[0xbadcafebee]

I've never found the need for a task runner since learning shell scripting.

A lot of people recommend just; here's their sample file:

  alias b := build
  
  host := `uname -a`
  
  build:
      cc *.c -o main
  
  test-all: build
      ./test --all
  
  test TEST: build
      ./test --test {{TEST}}

Here's how I would do that with shell:

  #!/usr/bin/env sh
  set -eu
  
  b="build"
  
  host=`uname -a`

  _cmd_build () {  # build:       Build main program
      cc *.c -o main
  }
  
  _cmd_test_all () {  # test_all:    Run all tests
       _cmd_build
      ./test --all
  }
  
  _cmd_test () {  # test TEST:   Run a test TEST
      _cmd_build
      ./test --test "$1"
  }
  
  _cmd_help () {
      echo "Available targets:"
      grep -E "^_cmd_[^[:space:]]+ \(\) {.+" "$0" | sed -E 's/.*#/  /'
  }

  [ $# -gt 0 ] || _cmd_help
  set -x
  "_cmd_$1" "$@"


  $ chmod 0755 run.sh
  $ ./run.sh
  Available targets:
     build:       Build main program
     test_all:    Run all tests
     test TEST:   Run a test TEST
  ./foo.sh: line 23: $1: unbound variable
  $ ./run.sh build
  $ ./run.sh test_all
  $ ./run.sh test foo.t

But this example (from just's homepage) is clearly a build process, so I would use Make for it instead. When I need to be able to run individual sets of commands with arguments and options, I make a shell script. Many more features available, more flexibility, I can tailor it to my use case.

[kstrauser]

Two things Just gives you beyond that:

- It handles all that boilerplate for you. The only stuff in the justfile is code you want to execute, not the code to figure out which code to execute.

- Out-of-the-box tab completion. "What did I name that recipe? `just t<tab>` Oh, `test-all`, that's right!"

I like not reinventing those wheels. Let someone else manage that hassle for me.