From: kir@iitb.fhg.de (Harald Kirsch)
Subject: bras --- Rule Based Command Execution with Tcl
Date: 25 Jan 1999 16:03:36 -0800


			      ANNOUNCING
			     --- bras ---
		     Rule Base Command Execution
			       with Tcl

I am pleased to announce a new version of bras. 

MAJOR CHANGES SINCE THE LAST PUBLISHED VERSION

o Syntax like prefix=/opt/jockel on the command line no longer sets
  global variables but environment variables (env-array of Tcl).
o The command `getenv' was introduced. A line like
    getenv prefix /usr/local
  in a brasfile will set `prefix' to the value of the environement
  variable `prefix' (which itself might have been set on the command
  line) or, if this is not available, to `/usr/local'.
o The execution of unknown commands was changed slightly to be
  (hopefully) the same as in plain Tcl.


WHERE CAN I GET IT?

The distribution  can be found at
   http://wsd.iitb.fhg.de/~kir/brashome/

From there you can download the distribution, read the docs online or
download the documentation (in PostScript). A list of changes to
previous versions is also available.


WHAT IS THAT BRAS ANYWAY?

Out of frustration caused by several (mis)features of make I decided
the other day that I would like to have a tool which combines 
rule-based and script-like command execution. The result is bras. It
is written in Tcl and the rule-files it uses are also pretty much
Tcl. However, bras defines a set of new Tcl-commands which implement
rule-based command execution.

Main features are:
o rule-controlled command execution, similar to make;
o written in Tcl, no compilation required;
o Tcl-syntax so that commands associated with rules may contain
  control structures;
o dependencies in foreign directories can trigger sourcing rule files
  in that directory, recursive bras-execution is not necessary;
o more than one type of rule: Newer, Exist, Always, DependsFile;
o new types of rules can be easily added;
o distinction between dependencies and mere prerequisites;
o multiple targets in one rule;
o pattern rules which deserve the name;

Send comments and requests for enhancements to kir@iitb.fhg.de .
 
# CVS:
# $Revision: 1.5 $, $Date: 1999/01/24 07:37:47 $
-- 
---------------------+------------------+--------------------------
Harald Kirsch (@home)|                  | Now I rebooted.
kir@iitb.fhg.de      |                  | --- Jerry Pournelle, BYTE
              gegen Punktfilitis hilft nur `chmod u-w ~'

[[Send Tcl/Tk announcements to tcl-announce@mitchell.org
  Send administrivia to tcl-announce-request@mitchell.org
  Announcements archived at http://www.findmail.com/list/tcl_announce/
  The primary Tcl/Tk archive is ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/ ]]