36 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
36 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
This is a Perl-based make replacement, but does not provide make
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compatibility. It has a number of powerful capabilities not found
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in other software construction systems, including make.
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Cons is a system for constructing, primarily, software, but is
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quite different from previous software construction systems. Cons
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was designed from the ground up to deal easily with the construction
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of software spread over multiple source directories. Cons makes it
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easy to create build scripts that are simple, understandable and
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maintainable. Cons ensures that complex software is easily and
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accurately reproducible.
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`Cons' uses a number of techniques to accomplish all of this.
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Construction scripts are just Perl scripts, making them both easy
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to comprehend and very flexible. Global scoping of variables is
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replaced with an import/export mechanism for sharing information
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between scripts, significantly improving the readability and
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maintainability of each script. `Construction environments' are
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introduced: these are Perl objects that capture the information
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required for controlling the build process. Multiple environments
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are used when different semantics are required for generating
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products in the build tree. Cons implements automatic dependency
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analysis and uses this to globally sequence the entire build.
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Variant builds are easily produced from a single source tree.
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Intelligent build subsetting is possible, when working on localized
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changes. Overrides can be setup to easily override build instructions
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without modifying any scripts. MD5 cryptographic `signatures' are
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associated with derived files, and are used to accurately determine
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whether a given file needs to be rebuilt.
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While offering all of the above, and more, Cons remains simple and
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easy to use. This will, hopefully, become clear as you read the
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remainder of the man page.
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WWW: http://www.dsmit.com/cons/
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