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3 the Intelligent C-like MAKEr, or
6 Copyright (c) Frank B. Brokken and Karel Kubat
7 frank@icce.rug.nl, karel@icce.rug.nl
9 ICCE, State University of Groningen, Netherlands
11 This document is part of distribution 6.20 of ICMAKE
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18 Icmake is a hybrid between a 'make' utility and a 'shell script'
19 language. Originally, it was concocted to provide a useful tool for
20 automatic program maintenance and system administrative tasks on MS-DOS
21 platforms. As we learned to appreciate its flexibility, Icmake was
22 eventually ported to Unix platforms (SCO and Linux). By now Icmake also runs
23 on a HP-Unix platform.
25 To give an impression of "what Icmake does", take a look at the
26 following makefile. It is used for automatic program maintenance, where it
27 is assumed that in some directory all files with the extension ".c" (C
28 source files) constitute a program "myprog". The automatic maintenance makes
29 sure that, once Icmake is invoked, C source files which are more recent
30 (newer) than a library file "libmyprog.a" are recompiled and placed in the
31 library. A new program is then made and installed in a directory
37 cfiles; // list of .c files
39 i; // counter variable
41 sourcefile; // string with name of
44 cfiles = makelist ("*.c", younger, // cfiles is now a list of
45 "libmyprog.a"); // all files to recompile
47 if (cfiles) // if there are any files..
48 for (i = 0; i < sizeof (cfiles), // recompile them
51 sourcefile = element (i, cfiles); // get the name from the list
52 exec ("gcc", "-c -Wall", sourcefile); // recompile
55 if (makelist ("*.o")) // any "*.o" files here?
57 exec ("ar", "rvs", "libmyprog.a", "*.o"); // add to library
58 exec ("rm", "*.o"); // remove them
59 exec ("gcc", "-o myprog", "libmyprog.a"); // re-link program
60 exec ("mv", "myprog", "/home/user/bin"); // and install in bin dir
64 The source files for Icmake look remarkably like C sourcefiles. The
65 resemblance is so close that this cannot be pure chance! Yes, we have
66 implemented Icmake to be a language with a syntax which largely overlaps C.
67 Since we know how to program in C, we decided that we didn't want to learn
68 some new macro language. The Icmake language is a "subset" of C in the
69 sence that not all operators or functions of C are implemented (but a good
70 deal are, e.g., gets(), getch(), printf(), etc.). The Icmake language has
71 its own extensions to make it a handy language for the purpose of
72 maintenance: e.g., the operator "younger" compares two files in respect to
73 their date of last modification, a type "list" is defined to hold several
76 The usage of Icmake is not restricted to program maintenance. The
77 setup, which allows for functions, arguments, local or global variables, the
78 calling of external programs, etc. makes Icmake also extremely suitable as
79 a shell script language. E.g., it is easy to accomplish to let Icmake
80 figure out which files need to be backupped since the last backup date and
81 to start a process to do so, to send mail about it etc.
83 This guide provides a short description how Icmake can be ported to
84 new platforms. The documentation for the usage of Icmake, including a
85 description of the grammar and of all built-in functions, comes with the
92 The icmake-X.YY.tgz contains all source files and installation information
93 if you want to install icmake from scratch. You *need* this file if you
94 want to install icmake on systems not running Linux or Ms-DOS.
96 The icmake-X.YY.bin.tgz contains linux and ms-dos executables. If you only
97 want to use the icmake programs, you can get this file, unpack it and start
100 See the file INSTALL for details. INSTALL is in icmake-X.YY.tgz,
101 containing all other files necessary for installing icmake.
103 To unpack the archives use (GNU-tar 1.11.2):
105 tar xzvf icmake-X.YY.tgz
107 tar xzvf icmake-X.YY.bin.tgz
109 which unpacks into an 'icmake' subdirectory below the current subdirectory.
110 Also, separate gzip and tar steps could be used, as in:
112 gzip -c -d icmake-X.YY.tgz | tar xvf -
114 gzip -c -d icmake-X.YY.bin.tgz | tar xvf -
119 Icmake is documented in a Postscript file, "icmake.ps", located in
120 the directory "doc". This file is generated from a .dvi file using dvips,
121 and can be processed with GhostScript. Note that the file is generated for
122 a printer resolution of 300 dpi, which suits a LaserJet family printer. If
123 your site lacks the means to print this file, you can mail us at the address
124 below to obtain a printed copy of the documentation. (However, we will
125 charge you a small amount to cover our costs).
127 The directory "doc" furthermore contains the file "icmake.1". This
128 is a crude "man" page for Unix systems. You can install it by copying it to
129 a directory which contains formatted manual pages. To use this feature,
130 your "man" command must be able to show an already-formatted manual entry.
131 E.g., on Linux systems you can copy this file to "/usr/man/cat1". Typing
132 "man icmake" will then show the information. Some man systems also support
133 compressed manual pages. On these systems you may achieve a lower disk
134 usage by compressing the file "icmake.1" to "icmake.1.Z", using the Unix
137 A few makefiles are provided as examples in the directory
138 "examples". You may wish to look at these to see how makefiles can be
144 You don't have to pay us for Icmake. This means that no fee is
145 charged for it by us. As with everything that's free, there's no pay but
146 also *absolutely no warranty*. Furthermore, you are allowed (and
147 encouraged) to distribute Icmake, provided that you include this information
148 with each distribution. It is strongly suggested that you do *not* charge
149 money for the distribution of Icmake (possibly not even the $5 for
152 The source files and the documentation for Icmake are copyrighted by
153 us. The reason for this is (a) that we'd like to have always the last
154 version of Icmake, and (b) that we'd like to have the last word in all
155 modifications. If you have requests (or even better, "working code" to
156 include in Icmake) please mail us and we'll gladly oblige when we find the
160 Requests, Bug Reports, etc.
161 ---------------------------
163 We'd very much appreciate it if you'd let us know if you encounter any
164 bugs. Also, if you have requests or comments about the programs or the
165 documentation, mail us. We can be reached at:
167 Frank Brokken Karel Kubat
168 e-mail: F.B.Brokken@icce.rug.nl K.Kubat@icce.rug.nl
169 phone: (+31) 50 63 36 88 (+31) 50 63 36 47
170 address: Westerhaven 16 Westerhaven 16
172 Netherlands Netherlands
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