Guard::Rake

Guard::Rake allows you to automatically run a Rake task when files are modified.

Please be sure to have Guard installed before continuing.

Install the gem:

$ gem install guard-rake

Add it to your Gemfile

gem 'guard-rake'

Add the default Guard::Rake template to your Guardfile by running this command:

$ guard init rake

Please read the Guard usage documentation.

Guard::Rake comes with a default template that looks like this:

guard 'rake', :task => 'doit' do
  watch(%r{^some_files/.+$})
end

This will run the rake task doit from your Rakefile whenever any of the watched files change.

:task => 'doit'              # name of the task to be executed, required
:run_on_all => false         # runs when the 'run_all' signal is received from Guard (enter is pressed), default: true
:run_on_start => true        # runs when guard is started, default: true
:task_args => []             # arguments to pass to Rake::Task#invoke, default: []

By default, the changed file paths will be passed into the rake task. Example:

task :doit, :paths do |t, args|
  args.paths  # Will contain an array of changed paths
end

You may also use this in conjunction with the :task_args options. Anything in :task_args will be passed in first, then the array of changed paths. Example:

# Guardfile
guard 'rake', :task => 'doit', :task_args => ['a', 'b'] do
  watch(%r{^some_files/.+$})
end

# Rakefile
task :doit, [:first, :second, :paths] do |t, args|
  args.first  # "a"
  args.second # "b"
  args.paths  # ['changed1.rb', 'changed2.rb']
end

This second usage will describe how to create a rake task that generates Guardfile from rake tasks.

First, add this to your Gemfile:

gem 'guard-rake'
gem 'guard-shell'

You will need some tasks with file dependencies in your Rakefile. I'f you don't have those, try put this code in your Rakefile:

files = Rake::FileList.new('*.md')
desc "Create a book"
task 'book' => files do
  sh "cat #{files.join(" ")} > book.txt"
end

Now you are ready to import our rake task, put Inside your Rakefile:

require "guard/rake/task"

Guard::Rake::Task.new

You can see you have two new tasks:

$ rake -T
rake book             # Create a book
rake guard            # Create Guardfile from rake tasks

And the book task have these dependencies:

$ rake -P
rake book
    README.md
rake guard

If you call the guard task it will create Guardfile:

$ rake guard
$ cat Guardfile
guard :shell do

    watch(%r{^(README.md)$}) do |m|
      system("rake book")
    end

end

You can also add the Rakefile dependency:

task :guard => ['Rakefile']

And using the guard task it will produce this Guardfile:

guard :shell do

    watch(%r{^(README.md)$}) do |m|
      system("rake book")
    end

    watch(%r{^(Rakefile)$}) do |m|
      system("rake guard")
    end

end

If you want update your Guardfile with other content, it's best to create your own ERB template:

Guard::Rake::Task.new do |t|
  t.template=File.read('Guardfile.erb')
end

And then create your Guardfile.erb as a template:

guard :shell do
  <% all_tasks.each do |t, files| %>
    watch(%r{^(<%= files.join('|') %>)$}) do |m|
      system("rake <%= t %>")
    end
  <% end %>

  <%# Add your custom code here %>
end

<%# Or here %>

• Source hosted at GitHub
• Report issues and feature requests to GitHub Issues

Pull requests welcome!

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2011 Scott Barron

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.