Re: cons for modular packages

[Dean Roehrich]

>From:  Steven Knight <address@hidden>

>Be aware that the Build command is slightly mis-named (IMHO), and
>doesn't actually build anything.  It really means, "Read these subsidiary
>Conscript files for dependency information."  What actually gets built or
>not comes completely out of walking the dependency tree for the targets
>specified on the command line (or via the Default method).

Steven,

This is going to be a continuing source of confusion.  Build sounds like a
verb (and we call it a "command", too, don't we?), but in Cons it's not a
verb.  We really need to come up with a new name for this one, a noun, and to
deprecate the old name.  Maybe call it Maps(), change all the Build-related
documentation to refer to Maps, and then add a reference in the docs to Build
and say that it's the old name for Maps.  By calling it Maps I can now grasp
the concept of having the Conscripts live anywhere--without regard for the
directory structure of my project--and I think this might help people to
separate the Cons model from the Make model.

We also have people who want to plug in operations that should be performed
before the Cons engine begins and again after it stops -- We need to do one of
two things to address this:  1) promote the ages-old and proven Unix-toolbox
style of problem solving--building layers of scripts around different
operations, this also means taking care with Cons's exit statuses; or 2) make
Cons a Perl Module.  The first is easy, the second is particularly
exciting.


Maps()
Dependency_Maps()
Map_List()
Maps_List()
    - Map sounds more verb-ish than Maps
Build_Maps()
Build_Dependencies()
    - even with those, the word Build still gives it a verb-ish feeling
Subsidiary_Maps()
Subsidiaries()
    - finger twisters
Require()
    - will probably be confused with require...
Cons_Require()
    - the Perl require() keyword seems close to what Build is really about,
      except that require() merges the namespaces--so we make our own version
      of require, which, today, is called Build.
Cons_Include()


Dean