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Tangent - Why hasn't anyone ported make to windows yet? Isn't it "just" a task runner at the end of the day?

• eropple 4y ago
  `make` has been ported long ago! The problem is that almost every Makefile wants a reasonably large subset of POSIX stuff, when it doesn't want specifically GNU stuff. (And like, I write specifically GNUmakefiles because I don't care about those platforms.) `make` being portable doesn't help that `mv` and `cp` and all that don't port amazingly well. You can write binaries for them that take POSIX flags, of course, and people have, but now, to replace package.scripts with a Makefile, you have to pack a whole bootleg quasi-POSIX environment alongside your JS interpreter? That's not really going to fly with most people. But assuming you do that--how do you write a loop that works in sh, cmd.exe, and PowerShell? You get the idea. The only way to make a Makefile a real, cross-platform tool is to bring a Unix with it. And that's not super practical in a lot of places! So instead Node (or Ruby/Rake, etc.) converge to a point where libraries like `rimraf` are both really annoying and kind of essential for building an adequate cross-platform dev experience. Again: not endorsing. But it is why it's the way it is.