[erlang-questions] Use of makefiles - and why we do

[Peter-Henry Mander]

Hi gentlepeople,

Others on the list [1] have mentioned various make systems. Chandru
mentioned [2] the system we use in T-Mobile, and I invite others to
browse a copy of the build system on GoogleCode [3], following the
presentation I made in London at SkillsMatter in association with
Erlang-Consulting on Wednesday Feb 27.

It isn't yet complete, it lacks a basic set of applications which
would make it function out of the box. I will add some source gleaned
from Jungerl and elsewhere. Possibly a few applications that Chandru
created such as ibrowse, once he gives me the 'ok'.

I would like to add that erlang-t-build [3] is a concurrent build
system. If you have a multiprocessor build host (we use a HP DL585
with eight CPUs) expect to see 100% CPU when building, and a quicker
build turnaround than you've ever seen before. Lev Walkin mentioned
[4] that make is here to stay. I'll add that make --jobs is the reason
why, and that make is a misunderstood declarative language with much
more power than most suspect.

Pete.

[1] http://www.erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2008-February/033153.html
[2] http://www.erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2008-February/033197.html
[3] http://code.google.com/p/erlang-t-build/
[4] http://www.erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2008-February/033163.html