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1.2 Building

Feel free to skip this section if you have no interest in building ease.js yourself. The build process is fast, and is unnecessary if using ease.js server-side.

First, we should clarify what the term “build” means in context of ease.js. JavaScript is compiled on the fly. That is, we don’t actually need to compile it manually through a build process. So when we are talking about “building” ease.js, we are not talking about compiling the source code. Rather, we are referring to any of the following:

• Prepare the script for client-side deployment [and testing]
• Generate the documentation (manual and API)

In fact, if you’re using ease.js server-side with software such as Node.js, you do not need to build anything at all. You can simply begin using it.

The aforementioned are built using make. The process that is run will vary depending on your system. The command will read Makefile in the root directory and execute the associated command. The following are the targets available to you:

mkbuild

Creates the build/ directory, where all output will be stored. This is run automatically by any of the targets.

combine

Runs the combine tool to produce two separate files: ease.js, which can be used to use ease.js within the web browser, and ease-full.js, which permits both using ease.js and running the unit tests within the browser. The output is stored in the build/ directory.

The unit tests can be run by opening the build/browser-test.html file in your web browser.

min

Runs combine and minifies the resulting combined files. These files are output in the build/ directory and are useful for distribution. It is recommended that you use the minified files in production.

test

Run unit tests. This will first perform the combine process and will also run the tests for the combined script, ensuring that it was properly combined.

Unit tests will be covered later in the chapter.

doc

Generates documentation. Currently, only the manual is build. API documentation will be added in the near future. The resulting documentation will be stored in build/doc/. For your convenience, the manual is output in the following forms: PDF, HTML (single page), HTML (multiple pages) and plain text.

In order to build the documentation, you must have Texinfo installed. You likely also need LaTeX installed. If you are on a Debian-based system, for example, you will likely be able to run the following command to get started:

  $ sudo apt-get install texlive texinfo

install

Installs info documentation. Must first build doc-info. After installation, the manual may be viewed from the command line with: ‘info easejs’.

uninstall

Removes everything from the system that was installed with make install.

all

Runs all targets, except for clean, install and uninstall.

clean

Cleans up after the build process by removing the build/ directory.

If you do not want to build ease.js yourself, you are welcome to download the pre-built files.