Short description: none
Build automation involves scripting or automating the process of compiling computer source code into binary code. Below is a list of notable tools associated with automating build processes.
Make-based
- GNU make, a
make implementation with a large set of extensions
- make, a Unix build tool
- mk, developed originally for Version 10 Unix and Plan 9, and ported to Unix as part of plan9port
- MPW Make, developed for the classic Mac OS and similar to but not compatible with Unix make; the modern macOS (OS X) comes with both GNU make and BSD make; available as part of Macintosh Programmer's Workshop as a free, unsupported download from Apple
- nmake
- PVCS-make, follows the concept of
make but with additional syntax features[1]
Make-incompatible
- Apache Ant, popular for Java platform development and uses an XML file format
- Apache Buildr, historic open-source build system, Rake-based, gives the full power of scripting in Ruby with integral support for most abilities wanted in a build system
- Apache Maven, a Java platform tool for dependency management and automated software build
- ASDF LISP build system for building LISP projects
- A-A-P, a Python-based build tool
- Bazel, a portion of Blaze (Google's own build tool) written in Java, using Starlark (BUILD file syntax) to build projects in Java, C, C++, Go, Python, Objective-C, and others
- BitBake, a Python-based tool with the special focus of distributions and packages for embedded Linux cross-compilation
- Boot, a Java build and dependency management tool written in Clojure
- boost.build For C++ projects, cross-platform, based on Perforce Jam
- Buck, a build system developed and used by Facebook, written in Java, using Starlark (BUILD file syntax) as Bazel
- Buildout, a Python-based build system for creating, assembling and deploying applications from multiple parts
- Cabal, a common architecture for building applications and libraries in the programming language Haskell
- Dub, the official package and build manager of the D Language
- dale,[2] a D build tool
- FinalBuilder, for Windows software developers. FinalBuilder provides a graphical IDE to both create and run build projects in a single application. The final builder also includes the ability the execute the unit test, deploy web projects or install and test applications.
- Flowtracer, a build management tool
- Gradle, an open-source build and automation system with an Apache Groovy-based domain specific language (DSL), combining features of Apache Ant and Apache Maven with additional features like a reliable incremental build
- Grunt, a build tool for front-end web development
- Gulp, a build tool for front-end web development
- IncrediBuild, a suite of grid computing software for compiling and building software
- Leiningen, a tool providing commonly performed tasks in Clojure projects, including build automation
- Mix, the Elixir build tool
- MSBuild, the Microsoft build engine
- NAnt, a tool similar to Ant for the .NET Framework
- Ninja, a small build system focused on speed by using build scripts generated by higher-level build systems
- Perforce Jam, a build tool by Perforce, inspired by Make
- Psake, domain-specific language and build-automation tool written in PowerShell
- Qt Build System
- Rake, a Ruby-based build tool
- rez,[3] a C/C++ build tool
- sbt, a build tool built on a Scala-based DSL
- SCons, Python-based, with integrated functionality similar to autoconf/automake
- Stack, a tool to build Haskell projects, manage their dependencies (compilers and libraries), and for testing and benchmarking.
- tinyrick,[4] a Rust build tool
- vast,[5] a shell build tool
- Visual Build, a graphical user interface software for software builds
- Waf, a Python-based tool for configuring, compiling and installing applications. It is a replacement for other tools such as Autotools, Scons, CMake or Ant
Build script generation
These generator tools do not build directly, but rather generate files to be used by a native build tool (as the ones listed in the previous two sections).
- BuildAMation, a multi-platform tool, using a declarative syntax in C# scripts, that builds C/C++ code in a terminal using multiple threads, or generates project files for Microsoft Visual Studio, Xcode or MakeFiles.
- CMake generates files for various build tools, such as make, ninja, Apple's Xcode, and Microsoft Visual Studio.[6] CMake is also directly used by some IDE as Qt Creator,[7] KDevelop and GNOME Builder.[8]
- GNU Build System (aka autotools), a collection of tools for portable builds. These in particular include Autoconf and Automake, cross-unix-platform tools that together generate appropriate localized makefiles.
- GYP (Generate Your Projects) - Created for Chromium; it is another tool that generates files for the native build environment. It has been superseded by GN which generates files for ninja and other build systems.
