just VS Task

Most projects I've worked on included a bunch of scripts for common tasks (installing dependencies, starting/stopping dev servers, testing and deploying changes, and so on). There are a few tools designed for this, such as Just (https://just.systems/) and Task (https://taskfile.dev/), and I know some people use Make as a task runner (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40333481), but I've always preferred the simplicity and universality of shell scripts.

Bin CLI is a tool I wrote to add some of the niceties of these tools to shell scripts: it works even when you're currently in a subdirectory, only requires you to type enough of the command (script) name to uniquely identify it, and allows aliases to be defined. It also allows a project's commands to be listed (along with some help text), supports subcommands, and supports tab completion of command names. Of course scripts can be written in other languages too, just by adding the appropriate shebang.

Collaborators/contributors who don't have Bin CLI installed can just run the scripts directly - so I can enjoy the benefits without adding a hard dependency or extra barrier to entry. However, I also added support for defining one-liner scripts/aliases in a config file (much like "npm run" scripts are defined in package.json) for times when I want to avoid creating many trivial/wrapper scripts for common tasks.

It is implemented as a single Bash script, with minimal dependencies, small enough to keep in my Dotfiles repo (62 KB). I also made .deb and .rpm packages so it can easily be installed system-wide.

I find `just` to be better suited than `make` for this use case: https://github.com/casey/just

The siblings comment is good too, and often I'll put all the various commands into a subdir, and `just` is just an interface to that, particularly so if the script gets complex.

Then, `just` is really a signal "hey, this repo supports this interface" and things like `just -l` for discoverability.

I don't like makefiles, but I've been enjoying justfiles: https://github.com/casey/just

I started using just [0] on my projects and have been very happy so far. It is very similar to make but focused on commands rather than build outputs.

Define your recipes and then you can compose them as needed.

[0] https://github.com/casey/just

just - https://github.com/casey/just

Welp there is absolute chaos in that thread -- guess it's not an April Fools joke.

I wonder if relying on CI for anything other than provisioning machines is a mistake -- maybe we should have never moved from doing things from local scripts written in $LANGUAGE.

That said, I'm probably biased since I'm a massive fan of things like `make` and more appropriately for the current age, `just`[0]

[0]: https://github.com/casey/just

> When a command has some cognitive requirements I create a script with some ${1:-default} values and I store them all in $PATH enabled local/bin

I would consider using just for this:

https://github.com/casey/just

Your coworker's experience is more principled: Make is a mediocre tool for executing commands. It wasn't ever designed for that. Although it is pretty common to see what you are mentioning in projects because it doesn't require installing a dependency.

For a repo where an easy to install (single binary) dependency is a non-issue, consider using just. [1] You get `just -l` where you can see all the command available, the ability to use different languages, and overall simpler command writing.

[1] https://github.com/casey/just

Most projects I've worked on included a bunch of scripts for common tasks (installing dependencies, starting/stopping dev servers, testing and deploying changes, and so on). There are a few tools designed for this, such as Just (https://just.systems/) and Task (https://taskfile.dev/), and I know some people use Make as a task runner (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40333481), but I've always preferred the simplicity and universality of shell scripts.

Bin CLI is a tool I wrote to add some of the niceties of these tools to shell scripts: it works even when you're currently in a subdirectory, only requires you to type enough of the command (script) name to uniquely identify it, and allows aliases to be defined. It also allows a project's commands to be listed (along with some help text), supports subcommands, and supports tab completion of command names. Of course scripts can be written in other languages too, just by adding the appropriate shebang.

Collaborators/contributors who don't have Bin CLI installed can just run the scripts directly - so I can enjoy the benefits without adding a hard dependency or extra barrier to entry. However, I also added support for defining one-liner scripts/aliases in a config file (much like "npm run" scripts are defined in package.json) for times when I want to avoid creating many trivial/wrapper scripts for common tasks.

It is implemented as a single Bash script, with minimal dependencies, small enough to keep in my Dotfiles repo (62 KB). I also made .deb and .rpm packages so it can easily be installed system-wide.

The first tool we will test is  Taskfile, found on the website https://taskfile.dev/. The tool's idea is to perform tasks described in a file called Taskfile.yaml and, as the name suggests, in yaml.

So many tools in this space! This one looks a little bit like go-task, but it seems maybe better for production workflows because if timeout support, while go-task seems more aimed to command line work/makefile replacement.

—-

https://github.com/go-task/task

View on GitHub

A similar tool is `task` https://taskfile.dev/ . It is quite capable and also a single executable. I've grown to quite like it.

check out tasks - a bit of a learning curve but arguably more powerful imo

That's when I came across taskfile.dev. Task is an automation tool designed to be more accessible than other options, such as GNU Make.

Full disclosure, I did not review Conda or Hatch fully. Not that there is anything explicitly wrong with either of them. Conda is too specific to the scientific community for my general taste. Hatch seems to go well with Conda and also uses the PyProject manifest as well. It's nice that it gives you several built in tools, similar to commit hooks, but I tend to like to roll my own via a Taskfile and run them with Poetry.

Taskfile is a tool for streamlining repetitive development tasks. It helps automate activities like building, testing, and deploying applications. Unlike Makefile, Taskfile uses YAML for configuration, making it more readable and user-friendly.