shmake/README.md

shmake: Simple Helpful Make (Shell Make)

A POSIX-compliant build and project management system for C projects. All scripts use pure POSIX sh. Generated Makefiles are fully POSIX-compliant and work with GNU Make, bmake, and BSD Make.

Philosophy

shmake is designed to be maximally portable. No bashisms, no GNU extensions. The goal is a build system that works on any POSIX system with a C compiler and make.

Commands

shmake init [flags]

Initialize a new project. Accepts flags for automation. If required flags are missing, drops into interactive CLI mode.

Flags:

• --name <name> - Project name (required)
• --compiler <gcc|clang|tcc|cc> - C compiler (default: gcc)
• --c-standard <C99|C11|C17|C23> - C standard (default: C11)
• --strictness <0|1|2|3> - Compiler strictness level (default: 2)
• --test-lib <Unity|Check|CMOCKA|None> - Test library (default: None)
• --license <license-name> - License type (default: MIT)
• --vcs <git|hg|svn|fossil|bzr|darcs|none> - Version control (default: git)
• --targets <list> - Build targets (default: linux)
• --resources <list> - Resource subdirectories (optional)

Strictness Levels:

• 0 - No extra warnings
• 1 - Basic: -Wall -pedantic
• 2 - Standard: -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic (default)
• 3 - Maximum: -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -Wconversion -Wshadow -Wcast-align -Wstrict-prototypes

Examples:

# Fully automated init
shmake init --name myproject --compiler clang --c-standard C17 --strictness 2 --license MIT --vcs git

# Interactive (missing flags)
shmake init --name myproject
# Prompts for compiler, standard, strictness, license, etc.

# Minimal (all interactive)
shmake init

shmake add [options]

Add modules or external libraries to the project.

Types:

• module <name> - Create a new module
• library <url> - Add external library
• link <libs> - Add system libraries

Library Options:

• --dest <shared|debug_only|test_only|release_only> - Destination directory (default: shared)

VCS Detection:

• .git URLs → uses git clone
• .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .zip → uses wget or curl to download, then extracts to correct directory

Examples:

# Add a module
shmake add module my_feature

# Add a library to shared_libraries
shmake add library https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Add a library to test_only
shmake add library https://github.com/ThrowTheSwitch/Unity.git --dest test_only

# Add a tarball library
shmake add library https://example.com/lib.tar.gz --dest shared

# Add system libraries
shmake add link X11 pthread m

shmake sync

Scan source directories and regenerate Makefile configurations based on .conf files in shmake_config/. Detects source files, include paths, and linked libraries automatically.

Examples:

# Sync after adding source files
shmake sync

# Sync after adding libraries
shmake add library https://github.com/user/repo.git
shmake sync

shmake help

Show help message with all commands and options.

Project Structure

project/
├── source_code/
│   ├── main.c
│   └── MODULE_<name>/
│       ├── <name>.h
│       ├── <name>.c
│       ├── internal/
│       │   ├── <name>_internal.h
│       │   └── <name>_internal.c
│       └── tests/
│           ├── <name>_test.h
│           └── <name>_test.c
├── external_code/
│   ├── shared_libraries/
│   │   ├── source_code/
│   │   └── binary/
│   ├── debug_only/
│   │   ├── source_code/
│   │   └── binary/
│   ├── test_only/
│   │   ├── source_code/
│   │   └── binary/
│   └── release_only/
│       ├── source_code/
│       └── binary/
├── resources/
│   ├── fonts/
│   ├── images/
│   └── ...
├── build_output/
├── intermediate_code/
├── shmake_config/
│   ├── project.conf
│   ├── makefile.conf
│   ├── makefile_test.conf
│   ├── makefile_debug.conf
│   ├── makefile_release.conf
│   ├── makefile_clean.conf
│   └── linked.conf
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── Makefile
└── .gitignore (or .hgignore, .svnignore, etc.)

Build Targets

shmake generates separate Makefile targets for each build mode. No BUILD_MODE variable needed.

make          # Release build (default)
make debug    # Debug build with -g -O0
make test     # Test build with test libraries
make release  # Explicit release build
make clean    # Clean build artifacts
make distclean # Clean including intermediate files

Configuration Files

shmake_config/project.conf

Stores project metadata:

PROJECT_NAME=myproject
COMPILER=clang
C_VERSION=c17
STRICTNESS=2
TEST_LIB=Unity
LICENSE=MIT
VCS=git
VERSION=26.146.1448
ENABLED_TARGETS= linux
ENABLED_RESOURCES= fonts images

shmake_config/linked.conf

Stores system library flags:

LINKED_LIBS = -lX11 -lpthread -lm

shmake_config/makefile.conf

Base configuration with compiler flags, include paths, and shared library paths.

shmake_config/makefile_debug.conf

Debug-specific flags: -g -O0 -DDEBUG

shmake_config/makefile_release.conf

Release-specific flags: -O2 -DNDEBUG

shmake_config/makefile_test.conf

Test-specific configuration with test library paths.

POSIX Compliance

Shell Scripts

All scripts use #!/bin/sh and avoid:

• Bash arrays
• [[ conditionals
• (( )) arithmetic
• Process substitution <()
• Bash-specific parameter expansion ${var//pattern/replacement}

Makefiles

Generated Makefiles use:

• .POSIX: directive for bmake compatibility
• .include instead of include for bmake
• No GNU Make-specific functions
• Standard variable syntax only

License

shmake is licensed under AGPL-3.0. All generated projects use the license specified during initialization.

Version

Current version: 0.1.0-alpha

Author

Emilia Marigold

Contact

Marigold Computer Labs LLC