Automating Tasks with Aap

LASTPATCH = 144

# Generate a list of patch filenames.
@Patches = ''
@for i in range(1, int(LASTPATCH) + 1):
@   Patches = Patches + ("6.2.%03d " % i)

# Default target: apply all patches.
all: done/$*Patches

# Make sure the two directories exist.
:mkdir {force} patches done

# Rule for applying a patch.
:rule done/% : patches/% {fetch =
                 ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/%file%}
   :sys patch < $source
   :touch $target

Normally, you don't need to use much Python in your recipe, but it is good to know that complicated tasks are possible to accomplish when they arise.

We already mentioned that Aap can install rsync for you if it cannot be found on your system. The package install mechanism also can be invoked directly. For example, to install Agide use the command aap --install agide. Agide is the A-A-P GUI IDE, another part of the A-A-P Project. You can use it to build and debug programs with Vim and gdb. It still is in an early stage of development, but it is good enough to develop and debug C programs.

Several packages currently are available, and more will be added over time. A list of the current packages can be found on www.a-a-p.org/packages.html. Aap itself also can be installed. Updating to the latest version can be done with aap --install aap. This command overwrites any existing Aap version. If your system has a package manager, you probably should use that instead.

You now have an idea of the tasks that you can automate with Aap. When you start experimenting you can find a lot of help in the comprehensive documentation. You can find it on the Aap Web site in several forms (see Resources). These pages explain many things that could not be included in this article, such as using CVS for version control, automatic configuration and so on.

Resources for this article: /article/7458.