- imake
- Meson, a build system optimized for performance and usability is based on ninja on Linux, Visual Studio on Windows and Xcode on macOS. Meson is also directly used by GNOME Builder.[8]
- OpenMake Software Meister
- Premake, a Lua-based tool for making makefiles, Visual Studio files, Xcode projects, and more
- qmake
Continuous integration
- AnthillPro, build automation with pipeline support for deployment automation and testing. Cross-platform, cross-language
- Apache Continuum - discontinued
- Bamboo, continuous-integration software
- Bitbucket Pipelines and Deployments, continuous integration for Bitbucket hosted repositories[9]
- Buildbot, a Python-based software development continuous-integration tool which automates the compile/test cycle
- CruiseControl, for Java and .NET
- Go continuous delivery, open source, cross-platform
- GitLab (GitLab Runner), continuous integration and git server
- GitHub (GitHub Actions), free continuous integration service for open-source projects and git server
- Hudson, an extensible continuous-integration engine
- Jenkins, an extensible continuous-integration engine, forked from Hudson
- Spinnaker, open source multi-cloud continuous delivery service from Netflix and Google
- TeamCity
- Travis CI, a hosted continuous-integration service
Configuration management
- Ansible (Python-based)
- CFEngine
- Chef (Ruby-based)
- LCFG
- NixOS Declarative configuration model
- OpenMake Software Release Engineer
- Otter
- Puppet (Ruby-based)
- Salt (Python-based)
- Rex (Perl-based)
Meta-build
A meta-build tool is capable of building many different projects using a subset of existing build tools. Since these usually provide a list of packages to build, they are also often called package managers.
- Pkgsrc, Portage, MacPorts and other package managers derived from the BSD Ports Collection.
- Nix, functional package manager for Linux and macOS focusing on reproducible builds, used for the NixOS Linux distribution.
- Guix, functional package manager based on Nix, used for the GuixSD Linux distribution.
- Collective Knowledge, cross-platform package manager to rebuild software environment for research workflows
- Homebrew, package manager for macOS
Others
- checkinstall, checkinstall is a program that monitors an installation procedure and creates a standard package for your distribution.
- Open Build Service, a hosted service to help build packages for various Linux distributions
Licensing overview
| Tool name
|
Description language
|
License
|
| A-A-P
|
recipe
|
GNU GPL
|
| Ant
|
XML
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| AnthillPro
|
Wraps Make, Ant, Maven, MsBuild, Nant, etc. for controlled build, deploy, test processes.
|
Discontinued
|
| Bamboo
|
continuous integration
|
Trialware
|
| Bazel
|
BUILD/Starlark, a Python-like DSL
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| BuildAMation
|
C# for build scripts, XML for high level dependencies
|
New BSD License
|
| Buildr
|
Ruby
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| Boot
|
Clojure
|
Eclipse Public License
|
| Capistrano
|
XML
|
MIT License
|
| CMake
|
uses CMakeLists.txt file
|
New BSD License
|
| Collective Knowledge Framework
|
Python scripts with JSON API and JSON meta-description
|
New BSD License
|
| Continuum
|
?
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| CruiseControl
|
XML
|
BSD-style license
|
| Dub
|
JSON, SDL
|
MIT License
|
| FinalBuilder
|
graphical IDE with support for Ant/NAnt, MSBuild, JScript, VBScript, IronPython, PowerShell
|
Trialware
|
| Gradle
|
Groovy-based DSL; Kotlin-based DSL
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| Jenkins
|
continuous integration
|
MIT License
|
| Homebrew
|
Ruby
|
Simplified BSD License
|
| Leiningen
|
Clojure
|
Eclipse Public License
|
| make
|
uses Makefile
|
Same as the bundling OS
|
| Maven
|
Project Object Model
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| Meson build system
|
custom DSL
|
Apache License 2.0
|
| MPW Make
|
?
|
Freeware
|
| MSBuild
|
XML
|
MIT License
|
| NAnt
|
XML
|
GNU GPL
|
| nmake
|
uses Makefile
|
Freeware
|
| Open Build Service
|
uses various package and image description formats (spec, dsc, ARCH, kiwi)
|
GNU GPL
|
| Perforce Jam
|
uses Jamfile
|
Discontinued
|
| Rake
|
Ruby
|
MIT License
|
| sbt (Simple Build Tool)
|
Scala-based DSL
|
New BSD License
|
| SCons
|
Python
|
MIT License
|
| Team Foundation Server
|
MSBuild, Windows Presentation Foundation, JSON - REST interfaces, Programmatic (Can generate definitions through code)
|
Trialware
|
| Visual Build
|
XML
|
Trialware
|
| Waf
|
Python
|
New BSD License
|
References
- ↑ mailing list discussion about porting PVCS-make scripts to GNU-make, From: Paul D. Smith, Subject: Re: PVCS to GNU, Date: 2003-02-25
- ↑ "dale: a paranoid D task runner". April 12, 2023. https://github.com/mcandre/dale.
- ↑ "rez: C/C++ task runner". April 18, 2023. https://github.com/mcandre/rez.
- ↑ "tinyrick: a freeform Rust build system". April 12, 2023. https://github.com/mcandre/tinyrick.
- ↑ "vast: a build tool for shell scripts". April 8, 2023. https://github.com/mcandre/vast.
- ↑ "cmake-generators(7) — CMake 3.11.1 Documentation". https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-generators.7.html.
- ↑ "Setting Up CMake - Qt Creator Manual". http://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-project-cmake.html.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "GNOME Builder Development Environment Picking Up Many Features For GNOME 3.28 - Phoronix". https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-Builder-3.28-Work.
- ↑ https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucket/build-test-and-deploy-with-pipelines-792496469.html Cross-platform
 | Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of build automation software. Read more |