Getting Started¶

If you haven't installed KISSB yet, visit the Installation page and select your preferred method.

We are recommending to use the Wrapper script which will use a single file runtime of Kissb, which is the easiest way to use KISSB.

To test a simple build, create a folder, then install KISSB:

test-folder $ curl -o- https://kissb.dev/get/kissbw | /bin/bash
test-folder $ ./kissbw

If you are interested in the alternatives package which allows to install and manage tools versions like java or node from the terminal, we recommend installing a kissb instance globally in your user space.

Build File¶

As with any build system, your build script is written in a text file, which is named after a convention. You can select between the following names:

Recommended: kissb.tcl
Alternatives: build.tcl, kissb.xxxx.tcl (replace xxx with your custom name)

Create a file called kissb.tcl, and log a message:

log.info "Hello World"

Now run kissb in your terminal:

test-folder $ ./kissbw
...
INFO.top Hello World
WARN.top No targets provided

You can see your script was run, and a warning was produced because no specific build target was passed

Build Targets¶

The standard usage of Kissb is to pass a build target, which is similar in the spirit to make targets, or lifecycle targets in Gradle or Maven.

Build targets have no special lifecycle meaning in Kissb, users and/or package providers can define their own convention.

To add a target to your build file, use the "@" command:

@ foo {
    log.info "In Foo target"
}

Now run kissb again, passing the foo target:

test-folder $ ./kissbw foo
...
INFO.top Registering target foo, size of args=1
INFO.top Running target: foo with args=
INFO.top.foo In Foo target

Targets are very similar to simple build functions, but they offer a more evolved syntax to allow usages similar to make scenarios.

Add a new target bar which should run before foo:

@ bar {
    log.info "In Bar target"
}

@ foo : bar {
    log.info "In Foo target"
}

Now run kissb again, passing the foo target:

test-folder $ kissb foo
...
INFO.top Registering target bar, size of args=1
INFO.top Registering target foo, size of args=3
INFO.top - Required target: bar
INFO.top Running target: foo with args=
INFO.top Running target: bar with args=
INFO.top.bar In Bar target
INFO.top.foo In Foo target

Build Packages¶

At this point your build doesn't do anything special, and the KISSB core API doesn't provide any specific build mechanism for any languages.

However, a certain number of packages are available, which provide build commands and extensions for specific languages.

The build commands or extensions are simply TCL packages that provide functions to be used in build files.

Local Script Libraries¶

Adding Local scripts and packages is one good way to create your own set of build commands and share them between projects.

There are multiple ways to load utility scripts, described on the Packages page