Task - Simple "Make" alternative

Task is a simple tool that allows you to easily run development and build tasks. Task is written in Go, but can be used to develop any language. It aims to be simpler and easier to use then GNU Make.

Installation

If you have a Go environment setup, you can simply run:

go get -u -v github.com/go-task/task/cmd/task

Now the task executable should be available in your PATH.

Usage

Create a file called Taskfile.yml. The cmds key should contains the commands of a task:

build:
  cmds:
    - go build -v -i main.go

assets:
  cmds:
    - gulp

Running the tasks is as simple as running:

task assets build

If Bash is available (Linux and Windows while on Git Bash), the commands will run in Bash, otherwise will run on cmd (Windows).

Task dependencies

You may have tasks that depends on others. Just point them on deps will run them automatically:

build:
  deps: [assets]
  cmds:
    - go build -v -i main.go

assets:
  cmds:
    - gulp

In the above example, assets will always run right before build if you run task build.

A task can have only dependencies and no commands to group tasks together:

assets:
  deps: [js, css]

js:
  cmds:
    - npm run buildjs

css:
  cmds:
    - npm run buildcss

Prevent task from running when not necessary

If a task generates something, you can inform Task the source and generated files, to Task will prevent to run them if not necessary.

build:
  deps: [js, css]
  cmds:
    - go build -v -i main.go

js:
  cmds:
    - npm run buildjs
  sources:
    - js/src/**/*.js
  generates:
    - public/bundle.js

css:
  cmds:
    - npm run buildcss
  sources:
    - css/src/*.css
  generates:
    - public/bundle.css

sources and generates should be file patterns. When both are given, Task will compare the modification date/time of the files to determine if it's necessary to run the task. If not, it will just print Task "js" is up to date.