@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
 	say "we were not able to detect a default value for the configuration variable \$$var. please set this variable to $2 and try again."
 	exit 1
 }
 
-test "$out" = "" && {
-	say "\$out environment variable must be set to your build directory - are you running this script by hand? run ./build.sh in the root directory instead!"
+test "$to" = "" && {
+	say "\$to environment variable must be set to your build directory - are you running this script by hand? run ./build.sh in the root directory instead!"
 	exit 2
 }
 
 reqpack() {
@@ -18,4 +18,47 @@
 		say "to $2 for libk, install the $1 package and try again"
 		exit 3
 	fi
 }
+
+noimpl() {
+	say "$1 is not currently implemented on your system. an exciting chance for you to contribute, no?"
+	exit 1
+}
+
+timestamp() { date "+%H:%M:%S %A"; }
+
+scan() { find "$1" -name "$2"; }
+
+if test "$COLORTERM" != ""; then
+	announce() {
+		test "$verbose" = "silent" && return
+		local cmd="$1"; shift;
+		local color=225;
+		case "$cmd" in
+			rm) color=196;; $asm) color=198;;
+			$cc) color=213;; ar) color=120;;
+			ranlib) color=105;; ld) color=216;;
+			global/build-manpage.sh) color=177;;
+			$m4) color=207;;
+		esac
+
+		printf " → [38;5;$color;1m$cmd"
+		for a in "$@"; do
+			if test ${a:0:1} = "-"; then
+				printf " $a";
+			else
+				printf " $a";
+			fi
+		done
+		echo
+	}
+else
+	announce() { shift; echo " --> " $@; }
+fi
+
+# the following function is called to report a command invocation
+# the person compiling the library. the first argument should be
+# an ansi format string; this is used to color-code the tool being
+# launched and thus should be different for each one.
+
+report() { announce $@; $@; }