make-js v1.0.5

makejs

create declarative, parallel and incremental makefile in javascript

Documentation

For detailed documentation of main API make.rule(), recipes and tips writing makefile.js, visit documentation page

Sample makefile.js

How does makefile in node look like?

var make = require('make-js');

var path = require('path');
var exec = require('child_process').exec;

// these awesome generic purpose packages are all pre-existing on npm
var glob = require('globule');
var concat = require('concat');
var Gaze = require('gaze').Gaze;

/* 
 * compile each coffeescript in src/js to .tmp/js
 */

// use simple javascript variables to hold your settings, in whatever
// data structure you feel like
var coffeeScripts = glob.findMapping('js/**/*.coffee', {
    srcBase: 'src',
    destBase: '.tmp',
    ext: '.js'
});

// makefile.js is just another node program, we can just loop through our files
// and create rules for all of them
coffeeScripts.forEach(function(f) {
    // on subsequent runs, each js file will only be recompiled if
    // source is changed since last compile
    make.rule(f.dest, f.src, function(done, target, deps) {
        // I am lazy so I just call command-line, you can also call 
        // coffee.compile() instead.
        // the compilations of the files will be parallel since we used async exec.
        exec('coffee -o ' + path.dirname(target) + ' -c ' + deps[0], function(err) {
            // call done() when done, optionally with err.
            done(err);
        });
    });
});

/* 
 * concatenate all js file compiled to dist/all.js
 */

// this will only get rerun if any of js is regenerated
make.rule('dist/all.js', coffeeScripts.map(function(f) {
    return f.dest;
}), function(done, target, deps) {
    // use whatever generic npm package you like
    concat(deps, target, function(err) {
        done(err);
    });
});

// A phony target works just as in classic makefile
// except we made it explicit that it must start with colon
// we create a phony target for dist/all.js so that we don't need to type
// the whole filename when invoking makejs
make.rule(':js', ['dist/all.js']);

/*
 * A quick and dirty incremental and parallel watch
 */

// A phony target is just a target, it can have dependencies and actions just 
// like others
make.rule(':watch', [], function(done) {
    new Gaze('src/js/**/*.coffee').on('all', function(){
        // Just invoke makejs again so it by its nature incremental and parallel
        exec('makejs :js');
        // We want to keep watching, so not calling done() here
    });
});

Then?

To incrementally rebuild your js files:

makejs :js

To watch and automatically rebuild js files as you edit the coffeescripts:

makejs :watch

Just want to build one specific file?

makejs .tmp/js/user.js

Getting makejs

1. Install globally, this is just so that you can run makejs command line directly, if you have ./node_modules/.bin on your PATH then you can skip this step.

   ```
   npm install make-js -g
   ```

2. Install and save makejs as your development dependencies.

   npm install make-js --save-dev

Now you can start writing makefile, have fun!

License

MIT License, see LICENSE file for details.