more readable `make help', finally

bin/columnize

+#!/bin/bash
+# columnize.sh
+# Take a list of values and output them in a nicely formatted column view.
+# Author: Loïc Cattani "Arko" <loic cattani at gmail com>
+# https://github.com/Arko/Columnize
+
+values=($*)
+longest_value=0
+
+# Find the longest value
+for value in ${values[@]}; do
+	if [[ ${#value} -gt $longest_value ]]; then
+		longest_value=${#value}
+	fi
+done
+
+# Compute column span
+term_width=${COLUMNS:-$(tput cols)}
+(( columns = $term_width / ($longest_value + 2) ))
+
+# Print values with pretty column width
+curr_col=0
+for value in ${values[@]}; do
+	value_len=${#value}
+	echo -n $value
+	(( spaces_missing = $longest_value - $value_len + 2 ))
+	printf "%*s" $spaces_missing
+	(( curr_col++ ))
+	if [[ $curr_col == $columns ]]; then
+		echo
+		curr_col=0
+	fi
+done
+
+# Make sure there is a newline at the end
+if [[ $curr_col != 0 ]]; then echo; fi

lib/help.mk

@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 
 help/distro:
 	@echo '** available distribution targets:'; \
-	echo $(DISTROS) | fmt -sw"$$((COLUMNS>>1))" | column -t
+	bin/columnize $(sort $(DISTROS:distro/%=%))
 
 help/ve:
 	@echo '** available virtual environment targets:'; \
-	echo $(VES) | fmt -sw"$$((COLUMNS>>1))" | column -t
+	bin/columnize $(sort $(VES))
 
 help: | help/distro help/space help/ve; @:
 help/space:; @echo