Use Task Runners for Common Coding Tasks

Post by kstrauser » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:27 PM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #30

kstrauser wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One issue with Just is that by default each line in a recipe is executed in a sub shell. Set a variable in line 1 and you can’t use it in line 2. Mise `run` blocks are embedded shell scripts. Alternatively, you can pull those scripts out into individual files so that you can edit them with syntax highlighting etc with any editor that understands shell scripts. Perhaps you can with just now, too, but mise makes it tri…

> One issue with Just is that by default each line in a recipe is executed in a sub shell. Set a variable in line 1 and you can’t use it in line 2. Mise `run` blocks are embedded shell scripts. just supports the same. If you begin a recipe with a shebang (#!/bin/bash), then it dumps the whole recipe to a file and executes it as a shell script. Not limited to bash - you can do the same with Python, etc. As for scripts…

Post by evolve-maz » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:55 AM UTC

adunk wrote: post #9

stackghost wrote: post #7

I do this with plain ol' makefiles. Even for projects where Make isn't part of the build pipeline, like Rails or C++, I have a standardized makefile I put in the project root, using includes for "secrets.mk", so I can do things like "make deploy" and it Just Works(tm). Sometimes the old ways are best!

Another neat and simple trick it to have the first target in the Makefile print out a helpful message that tells the reader what the project is and how to use it. One of those things that is useful both when you are working on the project and when you later return to it, years later.