bmakelib v0.7.0 has just been released.

The highlight is the fail-fast alternative to $(shell) which relieves you from checking .SHELLSTATUS every time $(shell) is used.

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Makefile:

```makefile include bmakelib/bmakelib.mk

VAR1 := $(call bmakelib.shell.error-if-nonzero,\ echo Fails hard❗ && false)

unreachable-target : ```

Shell:

text $ make unreachable-target Makefile:3: *** shell.error-if-nonzero: Command exited with non-zero value 1. Stop.

bmakelib is a collection of useful targets, recipes and variables you can use to augment your Makefiles.

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I just released bmakelib v0.6.0 w/ the main highlight being the ability to define enums and validate variable values against them.

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➤ Makefile:

```Makefile define-enum : bmakelib.enum.define( DEPLOY-ENV/dev,staging,prod ) include define-enum

deploy : bmakelib.enum.error-unless-member( DEPLOY-ENV,ENV ) deploy : @echo 🚀 Deploying to $(ENV)... ```

➤ Shell:

```text $ make ENV=local-laptop deploy *** 'local-laptop' is not a member of enum 'DEPLOY-ENV'. Stop.

$ make ENV=prod deploy 🚀 Deploying to prod... ```

Fed up w/ my ad-hoc scripts to display the targets and variables in a makefile(s), I've decided to write a reusable piece of code to do that: https://github.com/bahmanm/bmakelib/issues/81

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The first step toward that would be to understand the common commenting styles. So far I have identified 4 patterns in the wild which you can find below.

Are there any style guides/conventions around this topic? Any references to well-written makefiles I can get inspiration from?

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A

VAR1 = foo ## short one-liner comment my-target: ## short one-liner comment …

B

```

longer comment which

may span

several lines

VAR1 = foo

comments can be prefixed w/ more than

lorem ipsum dolor

my-target: … ```

C

```

a comment block which is marked w/ several #s on

an otherwise blank line

VAR1 = foo ```

D

```

#> # heading 1

This is a variation to have markdown comments

inside makefile comments.

## It's a made-up style!

I came up w/ this style and used it to document bmakelib.

For example: https://is.gd/QtiqyA (opens github)

#<

VAR1 = foo ```

> When writing a (GNU) Makefile, there are times when you need a particular target(s) to be run before anything else. That can be for example to check the environment, ensure variables are set or prepare a particular directory layout. > >... take advantage of GNU Make's mechanism of includeing and makeing makefiles which is described in details in the manual:

I'm trying to gather requirements wrt a potential bmakelib feature linked in the post.

I'd appreciate your feedback around:

• What are the conventions you follow to document your Makefiles?
• How/where do you usually declare variables and how do you document them?

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Please take a second to share your thoughts on the issue or simply reply to this post if you'd prefer 🙏

>There are two major flavours of variables in GNU Make: "simple" and "recursive". > >While simple variables are quite simple and easy to understand, they can be limiting at times. On the other hand, recursive variables are powerful yet tricky. > >... > >There is exactly one rule to recall when using recursive variables... > > 🧠 The value of a recursive variable is computed every time it is expanded.

A follow up on [DISCUSS] Website to monitor Lemmy servers' performance/availability

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I wanted to experiment w/ Lemmy's APIs to, eventually, build a public-facing performance monitoring solution for Lemmy.

It started w/ a couple of shell commands which I found myself repeating. Then I recalled the saying "Don't repeat yourself - make Make make things happen for you!" and, well, stopped typing commands in bash.

Instead I, incrementally, wrote a makefile to do the crud work for me (esp thanks to its declarative style): https://github.com/bahmanm/lemmy-clerk/blob/v0.0.1/run-clerk

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TBH there's nothing special about the file. But I thought I'd share this primarily b/c it is a demonstration of the patterns I usually use in my makefiles and I'd love some feedback on those.

Additionally, it's a real world use-case for bmakelib (a library that I maintain 😎 )