Re: Build systems suck. Can Lua be the basis for a better build system?

[Joshua Jensen <josh.jjensen@...>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Miles Bader
Date: 3/8/2013 2:14 AM
> steve donovan <steve.j.donovan@gmail.com> writes:
> > Amen!  I know building software is a messy business, but why must it
> > be so much less elegant?
> The thing is, that _everybody_ realizes this, and _almost_ everybody's
> attempted solve it (at least since I've been aware of such things
> since the mid-80s).  "A better build system" is one of the classic
> programs most good programmers write at some point.
>
> Unfortunately here we are in 2012, with most make alternatives being
> only slightly less horrible, and usually having their own problems.
>
> The lesson I draw from this that it's a harder problem than people
> realize... :]
This is the important point.  I work often in a build that has hundreds 
of thousands of super complex dependencies.  The build system must be 
able to handle that well, of course, but the human must be able to wrap 
his/her head around those dependencies to write a proper system.  My 
brain hurts any time I look at it.

Ick.

-Josh