General ⇒ why use scons or make?

[jhapk]

Hi,

I am about to start writing a thesis. I was looking online for some sample latex layouts and I see many people have fancy makefiles and scons files for doing the compilation.

I am confused. Why do I need these if I am simply using pdflatex and include/input commands to structure my document? Anything significantly important about doing it with scons/make?

Thanks

[frabjous]

Who do you see using makefiles, etc.?

I can’t think of any reason you’d need any such thing, unless you were really doing something fancy.

[jhapk]

http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/tex ... esisStyle/

http://www.kloss-familie.de/moin/TidBit ... isSkeleton

[php1ic]

I created a custom makefile for my thesis, mainly to save time and typing. I use latex->ps->pdf, with each step including a few options/flags. Initially I had aliases for the two conversions and one to do latex;bibtex;latex;latex.

The makefile groups everything together, was a bit of an academic exercise, and makes my life easier, especially as I transfer the entire thesis directory between home and work computers. Part of the makefile runs latex as many times as is required to resolve all internal references so it also adds some automation. It seems to be working as expected so far

If I have altered many chapter files and figures, I can now simply type

Code: Select all

make pdf

instead of

Code: Select all

latex file
bibtex file
latex file
latex file
dvips [options] file.dvi -o
ps2pdf [options] file.ps

[localghost]

This way of processing only makes sense when not using a modern editor but doing most of the work on a terminal (whyever).


Best regards
Thorsten