Coding

Please – fast, cross-language build system

Please is a fast, cross-language build system with an emphasis on extensibility and reproducibility.

It provides a consistent command-line interface for building and testing projects regardless of the languages and tools involved.

The software uses hermetic builds, hash-based caching and parallel task execution to minimise unnecessary work. Its declarative build language can be extended with custom rules to automate almost any part of a build or deployment process.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Supports projects using multiple programming languages and toolchains.
  • Provides consistent commands for building, testing and running targets.
  • Creates hermetic builds with explicitly declared files and environment variables.
  • Caches artifacts using hashes of rule inputs rather than modification timestamps.
  • Runs independent build tasks concurrently to take advantage of multiple processor cores.
  • Supports shared remote caches for distributing build artifacts between systems.
  • Offers an extensible declarative build language with imperative programming constructs.
  • Allows users to create custom build rules and command-line aliases.
  • Supports tab completion for commands, arguments, flags and build labels.
  • Can use Linux namespaces to provide additional build isolation.
  • Cross-platform support – actively supports Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.

Website: github.com/thought-machine/please
Support:
Developer: Thought Machine
License: Apache License 2.0

Please is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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Read our verdict in the software roundup.


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