Consider adding --dry-run option

[xonixx]

No description provided.

[08d2]

I'd really appreciate having this flag.

[xonixx]

Could you please elaborate your use-case a bit?

It might appear that -d,--resolved list resolved dependencies to reach given goals option can be sort of relevant here and be of some help.

$ ./makesure -d tests/7_options.tush 
Resolved goals to reach for 'tests/7_options.tush':
  tush_installed
  debug
  prepared4tests
  tests/7_options.tush

$ ./makesure -d tested_awks 
Resolved goals to reach for 'tested_awks':
  tush_installed
  debug
  prepared4tests
  tests/0_basic.tush
  tests/1_goals.tush
  tests/2_mydir.tush
  tests/3_loop.tush
  tests/4_trace.tush
  tests/5_shell.tush
  tests/6_reached_if.tush
  tests/7_options.tush
  tests/8_timing.tush
  tests/9_prelude.tush
  tests/10_define.tush
  tests/11_goal_glob.tush
  tests/12_errors.tush
  tests/13_doc.tush
  tests/14_private.tush
  tests/15_lib.tush
  tests/16_define_validation.tush
  tests/17_empty_prelude.tush
  tests/18_vars_priority.tush
  tests/19_optimize_goals.tush
  tests/20_list_goals.tush
  tests/21_parsing.tush
  tests/22_nat_order.tush
  tests/23_bash_glob.tush
  tests/24_define_everywhere.tush
  tests/200_update.tush
  'tests/*.tush'
  tested
  installed_bwk
  tested_bwk
  tested_mawk
  installed_mawk134
  tested_mawk134
  installed_gawk51
  tested_gawk51
  installed_gawk511
  tested_gawk511
  installed_goawk
  tested_goawk
  tested_awks

[08d2]

My understanding is that --resolved prints the dependency graph of the given target(s). I'm after something that would also evaluate the @reached_if directives of each goal in that graph, in order to print the specific goals which would be executed. Ideally --dry-run would do something like echo each expression in the to-be-executed goals, too.

[08d2]

More abstractly, the user need here is a way to build confidence that a Makesurefile is doing what it should be doing. Being able to see precisely how the tool interprets the input and produces output — without actually executing the output — is a great way to build confidence.

[xonixx]

That's the thing. --resolved prints the dependency graph taking into account the @reached_if directives!
And, it prints the goals in the order they will be fulfilled.

@goal aaa
@reached_if true
@depends_on ccc
  echo 'aaa'

@goal bbb
@depends_on ccc
  echo 'bbb'

@goal ccc
  echo 'ccc'

$ ./makesure --resolved aaa
Resolved goals to reach for 'aaa':
  aaa

$ ./makesure --resolved bbb
Resolved goals to reach for 'bbb':
  ccc
  bbb

[08d2]

So given

@goal a
@reached_if [ -f a.txt ]
@depends_on b c
	touch a.txt

@goal b
@reached_if [ -f b.txt ]
	touch b.txt

@goal c
@reached_if [ -f c.txt ]
	touch c.txt

then

$ rm -f a.txt b.txt c.txt ; makesure --resolved a
Resolved goals to reach for 'a':
  b
  c
  a
$ # good!

$ rm -f a.txt b.txt c.txt ; touch c.txt ; makesure --resolved a
Resolved goals to reach for 'a':
  b
  c
  a
$ # bad! I should not see 'c' in this output, as it is already resolved, I just want to see 'b' and 'a'

$ rm -f a.txt b.txt c.txt ; touch b.txt ; makesure --resolved a
Resolved goals to reach for 'a':
  b
  c
  a
$ # bad! I should not see 'b' in this output, as it is already resolved, I just want to see 'c' and 'a'

$ rm -f a.txt b.txt c.txt ; touch b.txt c.txt ; makesure --resolved a
Resolved goals to reach for 'a':
  b
  c
  a
$ # bad! I should not see 'b' or 'c' in this output, as they are already resolved, I just want to see 'a'

$ rm -f a.txt b.txt c.txt ; touch a.txt ; makesure --resolved a
Resolved goals to reach for 'a':
  a
$ # bad! since 'a' is resolved, I should not see anything

[xonixx]

@08d2 Thank you for your detailed report! I turned it into test and fixed.