Plurrrr

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like YAML is absolutely terrible – it’s probably better than using JSON – but it’s not exactly great either. There are some drawbacks and surprises that are not at all obvious at first, and there are a number of better alternatives such as TOML and other more specialized formats. Personally I’m not likely to use it again when I’ve got a choice.

One good alternative might be to just use commandline flags.

If you must use YAML then I recommend you use StrictYAML, which removes some (though not all) of the more hairy parts.

I’m writing this because I have the feeling that many developers underestimate the power of Makefiles and they are simply not aware of this nice and handy tool which is installed on nearly every Unix-like machine. To be honest, who have never executed a make install or something similar? Most tutorials I’ve found out there are bloated with stuff, more complex than they would have to and you have to read pages after pages to get the basics.