Linux Journal: Automating Tasks with Aap

Apr 14, 2004, 13:00 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Bram Moolenaar)

"Many people use a Makefile and shell scripts to automate tasks where a change to a file requires an action to be taken. You edit a file and then invoke make in the hope that all actions necessary to effect the changes are done. Often you need to tweak the Makefile to get it right and end up using touch to work around a missing dependency. As a result, when other people look at your carefully tuned Makefile, they have a hard time understanding how it works.

"These tasks can be done more easily and reliably with Aap than with make. For example, Aap has built-in Internet support. Downloading and uploading is taken care of without the need to specify the commands or to keep timestamp files. Reliability is achieved by figuring out dependencies automatically and using signatures instead of timestamps. With Aap it is simpler to specify the work you want done, and you make fewer mistakes..."

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