pretty close to first fully working version

Makefile

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+## Standard Makefile preamble
+## according to https://tech.davis-hansson.com/p/make/
+
+## Specify a shell
+SHELL := bash
+
+## set shell options
+.SHELLFLAGS := -eu -o pipefail -c
+
+## Makefile defaults
+.ONESHELL:
+.DELETE_ON_ERROR:
+
+MAKEFLAGS += --warn-undefined-variables
+MAKEFLAGS += --no-builtin-rules
+
+## Modify Makefile parsing
+ifeq ($(origin .RECIPEPREFIX), undefined)
+  $(error This Make does not support .RECIPEPREFIX. Please use GNU Make 4.0 or later)
+endif
+.RECIPEPREFIX = >
+
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Variables
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+progName = scaffold
+
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Helpers
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## help: print this help message
+
+help:
+> @echo 'Usage:'
+> @sed -n 's/^##//p' ${MAKEFILE_LIST} | column -t -s ':' | sed -e 's/^/ /'
+
+## confirm: a helper script to check your intent
+confirm:
+> @echo -n 'Are you sure? [y/N] ' && read ans && [ $${ans:-N} = y ]
+
+## clean: clears temp files
+clean:
+> @echo 'Cleaning temp files ...'
+> @echo '' > buildTime.txt
+> @echo '' > buildVersion.txt
+> @echo 'Done cleaning.'
+
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Build
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# build strips debugging info from binary
+linkerflags = '-s'
+
+prep: clean
+> date +"%F %a %T %Z" > buildTime.txt
+> git describe --always --tags --dirty --long > buildVersion.txt
+
+build: prep
+> @go build -o build/$(progName) . && echo "Build success" || echo "[FAILED] go build"
+
+build-production: prep
+> @go build -ldflags=${linkerflags} -o build/$(progName) . && echo "production build success" || echo "[FAILED] production build"
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------
+# Install - same as build, but places binary on system path
+#-------------------------------------------------------------
+
+install: prep
+> @go install . && echo "Build and Install success" || echo "[FAILED] go install"
+
+install-production: prep
+> @go install -ldflags=${linkerflags} . && echo "production build and install success" || echo "[FAILED] production install"
+
+## Commands that don't relate to a specific file
+.PHONY: help confirm clean prep build build-production