Re: [Caml-list] Building large and portable projects

[David Brown <caml-list@davidb.org>]

On Sat, Nov 22, 2003 at 03:12:48AM +1100, skaller wrote:

> First observe that building a system
> is a process where it is not always
> possible to determine the full sequence
> of commands in advance. Sometimes,
> you have to perform some action before
> you can decide what to do next.

Make doesn't try to determine everything in advance.  Well, sorta :-)
It does try to figure everything out in advance, and then sometimes
looks to see if that needs to change.  It makes it work in a few
situations where it wouldn't before.

A while back, I build something like ocamake that let you specify a
command like:

  myomake -o target a b c

This would compile modules a, b, and c, and any that they depended on.
They would be linked in an order that would link.  If you need more
control, you can specify additional modules on the command line.  This
kind of tool is useful for many projects.

Once I discovered not to try and figure everything out in advance, the
tool not only became easier to write, but possible.

Once other stuff is brought in (C, literate programming), the
specification needs to be more complex.

Dave

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