rbuild

A make-like tool with a few additional conventions and conveniences.

Example

build.task("tbd")

Command-line Usage

• -w, --watch - runs in watch mode: will run the given task then poll all the dependent files and rerun the top-level task whenever
• -f, --force - ignores timestamps and forces all tasks to be run. When combined with the watch option, the force option only applies to the first run of the tasks
• -h, --help - describes the tasks
• -d, --describe, - outputs a detailed JSON dependency graph

rbuild.config.js

The configuration file has the following properties:

• Interpreted as ES6 JavaScript
• The build variable is exposed as a global
• The environment variables are exposed as the map ENV

API

Builds are described in a file named rbuild.config.js. This exports two special variables build and ENV. It is also compiled as ES6 Javascript.

build

• task(name) - create a new named task
• include(directory) - add in the tasks and commands from another rbuild.config
• addCmd(name, { desc }) - add a custom named command

Task

• describe(msg) - give the task a brief description
• deps([ dependencies ]) - ordered list of dependencies of this task
• watch([ dependencies ]) - dependencies that should retrigger this task in watch mode
• shell(command) - run the command string via the shell
• exec(process, [ args ], { options }) - run an executable outside the shell
• cmd(name, ...) - run a command registered with addCmd

task(name)

Create a new named task.

build.task("test")

describe(msg)

build.task("test")
    .describe("runs all the unit tests")
    .shell("npm run test")

deps(deps)

build.task("test")
    .describe("runs all the unit tests")
    .deps([ "build", "lint" ])
    .shell("npm run test")

shell(command)

Runs a command or array of commands as bash scripts. rbuild will go out of its way to try to run these commands with bash (e.g. using MinGW on Windows).

• shell(command)
• shell([ commands ])

build.task("test")
    .describe("runs all the unit tests")
    .deps([ "build", "lint" ])
    .shell("npm run test")

build.task("test")
    .describe("runs all the unit tests")
    .deps([ "build", "lint" ])
    .shell([
        "npm run test-fast",
        "npm run test-slow",        
    ]);

As rbuild compiles the source files using ES6 syntax, the long-string form can be used to construct full scripts inline in the rbuild.config.js file:

build.task("<tbd>")
    .shell(`\
set -e
echo
echo Hello World
echo
gcc -c myfile.cc -o myfile.o
`)

exec(cmdName, ...args, options)

The exec command explicitly launches a new process without going through a sub-shell.

build.task("test")
    .describe("runs all the unit tests")
    .deps([ "build", "lint" ]
    .exec("go", "build", "...", { })

subtasks(arr, opts, cb(task))

Creates a new anonymous child task for each element in the array. The child task is automatically a dependency of the named parent task.

var glob = require("glob");
build.task("compile-less")
    .subtasks(glob.sync("assets/style/*.less"), (task, filename) => {
        task.shell(`lessc ${fileanme}`)
    })