Make vs SCons

Overview

Make

Stacks323

Followers130

Votes1

SCons

Stacks8

Followers17

Votes0

GitHub Stars2.3K

Forks338

Make vs SCons: What are the differences?

Key Difference 1: Build Configuration Language - Make uses a declarative build configuration language which specifies the dependencies and commands to build a target, whereas SCons uses a Python-based build configuration language that allows for more flexibility and programmability in defining the build process.
Key Difference 2: Dependency Tracking - Make uses timestamp-based dependency tracking to determine which files need to be rebuilt, while SCons uses a signature-based dependency tracking system that takes into account the content of the files to accurately determine if a target needs to be rebuilt.
Key Difference 3: Cross-platform Support - Make is a Unix-based build tool and may require additional configuration to work on other platforms, whereas SCons is designed to be cross-platform and can work seamlessly on different operating systems without much modification.
Key Difference 4: Parallel Building - Make builds targets sequentially by default, although it supports some limited parallelism. On the other hand, SCons has built-in support for parallel builds, making it more efficient for large-scale projects with numerous dependencies.
Key Difference 5: Customization and Extensibility - Make provides limited customization options through variables and macros, but it can be cumbersome to extend its functionality beyond the built-in features. SCons, being based on Python, allows for extensive customization and extensibility through scripts, making it more suited for complex build processes.
Key Difference 6: Performance and Scalability - Make can suffer from performance degradation and scalability issues with large projects, as the evaluation of the build graph becomes more time-consuming. In contrast, SCons has been designed with performance and scalability in mind, utilizing efficient algorithms and data structures to handle complex build graphs effectively.

In summary, Make and SCons differ in their build configuration language, dependency tracking mechanisms, cross-platform support, parallel building capabilities, customization options, and performance and scalability aspects.

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CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Detailed Comparison

Make	SCons
The GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Toolchain (Binutils, GDB, GLIBC)	It is an Open Source software construction tool—that is, a next-generation build tool. Think of it as an improved, cross-platform substitute for the classic Make utility with integrated functionality similar to autoconf/automake and compiler caches such as ccache. In short, it is an easier, more reliable and faster way to build software.
-	Reliable, automatic dependency analysis built-in for C, C++ and Fortran; Use the power of a real programming language to solve build problems; Built-in support for fetching source files from SCCS, RCS, CVS, BitKeeper and Perforce; Reliable detection of build changes using MD5 signatures
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 2.3K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 338
Stacks 323	Stacks 8
Followers 130	Followers 17
Votes 1	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 1 No-nonsense approach to builds. Just works 0 One-line Execution	No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available	Java Visual Studio C++ Qt Perforce BitKeeper

What are some alternatives to Make, SCons?

Telosys

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Optic

Optic is an open-source tool that automatically documents and tests your API. It makes it easy to keep your API specification and code in sync and automates your contract testing.

qonqrete

QonQrete is a local-first, agentic AI orchestration system designed for secure, observable, and human-in-the-loop software construction. It coordinates autonomous AI agents to plan, execute, and review code generation — all within an isolated sandbox environment on your own infrastructure. Think of it like a local-first, agentic AI “construction yard” that plans, writes, reviews, and version-controls your code inside a safe sandbox on your own machine.

fossabot

Automatically review updates for breaking changes & code impact. Works alongside Dependabot, Renovate & Snyk for JavaScript / TypeScript.

Everdone

Everdone helps developers generate clean, structured documentation instantly using AI. Connect your GitHub repo and let CodeDoc handle code docs automatically after every merge — no setup, no manual work, just results.

GitHub Copilot

It is an AI pair programmer that helps you write code faster and with less work. It draws context from comments and code, and suggests individual lines and whole functions instantly.

Task

It is a task runner / build tool that aims to be simpler and easier to use than, for example, GNU Make. Since it's written in Go, Task is just a single binary and has no other dependencies, which means you don't need to mess with any complicated install setups just to use a build tool.

Tabnine

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Related Comparisons

Make vs SCons: What are the differences?

Key Difference 1: Build Configuration Language - Make uses a declarative build configuration language which specifies the dependencies and commands to build a target, whereas SCons uses a Python-based build configuration language that allows for more flexibility and programmability in defining the build process.
Key Difference 2: Dependency Tracking - Make uses timestamp-based dependency tracking to determine which files need to be rebuilt, while SCons uses a signature-based dependency tracking system that takes into account the content of the files to accurately determine if a target needs to be rebuilt.
Key Difference 3: Cross-platform Support - Make is a Unix-based build tool and may require additional configuration to work on other platforms, whereas SCons is designed to be cross-platform and can work seamlessly on different operating systems without much modification.
Key Difference 4: Parallel Building - Make builds targets sequentially by default, although it supports some limited parallelism. On the other hand, SCons has built-in support for parallel builds, making it more efficient for large-scale projects with numerous dependencies.
Key Difference 5: Customization and Extensibility - Make provides limited customization options through variables and macros, but it can be cumbersome to extend its functionality beyond the built-in features. SCons, being based on Python, allows for extensive customization and extensibility through scripts, making it more suited for complex build processes.
Key Difference 6: Performance and Scalability - Make can suffer from performance degradation and scalability issues with large projects, as the evaluation of the build graph becomes more time-consuming. In contrast, SCons has been designed with performance and scalability in mind, utilizing efficient algorithms and data structures to handle complex build graphs effectively.

Make vs SCons

Overview