I did something similar with my python make-alike, pub[1], where you can have something like: def outname(f): return f[:-1] + "o" @file_rule("

I did something similar with my python make-alike, pub[1], where you can have something like: def outname(f): return f[:-1] + "o" @file_rule("*.c", outname) def compile(f): #do the compiling here Here's an example of file_rule in use: https://github.com/llimllib/Newsite/blob/master/pub.py#L27 https://github.com/llimllib/Newsite/blob/master/pub.py#L27 [1]: https://github.com/llimllib/pub/ https://github.com/llimllib/pub/