On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:20:04 -0000 Charles Forsyth <fors...@terzarima.net>
wrote:
> >But why isn't the source for mk (3929 lines w/ headers, okay 4661 with mkfil
> e and acid)
> >at least as long as all that Java in the ant distribution (213151 lines)?
> >That's a lot of catching up to do.
> >The market has clearly spoken, and it appears that more lines dominates the
> soup.
>
> one interesting thing about that example is that if it were done again
> for the Plan 9 environment, mk might well be even smaller, since
> some of the existing functionality isn't really used,
> or might be achieved by simpler mechanisms, or with functionality
> added instead by further composition with other programs;
> alternatively, it might be redone in a radically different way.
>
> either way you probably wouldn't get an entire O'Reilly book out of it though.
Some random thoughts triggered by Charles'es message:
1. The idea is to map mk to a special filesystem -- "mkfs"
takes on a whole new meaning! One would overlay mkfs on
a source tree.
We are going to build foo
mkdir foo foo/src
<put foo's source files in foo/src/>
cd foo
Specify a build rule for command foo:
echo 8c src/*.c -o .build > .rule
Specify dependencies a b & c of foo:
ln -s ../^(a b c) .dep/
Build foo:
ls .build
This checks dependencies a b c (if they are directories,
checks a/.build etc) and builds them. This will need to
be fleshed out the most... Default rules can be added
with something like plumb....
Install foo:
cp .build /bin/foo
Remove temporary files
rm .obj/* .build
I used symlinks to point to dependencies but may be there
is a smarter way.
A default .rule can be derived depending on what is in src/
Initial .dep/ may be derived by mkfs running a dependency
deriving program.
Objects in .obj/ may be similarly derived.
The utility if any is that a small set of mechanisms is
used, coupled with a simple convention.
This was fun little exercise (spent more time on
writing this email) so I am sure there are lots of holes.
Probably not worth building. It'd be too slow.
2. Factor out a way to track changes in any fs and trigger
commands. This would probably obviate the need to build a
number of special purpose file systems.
