149 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
149 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
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# Antelope
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**A ground-up replacement for GNU Make and GNU Autotools, written in D.**
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Antelope offers direct, high-fidelity compatibility with existing Makefiles
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while providing a modern, fast, and correct build system. It targets
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99th-percentile GNU Make compatibility — every quirk, feature, and bug that
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real-world Makefiles depend on is catalogued and emulated.
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## Why Antelope?
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- **Compatibility first** — runs real-world Makefiles, especially those generated
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by GNU Autotools. This is the #1 design constraint.
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- **Single binary** — no m4, no shell scripts, no generated intermediates.
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One `antelope` binary replaces `make`, `autoconf`, `automake`, and `libtool`.
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- **Correctness** — DAG-accurate dependency resolution with no spurious rebuilds.
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Timestamp comparison is monotonic and race-condition safe.
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- **Performance** — compiled D binary with parallel scheduling, lazy evaluation,
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and microsecond startup times.
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- **Two modes, cleanly separated** — native mode is explicit by design; GNU
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compatibility is activated via a single `-gnu` flag.
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## Quick Start
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### Building
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```sh
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# Development build (fast compile, slower runtime)
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dub build
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# Release build (slower compile, fast runtime)
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dub build --compiler=ldc2
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# Run tests
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dub test
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# Run with full GNU Make compatibility
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dub run -- -gnu
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# Run a specific Makefile
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dub run -- -gnu -f MyMakefile target1 target2
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```
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### CLI Usage
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```
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antelope <subcommand> <options> --[flags]
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```
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| Command | Description |
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|---------|-------------|
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| `antelope` | Run the build (default subcommand) |
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| `antelope build` | Explicit build invocation |
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| `antelope hunt` | Intelligent Makefile → Antefile converter (late-stage) |
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| `antelope configure` | Autotools configure.ac replacement (future) |
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| Flag | Description |
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|------|-------------|
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| `-gnu` | Enable full GNU Make compatibility mode |
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| `-f <path>` | Specify a build file |
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| `-j <N>` | Run N jobs in parallel |
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| `-n` | Dry run (print commands without executing) |
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| `-C <dir>` | Change to directory before reading build files |
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| `-d` | Debug output |
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| `-P` | POSIX conformance mode |
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## Two Modes
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### Native Mode (default)
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Antelope's native mode is explicit by design — no implicit rules, no automatic
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variables, no magic. The build file is an `antefile` or `antelope` file.
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```make
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# antefile — explicit, predictable, debuggable
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hello: hello.o
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gcc -o hello hello.o
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hello.o: hello.c
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gcc -c hello.c
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```
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### GNU Mode (`-gnu`)
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Pass `-gnu` and Antelope becomes GNU Make — `Makefile` / `makefile` reading,
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implicit rules, automatic variables (`$@`, `$<`, `$^`), VPATH, pattern rules,
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conditionals, and the entire GNU Make compatibility surface.
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```sh
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antelope -gnu -j8 # Run Makefile with 8 parallel jobs
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```
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## Architecture
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Antelope is organized into clean layers:
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| Layer | Purpose |
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|-------|---------|
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| **CLI** | Subcommand dispatch, argument parsing, help output |
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| **Parser** | Lexer → recursive-descent parser → AST |
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| **Evaluator** | AST walking, variable expansion, conditionals, built-in functions |
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| **Build** | Dependency graph, topological scheduling, recipe execution |
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| **Shell** | Command parsing, environment management, subprocess execution |
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| **Filesystem** | Globbing, timestamp comparison, path resolution |
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| **Compatibility** | GNU Make feature emulation (13 modules) |
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| **Diagnostics** | Structured errors, warnings, log-level output |
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See [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md) for the full design.
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## GNU Make Compatibility
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Antelope targets GNU Make versions 3.81 through 4.4 with feature-complete
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emulation of:
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- Automatic variables (`$@`, `$<`, `$^`, `$*`, `$?`, `$%`, `$+`, `$|`)
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- ~30 built-in implicit rules (C, C++, Fortran, lex, yacc, archive management)
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- Pattern rules (`%.o: %.c`) and suffix rules (`.c.o:`)
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- VPATH / vpath directory search
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- Target-specific and pattern-specific variable assignments
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- Order-only prerequisites (`|` separator)
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- Secondary expansion (`.SECONDEXPANSION`)
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- Include directives with makefile remaking and restart
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- Recursive `$(MAKE)` with MAKEFLAGS propagation and jobserver protocol
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- Parallel execution (`-jN`, `.NOTPARALLEL`, `.WAIT`, `.JOBS`)
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- Conditionals (`ifeq`/`ifneq`/`ifdef`/`ifndef`)
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- Functions (`$(shell ...)`, `$(wildcard ...)`, `$(patsubst ...)`, etc.)
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- All documented behavioral quirks and edge cases
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See [docs/compatibility.md](docs/compatibility.md) for the full compatibility matrix.
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## Project Status
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**Phase:** Early scaffolding. Stub modules with type definitions and structural
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skeleton. Core implementation (lexer, parser, evaluator, build engine) is the
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active development focus.
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## Documentation
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- [Architecture](docs/architecture.md) — system design and key decisions
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- [Compatibility](docs/compatibility.md) — GNU Make feature coverage
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- [Manual](docs/manual.md) — user guide and reference
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- [Contributing](CONTRIBUTING.md) — how to contribute
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## License
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BSD 3-Clause. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for the full text.
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