ruby/doc/rake/README

= RAKE -- Ruby Make 

Supporting Rake version: 0.8.6

This package contains Rake, a simple ruby build program with
capabilities similar to make.

Rake has the following features:

* Rakefiles (rake's version of Makefiles) are completely defined in
  standard Ruby syntax.  No XML files to edit.  No quirky Makefile
  syntax to worry about (is that a tab or a space?)

* Users can specify tasks with prerequisites.

* Rake supports rule patterns to synthesize implicit tasks.

* Flexible FileLists that act like arrays but know about manipulating
  file names and paths.

* A library of prepackaged tasks to make building rakefiles easier. For example,
  tasks for building tarballs, gems and RDoc output are provided.

* Supports parallel execution of tasks.


== Installation

=== Gem Installation

Download and install  rake with the following.

   gem install rake

=== Normal Installation

You can download the source tarball of the latest version of Rake from

* http://rubyforge.org/project/showfiles.php?group_id=50

Extract the tarball and run

  % ruby install.rb

from its distribution directory.

== Usage

=== Simple Example

First, you must write a "Rakefile" file which contains the build rules. Here's
a simple example:

  task :default => [:test]
  
  task :test do
    ruby "test/unittest.rb"
  end

This Rakefile has two tasks:

* A task named "test", which - upon invocation - will run a unit test file in
  Ruby.
* A task named "default". This task does nothing by itself, but it has exactly
  one dependency, namely the "test" task. Invoking the "default" task will
  cause Rake to invoke the "test" task as well.

Running the "rake" command without any options will cause it to run the
"default" task in the Rakefile:

  % ls
  Rakefile     test/
  % rake
  (in /home/some_user/Projects/rake)
  ruby test/unittest.rb
  ....unit test output here...

Type "rake --help" for all available options.


=== More Information

* For details on Rake's command-line invocation, read
  doc/command_line_usage.rdoc[http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/command_line_usage_rdoc.html]
* For details on writing Rakefiles, see
  doc/rakefile.rdoc[http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/rakefile_rdoc.html].
* For the original announcement of Rake, see
  doc/rational.rdoc[http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/rational_rdoc.html].
* For a glossary of terms, see
  doc/glossary.rdoc[http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/glossary_rdoc.html].


== Development

=== Source Repository

Rake is currently hosted at github. The github web page is
http://github.com/jimweirich/rake. The public git clone URL is

* git://github.com/jimweirich/rake.git

=== Running the Rake Test Suite

If you wish to run the unit and functional tests that come with Rake:

* Install the 'session' gem in order to run the functional tests.
* CD into the top project directory of rake.
* Type one of the following:

     rake                  # If you have a version of rake installed
     ruby -Ilib bin/rake   # If you do not have a version of rake installed.

=== Issues and Bug Reports

Bugs, features requests and other issues can be logged at

* http://onestepback.org/redmine/projects/show/rake

You will need an account to before you can post issues.  Register at
http://onestepback.org/redmine/account/register.  Or you can send me
an email (at jim dot weirich at gmail dot com)


== Online Resources

=== Rake References

* Rake Documentation Home: http://docs.rubyrake.org
* Rake Project Page: http://rubyforge.org/projects/rake
* Rake API Documents: http://rake.rubyforge.org
* Rake Source Code Repo:  http://github.com/jimweirich/rake
* Rake Git Repo Clone URL: git://github.com/jimweirich/rake.git

=== Presentations and Articles about Rake

* Jim Weirich's 2003 RubyConf presentation: http://onestepback.org/articles/buildingwithrake/
* Martin Fowler's article on Rake: http://martinfowler.com/articles/rake.html

== Other Make Reinvisionings ...

Rake is a late entry in the make replacement field.  Here are links to
other projects with similar (and not so similar) goals.

* http://directory.fsf.org/bras.html -- Bras, one of earliest
  implementations of "make in a scripting language".
* http://www.a-a-p.org -- Make in Python
* http://www.aromatic.com/tools/jam.txt -- JAM, Java Automated Make
* http://ant.apache.org -- The Ant project
* http://ppt.perl.org/commands/make/index.html -- Make from the Perl
  Power Tools implementation.
* http://search.cpan.org/search?query=PerlBuildSystem -- The Perl Build System
* http://make.rubyforge.org -- Rant, another Ruby make tool.

== Credits

[<b>Ryan Dlugosz</b>] For the initial conversation that sparked Rake.

[<b>nobu.nokada@softhome.net</b>] For the initial patch for rule support.

[<b>Tilman Sauerbeck <tilman@code-monkey.de></b>] For the recursive rule patch.

== License

Rake is available under an MIT-style license.

:include: MIT-LICENSE

== Support

The Rake homepage is http://rake.rubyforge.org.  You can find the Rake
RubyForge page at http://rubyforge.org/projects/rake.

Feel free to submit commits or feature requests.  If you send a patch,
remember to update the corresponding unit tests.  If fact, I prefer
new feature to be submitted in the form of new unit tests.

For other information, feel free to ask on the ruby-talk mailing list
(which is mirrored to comp.lang.ruby) or contact
jim dot weirich at gmail.com.

---

= Other stuff

Author::   Jim Weirich <jim.weirich@gmail.com>
Requires:: Ruby 1.8.0 or later
License::  Copyright 2003-2008 by Jim Weirich.
           Released under an MIT-style license.  See the LICENSE file
           included in the distribution.

== Warranty

This software is provided "as is" and without any express or
implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied
warranties of merchantibility and fitness for a particular
purpose.