A few boring helper scripts made the release checklist much less scary. The build still fought us, but at least it fought us in the same order every time.

I am a firm believer that the least glamorous tools save the most Fridays. Here is what earned its keep this week:

• A pre-flight script that checks PHP version, the database file, and file permissions.
• A one-liner that greps for leftover TODO markers before we tag a build.
• A tiny log tailer so we stop opening the same file in three editors.

The pre-flight script is nothing fancy, and that is the whole point:

CODE #!/bin/sh
set -e
php -l public/index.php
test -w database.sqlite || { echo "db not writable"; exit 1; }
echo "pre-flight ok, go break something"

The lesson

Automate the boring checks so you have energy left for the interesting disasters. If you have a favorite tiny tool, share it on https://madsplash.net/community. I collect them like shiny rocks.

Friday was almost peaceful. Almost.