Do - The Simplest Build Tool on Earth
Do is a Build Tool and Build File in one single self executable Shell script.
- No installation
- No libraries
- No dependencies
- Easy to use
- Easy to understand
- Simple to extend
- Runs on anything with a Shell
Why Do
There are many build-tools that are more powerful, versatile and expressive then Do. Usually you should be fine with one of the major Build Tools. The second purpose of Do is to tame the uncontrolled growth and complexity of Shell build scripts. By providing consistent interfaces, documentation, reference and best practices on how to use and build Do scripts. It should be possible to make Do scripts recognizable and understandable even if they are customized.
In some use cases the major Build Tools aren't the best fit or need some sort of an extension. Here are some use cases where Do can shine:
- You want a Build Tool that interact nicely with the Shell. Use Do to apply a consistent workflow and syntax.
- Golangs
go
already provides some build tool like functionality and most of the major build tools are too much to justify the overhead. A combination of a few Shell commands will Do it. - Building or Deploying Container Images can get out of hand quickly, Do can help by providing a consistent and understandable flow to build, ship and run images.
- Declarative CI/CD Build files like GitLabCI or TravisCI can become quite complex and are hard to test locally. Do can help here by wrapping those commands in Do functions and make them locally testable. At the same time it will reduce the Build files making them easy understandable.
If you have some other use cases where Do can shine, open an issue or submit a PR.
Installation
The simplest way to use Do
is to copy and paste the do.sh
code into your project and extend it as needed.
Usage
Do expects one argument on what to do. If more then one argument is provided they are passed on to the task.
$ ./do.sh build
I am building
...
If no argument is provided Do prints out a help message with all the available tasks.
$ ./do.sh
Usage:
./do.sh (all|build|deploy|test)
Take also a look into the Examples
Directory to see different use cases of Do.
Concept
The concept of Do is simple to explain. Functions are Tasks and Tasks can be combined to new Tasks. Tasks can also accept parameters and return values.
It is possible to define as many tasks as needed. The Do template for defines build, test, deploy, all
for your convenience.
#!/usr/bin/env sh
# Do - The Simplest Build Tool on Earth. See https://github.com/8gears/do
function build() {
echo "I am ${FUNCNAME[0]}ing"
}
function test() {
echo "I am ${FUNCNAME[0]}ing"
}
function deploy() {
echo "I am ${FUNCNAME[0]}ing"
}
function all() {
build && test && deploy
}
"$@"
let $# || echo "Usage:\n\t./do.sh ($(compgen -A function | paste -sd '|' -))"
In case no argument was provided the line let $# || echo "Usage:\n\t./do.sh ($(compgen -A function | paste -sd '|' -))"
will prints out a help message with all the available tasks in this build file.
It is important to be disciplined with Do and avoid adding too much complexity, which is common in the case of shell scripts. Otherwise it would blur the simple syntax of Do and make it harder for others to understand the build file. In doubt KISS.
How To Contribute
You can contribute by improving do.sh
or by providing examples on how to use Do in an elegant or creative way.
Follow the KISS principle. Don't add complexity. Don't make it bigger then needed.
Create an issue describing the problem you a trying to solve to start a discussion. Do the changes and open a merge request.
Projects using Do
There aren't any public projects yet, If you have one open a PR to add your project here.
Other Known Tools
- Bake a pure bash project automation tool