5 ms·

Ninja is enough build system

20 points by mpweiher 3y ago

gary_0 3y ago
In the links to Ninja implementations at the bottom: > This tiny little implementation[0] in Python! 345 lines of well-commented Python. Cute as a button! It doesn't seem to re-use already-built files, though. I wonder how many lines that would add. I actually have a bit of Python in my build pipeline that basically just goes `if os.path.getmtime(src) > os.path.getmtime(target)` and it works fine for that one file (and took far less effort than trying to shoehorn that build step into my Makefile). [0] https://github.com/gkbrk/scripts/blob/master/ninja.py https://github.com/gkbrk/scripts/blob/master/ninja.py
- tekknolagi 3y ago
  Oh, that would be a nice addition. Maybe I will vendor this little script some day.
- tekknolagi 3y ago
  I put it all together here: https://github.com/tekknolagi/ninja-demo https://github.com/tekknolagi/ninja-demo
hulitu 3y ago
> Ninja is enough build system and then: > There are tools like CMake and Meson that can generate Ninja files So ninja is not enough. You need Meson, CMake and finally, make.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  No, there's no make anywhere in the article (ninja is a substitute for make with simpler syntax designed to be generated), and it's giving you an example of how you can get rid of CMake and Meson.
1letterunixname 3y ago
Samurai is a faster, drop-in replacement for ninja. https://github.com/michaelforney/samurai https://github.com/michaelforney/samurai Edit: It someone writes a ninja-compatible tool in Rust, they must call it "ronin."
jambutters 3y ago
zig as a build system is even better!
TheMatten 3y ago
Another interesting implementation is Shake: https://shakebuild.com/ https://shakebuild.com/ It is technically a Haskell DSL, but supports Ninja files, time estimates and has tools for linting and profiling.
- tekknolagi 3y ago
  Huh, TIL! I will add this to the post. Thanks!
aappleby 3y ago
Absolutely, I use raw Ninja for all my personal projects. The only support I miss is globs, as the Ninja files are quite redundant without them. In some of those cases I use a few lines of Python to regenerate a list of Ninja targets.

20 points by mpweiher 3y ago

In the links to Ninja implementations at the bottom: > This tiny little implementation[0] in Python! 345 lines of well-commented Python. Cute as a button! It doesn't seem to re-use already-built files, though. I wonder how many lines that would add. I actually have a bit of Python in my build pipeline that basically just goes `if os.path.getmtime(src) > os.path.getmtime(target)` and it works fine for that one file (and took far less effort than trying to shoehorn that build step into my Makefile). [0] https://github.com/gkbrk/scripts/blob/master/ninja.py https://github.com/gkbrk/scripts/blob/master/ninja.py

tekknolagi 3y ago
Oh, that would be a nice addition. Maybe I will vendor this little script some day.
tekknolagi 3y ago
I put it all together here: https://github.com/tekknolagi/ninja-demo https://github.com/tekknolagi/ninja-demo

hulitu 3y ago

> Ninja is enough build system and then: > There are tools like CMake and Meson that can generate Ninja files So ninja is not enough. You need Meson, CMake and finally, make.

rcxdude 3y ago
No, there's no make anywhere in the article (ninja is a substitute for make with simpler syntax designed to be generated), and it's giving you an example of how you can get rid of CMake and Meson.

1letterunixname 3y ago

Samurai is a faster, drop-in replacement for ninja. https://github.com/michaelforney/samurai https://github.com/michaelforney/samurai Edit: It someone writes a ninja-compatible tool in Rust, they must call it "ronin."

jambutters 3y ago

zig as a build system is even better!

TheMatten 3y ago

Another interesting implementation is Shake: https://shakebuild.com/ https://shakebuild.com/ It is technically a Haskell DSL, but supports Ninja files, time estimates and has tools for linting and profiling.

tekknolagi 3y ago
Huh, TIL! I will add this to the post. Thanks!

aappleby 3y ago

Absolutely, I use raw Ninja for all my personal projects. The only support I miss is globs, as the Ninja files are quite redundant without them. In some of those cases I use a few lines of Python to regenerate a list of Ninja targets.