Do we still need make/makefiles in 2018?

5 points·Ch3ck··4 comments

I write Go regularly and it has a great build system(go build, gd) same for other languages like Erlang(rebar3). One thing I've realized is most large software projects still use some form of make in their build pipeline. Is this as a result of the addiction to *nix or there are no better tools out there. I want to hear more thoughts on this.

Cheers!

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Shouldn't the title start with: "Ask HN" ?

To answer your question, yes, we will likely have Makefiles (and configure scripts) for the foreseeable future.

Here [1] are just a few of the reasons why.

[1] - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6805149/why-are-makefile...

> One thing I've realized is most large software projects still use some form of make in their build pipeline. Is this as a result of the addiction to *nix or there are no better tools out there.

Most large software projects are actually software projects which require software to be built, and the build order to match dependencies between compilation units/modules/packages/etc.

So how do you model and manage those dependency relationships? Through a directed acyclic graph, of course. That's all what a makefile defines, and does so for over 4 decades.

Why aren't people using some other thing? Because why would they waste their time reinventing the wheel?

Yes, in 5 years when all the rest have faded, make will still remain, be readable, and work. Oh, and it'll also work for whatever the latest fad tech or language is too.

"Better" in what sense?

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