make

import.name/make is a build system where you specify tasks by writing Go code. It is not intended for building Go code, as the Go toolchain already has that covered. Instead, it can be used to build non-Go artifacts of projects that already depend on the Go toolchain.

Add file make.go to your project root:

//go:build ignore

package main

import (
	. "import.name/make"
)

func main() {
	Main(targets,
		"make.go", // These files are universal dependencies: if they
		"go.mod",  // are modified, all targets need to be rebuilt.
	)
}

func targets() (targets Tasks) {
	var (
		CC = Getvar("CC", "gcc")
	)

	sources := Globber("src/*.c")

	myTarget := targets.Add(Target("mytarget",
		If(Outdated("mytarget", sources),
			Command(CC, "-c", "-o", "example.o", sources),
			Command(CC, "-o", "mytarget", "example.o"),
		),
	))

	// ...

	return
}

Build your project by invoking:

go run make.go
go run make.go mytarget
go run make.go mytarget another-target FOO=bar BAZ=quux

Show usage and list available targets and variables:

go run make.go -h

See a practical example.