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/ ]]