Yikes. Say what you will about package.json files and all their associated problems, but Make? Really?

I've written multi-thousand line Makefile build systems across multiple directories and multiple platforms, from scratch.

I must say Make is the most non-intuitive language I've ever had to work with. It's been near impossible for other engineers to pick up the build systems I've written. They still come back to me to ask questions years later.

And most importantly, you have to use tabs instead of spaces. ::sigh::

It's a great tool for some things, just like anything else. But I'd be careful about using it as your default.