale -- --list?
• VERBOSE=1 dub run dale -- build?
• VERBOSE=1 dub run dale -- build build build?

DEBRIEFING

Let's break down the code so far:

• @(TASK) void name() { ... } declares a task named name.
• deps(&requirement) caches a dependency on task requirement.
• exec(...) spawns raw shell command processes.
• VERBOSE=1 enables command string emission during processing.
• phony(...) disables dependency caching for some tasks.
• mixin(yyyup!("args", "build")) registers a default task and wires up any other TASK-annotated functions to the dale command line interface.
• shi_sha is a feature gate, so that neither the dale package, nor your project's dale binary escape with your D package when you publish your project.

DoN't UsE sHelL cOmMaNdS!1

Just because the dale library offers several supremely convenient macros for executing shell commands doesn't mean that you should always shell out. No way, man!

Whenever possible, use regular D code, as in the banner() example. There's like a ba-jillion packages of prewritten D code, so you might as well use it! Dale uses no DSL's, just plain old D code, so it's easy to integrate with other D libraries.

CONTRIBUTING

For more details on developing dale itself, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

SEE ALSO

• Inspired by the excellent mage build system for Go projects
• Thank you Kenji for sharing reflection snippets!
• bb, a build system for (g)awk projects
• beltaloada, a guide to writing build systems for (POSIX) sh
• cmake, a build system for C/C++ projects
• GNU autotools, a build system for Linux C/C++ projects
• Gradle, a build system for JVM projects
• jelly, a JSON task runner
• lake, a Lua task runner
• lichen, a sed task runner
• Mage, a task runner for Go projects
• npm, Grunt, Node.js task runners
• POSIX make, a task runner standard for C/C++ and various other software projects
• Rake, a task runner for Ruby projects
• rez builds C/C++ projects
• rdmd, a fast-compiling interpreter for D
• Shake, a task runner for Haskell projects
• tinyrick for Rust projects

EVEN MORE EXAMPLES

• The included example project provides a fully qualified demonstration of how to build projects with dale.