My observations on this thread:

blah. blah. blah. ordering [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. debugging [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. dependences [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. lists [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. pre/post variable over-rides [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. default actions [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. templates [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. variable substitution [lets re-invent make]
blah. blah. blah. directory overrides [lets re-invent make]

pkgsrc shows make(1) can be succesfully retargeted to
strange new dependency domains. rc should gain the
same treatment.

[this is not to belittle the hard work luke, mrg et al
 have put in so far, but why re-invent something that
 already works so incredibly well in handling
 dependences, and actions in so many other domains?]

Julian.