class Rake::Task

def investigation

debugging.
Return a string describing the internal state of a task. Useful for 
def investigation
  result = "------------------------------\n".dup
  result << "Investigating #{name}\n"
  result << "class: #{self.class}\n"
  result <<  "task needed: #{needed?}\n"
  result <<  "timestamp: #{timestamp}\n"
  result << "pre-requisites: \n"
  prereqs = prerequisite_tasks
  prereqs.sort! { |a, b| a.timestamp <=> b.timestamp }
  prereqs.each do |p|
    result << "--#{p.name} (#{p.timestamp})\n"
  end
  latest_prereq = prerequisite_tasks.map(&:timestamp).max
  result <<  "latest-prerequisite time: #{latest_prereq}\n"
  result << "................................\n\n"
  return result
end