Features

ineractive mode: ask before proceeding to the next phase
syntax checker
subphases can be implemented using multiple #
be able to say 'run the rest' or 'skip the rest'
to indicate a phase to skip use caret ^
specify phase either by name or by sequence
conditional runs or skips of phases
either-or phases
list phases in a script
reporting of phase execution
facility for logging
- log results of all commands from current run separately into .err and .out files
- a log with all script runs with timer, working directory variable values
ability to restart from the point it failed on previous run
properly handle ^C and other signals
record the results of earlier runs (create .phases directory?)
check if variables set in the skipped phase are used in the later executed phases
what do I do with the shebang?
warning for comments with no space after #
git-aware (as an option)
non-bash interpreters (LaTeX, psql)
- other comment character
- library of supported interpreters
- specific interpreter for each phase
  - can be specified through shebang option
optional end of phase in the script #^phase [name]
verbosity and logging levels (can be set separately)
- only errors
- +phase names
- +all stderr
- +filtered stdout
- +unfiltered stdout
most options can be specified for either command line or in #phase
execution only specific lines (until/after/...)
printout what is being executed with optional confirmation
do not allow phases to be run in home directory
truncate logs to a certain size

Ideas for Command-line Options

--unlogged arguments to the preprocessor or specific phase in the script
--log-pipe='command' pipe log output through a specified command before saving
--list-logs list runs information with log sizes
--continue [command [run timestamp or how many run previously]] continue from the phase previous execution stopped
--unlogged command
--clean-logs [hour|day|week|months|all]
--dry-run do not execute or log, only show what will happen
--verbose [commands,output,quite] can be specified for each phase also
--workdir [directory]
--phasesdir [directory]
--[no]check check the script for preprocessor correctness
--restore-env restore environment from saved variables
--prereq [phases] phases that must be executed before the specific phase

if implemented with standard bash facilities the original script becomes too long and it is hard to grasp what it does
the goal of phases is somewhat similar to Makefile, maven or ant but targets are hard to define if they cannot be presented as files

https://github.com/dymatic/bpp/blob/master/bpp/sample.bpp but it is doing something completely different

  phases schema_init,generate,^load,create_dump dbgen.sh options
  phases --list [command [dates]]