Editing Perforce Jam

{{More citations needed|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = Jam
| logo                   = <!-- [[File: ]] -->
| screenshot             = <!-- [[File: ]] -->
| caption                =
| collapsible            =
| author                 = Christopher Seiwald
| developer              =
| released               = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| discontinued           = Yes
| latest release version = 2.6
| latest release date    = {{start date and age|2014|08|07}}
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date    = <!-- {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| frequently updated     =
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system       = [[Cross-platform]]
| platform               =
| size                   =
| language               =
| status                 =
| genre                  = [[Software development tools]]
| license                = open-source<!-- [[MIT License]] -->
| website                = {{URL|http://www.perforce.com/resources/documentation/jam}}{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118000907/https://www.perforce.com/resources/documentation/jam|date=18 January 2017}}
}}
'''Perforce Jam''' was an [[open-source software|open-source]] [[build automation|build system]] developed by Christopher Seiwald of [[Perforce Software]]. It was used as a replacement for [[make (software)|make]]. Its primary feature was its ability to express build patterns in an [[Imperative programming language|imperative]] language which supported structured namespaces (similar to [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] [[Storage record|records]]) and simple [[List (computing)|lists]]. Jam could be used with [[autoconf]], although it was often not necessary because of Jam's [[Software portability|portability]] features. Perforce Jam ran on [[Unix]] (including many clones), [[OpenVMS]], [[Windows NT]] (including [[Windows 2000]] and [[Windows XP]]), [[Mac OS]], and [[BeOS]]. It was also possible to configure it to work on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows 9x]] using [[MinGW]] or [[Cygwin]].

The company announced that version 2.6 released in August 2014 was the last Perforce Jam release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perforce.com/documentation/jam-documentation |title=Jam Documentation |website=perforce.com |date= |accessdate=2018-01-02}}</ref>

== Popular variants of Jam ==
=== FT Jam ===

FT Jam is a popular variant maintained by [[FreeType|The FreeType Project]] and is fully [[backward compatible]], although its features are being integrated into Perforce Jam. Users of FT Jam often refer to Perforce Jam as "Classic Jam".

=== Boost.Jam ===

The [[Boost C++ Libraries]] is using a Jam variant called "Boost.Jam" (or "BJam"). It is incompatible with other variants, and is not a standalone tool, but part of [http://www.boost.org/build Boost.Build].

=== Haiku Jam ===

Haiku Jam is a custom fork of Perforce's Jam used by [[Haiku_(operating_system)|Haiku]].

=== JamPlus ===

JamPlus adds new features to Jam and integrates a number of patches from the Jamming mailing list and the Perforce Public Depot.

== Jambase ==
Jam comes with a set of rules called "Jambase", which define rules for building various things. Jambase is "smart" and knows, for instance, that if a [[header file]] is modified, all files that include it must be rebuilt. Unlike with makefiles, the writer of the Jamfile need not manage these [[Dependency (computer science)|dependencies]], only list the source code files themselves. Jambase is usually compiled into the executable file itself.

Jambase is notorious{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} among Jam users for its [[Computer bug|bug]]s and the infrequency with which fixes are integrated into the distribution, though few bugs are critical. There are some packages such as [[AutoJam]] designed to solve some of the problems of Jambase.

== See also ==
* [[Boost library|Boost]] — includes a package called Boost.Build, which uses a special version of Jam called Boost.Jam
* [[Perforce|Perforce Helix Core]] — the main product of [[Perforce Software]], a commercial, proprietary revision control system

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* [http://www.perforce.com/jam/jam.html Perforce Jam]
* [https://freetype.org/jam/ FT Jam]


[[Category:Compiling tools]]
[[Category:Build automation|Jam]]