Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!wa4mei!holos0!lbr
From: lbr@holos0.uucp (Len Reed)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Wanted: good general make utility for msdos
Keywords: MKS dmake
Message-ID: <1991Mar11.155130.15566@holos0.uucp>
Date: 11 Mar 91 15:51:30 GMT
References: <2634@bnlux0.bnl.gov> <30888@usc>
Organization: Holos Software, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Lines: 42

In article <30888@usc> ajayshah@alhena.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) writes:
>>I am looking for a good gerneral purpose make utility. I want to use it
>>with various compilers, in various languages, so it must be flexible.
>
>MKS Make is outstanding.  Actually, MKS Toolkit is terrific and
>MKS Make fits in well with MKS Toolkit so it's kindof neat doing
>both.  Programmer's Shop has an educational price on MKS
>products.  MKS Make comes pre-loaded with a C orientation but I was
>able to fluently use it with Turbo Pascal.  MKS Toolkit was the
>best bit of OS-type software I ever got for a PC compatible -- never
>mind the gunk Microsoft tries to dish out.

I really like MKS software and use and recommend their toolkit and RCS.
I no longer recommend their make, though, since Dennis Vadura's dmake
(University of Waterloo) is a superset of it, contains fewer bugs, and
runs on Unix, too.  It is free.  It can swap itself to disk (preferably RAM
disk) when doing compiles; MKS has never put this into their make and the
lack of it is a killer when using multi-level makes or complex makefiles.
Dmake is available at the usual sources archives.

MKS software is a good value and comes with excellent documentation.  Their
make is more than powerful enough for routine simple DOS jobs, but it's
inferior to dmake, which free.  The toolkit, OTOH, solves in one fell
swoop the problem of editors, shell, and various tools (head, tail, sed).
Even if one could piece all these tools together from various free sources
the result would be an incoherent jumble, they wouldn't work together
as well, they wouldn't come with a nice spiral manual that stays open
on your desk when laid flat (AT&T take notice), and the hunt for these tools
would take time.

>If you need it, MKS RCS closes off the MKS trio and gives you the
>best development environment I know of on the PC.  Now if only
>they would write 386-aware versions...

Agreed.  On site here, at a customer, I use MKS RCS, MKS toolkit (especially
like talking to the Korn shell instead of command.com), but I've taken
MKS make off the hard disk.
-- 
Len Reed
Holos Software, Inc.
Voice: (404) 496-1358
UUCP: ...!gatech!holos0!lbr