FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: I HATE JAM!

["Ryan Leavengood" <mrcode@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Sorry for the blunt subject line, and while I'm sure there are many of 
you
>out there who think it's great, I really dislike it a LOT (you 
couldn't tell
>could you??? :))
[snip]

Yeah at first Jam can be a pain.  But I think the same can be said for 
make (and many other complex programs.)  Actually I don't really even 
know how to use make, which is why I've decided to learn Jam as well as 
I can :)

Regarding the lack of documentation, I understand where you are coming 
from.  But really after 4 or 5 readings, the core documentation 
(Jam.html, Jambase.html, Jamfile.html) begins to make some sense and 
come together ;)

Also since it is open source, given time one could read the source to 
really figure it out and become quite an expert (which I'm still 
deciding on possibly doing.)  Actually the source for Jambase alone 
might be the most useful thing.

There is also a mailing list with archives that may have postings from 
people who have had similar problems to yourself.  You may want to 
check this out in those truly desperate moments.  You can download an 
archive of the list (a few megs), which would make searching a bit 
easier.  Start here:
http://maillist.perforce.com/pipermail/jamming/

I think the main problem is lack of examples and more friendly tutorial
-style documentation.  I have decided to try and solve this problem by 
writing two newsletter articles.  One would be a basic overview of Jam 
fundamental concepts, the other would be a sort of Jam "cookbook."  I 
imagine this would help a lot of people like yourself.

The problem of course is that I myself have the initial lack of 
documentation to work from, and therefore have to do a lot of research 
and experimentation.  This is why this Jam article hasn't been done 
already :)

It may take me a few more weeks to get the skill and knowledge needed 
to write these articles.  But once I do this, hopefully people's 
problems with Jam will begin to minimize.

Regarding solving your current problem, I will also try to join this 
IRC or BeShare session tomorrow...

Ryan Leavengood
OpenBeOS Preferences Team