RAKE – Ruby Make
Supporting Rake version: 0.6
This package contains Rake, a simple ruby build program with capabilities similar to make.
Rake has the following features:
-
Rakefiles (rake’s version of Makefiles) are completely defined in standard Ruby syntax. No XML files to edit. No quirky Makefile syntax to worry about (is that a tab or a space?)
-
Users can specify tasks with prerequisites.
-
Rake supports rule patterns to sythesize implicit tasks.
-
Flexible FileLists that act like arrays but know about manipulating file names and paths.
-
A library of prepackaged tasks to make building rakefiles easier.
Download
The latest version of rake can be found at
Installation
Normal Installation
You can install rake with the following command.
% ruby install.rb
from its distribution directory.
GEM Installation
Download and install rake with the following.
gem install --remote rake
Online Resources
Rake References
-
Rake Documentation Home: docs.rubyrake.org
-
Rake Project Page: rubyforge.org/projects/rake
-
Rake API Documents: rake.rubyforge.org
Presentations and Articles about Rake
-
Jim Weirichu2019s 2003 RubyConf presentation: onestepback.org/articles/buildingwithrake/
-
Martin Fowleru2019s article on Rake: martinfowler.com/articles/rake.html
Road Map
-
If you want to see how to invoke rake to build your projects, read on.
-
If you want to see the format of a Rakefile, see doc/rakefile.rdoc.
-
If you want to see the original announcement of rake, see doc/rational.rdoc.
-
If you want to see a glossary of terms, see doc/glossary.rdoc.
Simple Example
Once installed, you can run rake as follows …
% rake [ ...] [VAR=VALUE ...] [tasks...]
Type “rake –help” for an up-to-date option summary.
Invoking rake
without any options or targets causes rake to look for a rakefile and invoke the default task in that rakefile.
For example, given a simple rakefile like this …
task :default => [:test]
task :test do
ruby "test/unittest.rb"
end
The command
$ rake
will invoke the default
task. As default
satisfies its prerequisites, the test
task will run the unit tests for the package.
Other Make Reinvisionings …
Rake is a late entry in the make replacement field. Here are links to other projects with similar (and not so similar) goals.
-
www.a-a-p.org – Make in Python
-
www.aromatic.com/tools/jam.txt – JAM, Java Automated Make
-
ant.apache.org – The Ant project
-
www.perl.com/language/ppt/src/make/index.html – Make from the Perl Power Tools implementation.
Credits
- Ryan Dlugosz
-
For the initial conversation that sparked Rake.
- [email protected]
-
For the initial patch for rule support.
- Tilman Sauerbeck <[email protected]>
-
For the recursive rule patch.
License
Rake is available under an MIT-style license.
:include: MIT-LICENSE
Support
The Rake homepage is rake.rubyforge.org. You can find the Rake RubyForge page at rubyforge.org/projects/rake.
Feel free to submit commits or feature requests. If you send a patch, remember to update the corresponding unit tests. If fact, I prefer new feature to be submitted in the form of new unit tests.
For other information, feel free to ask on the ruby-talk mailing list (which is mirrored to comp.lang.ruby) or contact [email protected].
Usage
Rake is invoked from the command line using:
% rake [<em>options</em> ...] [<em>VAR</em>=<em>VALUE</em>] [<em>targets</em> ...]
Options are:
name=value
-
Set the environment variable name to value during the execution of the rake command. You can access the value by using ENV[‘name’].
--classic-namespace
(-n)-
Import the Task, FileTask, and FileCreateTask into the top-level scope to be compatible with older versions of Rake. Alternatively you can include the line
require 'rake/classic_namespace'
in your Rakefile to get the classic behavior. --dry-run
(-n)-
Do a dry run. Print the tasks invoked and executed, but do not actually execute any of the actions.
--help
(-H)-
Display some help text and exit.
--libdir
directory (-I)-
Add directory to the list of directories searched for require.
--nosearch
(-N)-
Do not search for a Rakefile in parent directories.
--prereqs
(-P)-
Display a list of all tasks and their immediate prerequisites.
--quiet
(-q)-
Do not echo commands from FileUtils.
--rakefile
filename (-f)-
Use filename as the name of the rakefile. The default rakefile names are
rakefile
andRakefile
(withrakefile
taking precedence). If the rakefile is not found in the current directory,rake
will search parent directories for a match. The directory where the Rakefile is found will become the current directory for the actions executed in the Rakefile. --require
name (-r)-
Require name before executing the Rakefile.
--tasks
(-T)-
Display a list of the major tasks and their comments. Comments are defined using the “desc” command.
--trace
(-t)-
Turn on invoke/execute tracing. Also enable full backtrace on errors.
--usage
(-h)-
Display a usage message and exit.
--verbose
(-v)-
Echo the Sys commands to standard output.
--version
(-V)-
Display the program version and exit.
In addition, any command line option of the form VAR=VALUE will be added to the environment hash ENV
and may be tested in the Rakefile.
Rakefile Format
See doc/rakefile.rdoc for details on the Rakefile format.
Other stuff
- Author
-
Jim Weirich <[email protected]>
- Requires
-
Ruby 1.8.0 or later
- License
-
Copyright 2003, 2004 by Jim Weirich. Released under an MIT-style license. See the LICENSE file included in the distribution.
Warranty
This software is provided “as is” and without any express or implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantibility and fitness for a particular purpose.