What is the new format for rake tasks? (task :t, arg, :needs => [deps] versus task :t, [args] => [deps])

Question

I\'m using Rails 3.1 beta with Ruby 1.9.2 and rake 0.9.2, and have a bunch of rake tasks I\'ve written. Here is an example:

namespace :data do
  desc \"dump the          


        

Answer 1

I know it is sometimes hard to decipher but the error message gives you the new format:

task :t, [args] => [deps]

So for your example:

task :dump_graph, :species_id => :environment

http://www.postal-code.com/binarycode/2011/06/02/rake-needs-deprecated/

Answer 2

The usage which works for me is:

task :task_name, [:argument] => :environment

I guess if you had several dependencies to list, deps would need the array notation.

I've no idea why a single argument requires the array notation - running the rake task with --trace gives an error about the :argument symbol not responding to the empty? method.