Hi Ira! On Sunday 13 January 2008, Ira Abramov wrote: > I'm helping a client here to start a project from almost scratch. it > involves java servelets for Tomcat, building with MAVEN, a few external > GPL tarballs that are downloaded from the web, unzipped and compiled (or > maybe we'll check them into the CVS) and some glue scripts in bash. > > Make is the standard, I just wodered how many of you tried rake and > other tools that compete against it, and have an opinion... >
Make alternatives I've had some experience with: 1. Module::Build - http://search.cpan.org/dist/Module-Build/ - primarily intended as a builder for CPAN or CPAN-like Perl distributions. I found it better and more flawless than ExtUtils::MakeMaker, which ends up generating a makefile. The developers were helpful with informing me how I can extend it to do what I wanted to do. I should note that it's not intended as a general-purpose building tool, but a domain-specific one for building Perl distributions. 2. SCons - http://www.scons.org/ - a Python-based tool for software configuration and construction, that does the equivalent of both make and the GNU autotools. I used it to write the installer for Latemp ( http://web-cpan.berlios.de/latemp/ ). My impression for it is that it is high-quality, but: 2.1. Required re-inventing many things that alrady existed GNU-Autotools wheels, using your own custom code. 2.2. Had a lot of available third-party open-source custom code, but it was hard to tell what works well or not, and finding the right thing. 2.3. Doesn't separate between configuration (e.g "./configure" ) and construction ("make") and so has to do both over and over again. 3. Cook ( http://miller.emu.id.au/pmiller/software/cook/ ) - it's a superior make. The main problem I encountered with it was that I was trying to define a target dynamically and discovered it was not supported and that they were more make-like. 4. Ant ( http://ant.apache.org/ ) - I did some small Java-related stuff with it. It worked well, but I didn't push it to its limit and do not consider myself an expert of it. 5. CMake - http://www.cmake.org/ - I ran into it when building KDE 4. It still ends up generating makefiles, but otherwise didn't seem too bad. Possibly a better alternative to the GNU Autotools. ------------- I should note that I'm personally still using Module::Build for most of my Perl projects, and GNU make for most other stuff. Other lists can be found here: http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/resources/software-tools/#build_links ( Knock yourself out. ) Regards, Shlomi Fish --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.shlomifish.org/ I'm not an actor - I just play one on T.V. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
