Going to echo: Bash is bad. Bash is a feature-impoverished language and belongs in the dustbin. I don't understand why we script with one hand tied behind our back.
With Python I can install "click" and get great argument parsing and multi-command support with a simple install. Bash's argument parsing is much more verbose and arcane.
Sure, it has nice ways to combine tools and parse strings and such. However: You could also implement those nice abstractions in a higher quality language. So a good thing about bash does not cancel out all the bad.
I would LOVE a toolkit that is:
- A single binary
- That parses a single file like make ( but NOT a makefile )
- That uses a well known, powerful language.
- That lets me declare tasks, validations ( required arguments, etc ), and workflows as a first-class citizen
- With out of the box `--help` support
- That lets me import other makefile-like files to improve code re-use ( both remote and local )
It feels like trying to program in an esoteric language, or a toy language made by a 16yo.
It's nice if you have no logic or loops or variables, but just goes downhill from there.
I really don't know why we can't just take a fork of MicroPython, agree that we are not gonna make any backwards incompatible changes anytime this decade, and none at all without changing the name, and then just include it everywhere.
All these "Let's make a better shell" projects are still held back by being shell. They are trying to be a UI and a language at once, and they're just OK at UI and kinda crappy at programming.
I think the closest tool to what you describe is Ansible which is in fact wonderful.
With Python I can install "click" and get great argument parsing and multi-command support with a simple install. Bash's argument parsing is much more verbose and arcane.
Sure, it has nice ways to combine tools and parse strings and such. However: You could also implement those nice abstractions in a higher quality language. So a good thing about bash does not cancel out all the bad.
I would LOVE a toolkit that is:
- A single binary
- That parses a single file like make ( but NOT a makefile )
- That uses a well known, powerful language.
- That lets me declare tasks, validations ( required arguments, etc ), and workflows as a first-class citizen
- With out of the box `--help` support
- That lets me import other makefile-like files to improve code re-use ( both remote and local )