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by Pesthuf 784 days ago
I've always wanted to use one of those, but you have to convince the other developers on your team to use it as well. Make is a relatively easy sell because it's on pretty much every system or at least trivial to install and has decades of reputation.
2 comments

> it's on pretty much every system

Some system have GNU, some BSD.

> at least trivial to install

Then same for `just`, package manager have it.

This is why I'm uninterested in just. I'd rather just use make than add another dependency.
Heresy, I know, but Make is a dependency in windows land.
Luckily few of my users build from source on Windows.
It would have taken you less time to install it than it took you to write your comment.
You're not accounting for updating my hundreds of existing Makefiles and CI config, and asking users to install yet another build dependency.
If it's hundreds, I'll agree with you, obviously that would be a huge effort to migrate.

But you made the argument that adding another build dependency is somehow difficult or undesirable which I can't see; the tool is installed in seconds on all major OS-es and package managers.

So let's not conflate those two separate things, yeah?

Why ask all my users to install just, when make works fine? Adding a build dependency is always undesirable.

just doesn't even do many of the things make does, as the README states: "just is a command runner, not a build system"

`make` running fine is the hill I'll proudly die on. Or simply put, I'll disagree forever. It's full of subtle issues that I got tired of tip-toeing around. It's a never ending black hole of programmer time.

And yes, `just` isn't a build system per se, it still requires something to track modified source files and whether they map to the requisite build artifacts. Good for C/C++ and maybe stuff like Latex -> HTML but outside of that it's obsolete and thank the gods for that.

If it works well for you, cool. As mentioned up-thread I wouldn't attempt a switch with hundreds of Makefiles already working fine either.

But I'm very happy to tell you that your case is the vanishing minority. Happily the world has moved on.