List of build automation software explained

Below lists notable build automation tools.

Sequencing

Make

Tools similar to the original Unix make one of the earliest build automation tools:

• GNU make, extends original Unix version
• mk, developed originally for Version 10 Unix and Plan 9, and ported to Unix as part of plan9port
  • Microsoft nmake
• PVCS-make, based on Unix Make with additional features^[1]

Other

• Apache Ant, popular for Java platform development and uses an XML file format
• 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 Rust, 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 language Haskell
• Dub, the official package and build manager of the D Language
• 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 more 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
• Qt Build System
• Rake, a Ruby-based 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 to test and benchmark.
• 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).

• CMake generates files for various build tools, such as make, ninja, Apple's Xcode, and Microsoft Visual Studio.^[2] CMake is also directly used by some IDE as Qt Creator,^[3] KDevelop and GNOME Builder.^[4]
• 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.^[4]
• OpenMake Software Meister
• Premake, a Lua-based tool for making makefiles, Visual Studio files, Xcode projects, and more
• qmake

Continuous integration

See main article: article and Comparison of continuous integration software.

• 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^[5]
• 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)

Package managers

A package manager is a meta-build tool capable of building many different projects using a subset of existing build tools, generally using a list or repository of build scripts called "packages".

• 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	License
A-A-P	recipe
Ant	XML
AnthillPro	Wraps Make, Ant, Maven, MsBuild, Nant, etc. for controlled build, deploy, test processes.
Bamboo	continuous integration
Bazel	BUILD/Starlark, a Python-like DSL
Boot	Clojure
Capistrano	XML
CMake	uses CMakeLists.txt file
Collective Knowledge Framework	Python scripts with JSON API and JSON meta-description
Continuum	?
CruiseControl	XML
Dub	JSON, SDL
Gradle	Groovy-based DSL; Kotlin-based DSL
Jenkins	continuous integration
Homebrew	Ruby
Leiningen	Clojure
make	uses Makefile
Maven	Project Object Model
Meson build system	custom DSL
MPW Make	?
MSBuild	XML
NAnt	XML
nmake	uses Makefile
Open Build Service	uses various package and image description formats (spec, dsc, ARCH, kiwi)
Perforce Jam	uses Jamfile
Rake	Ruby
sbt (Simple Build Tool)	Scala-based DSL
SCons	Python
Team Foundation Server	MSBuild, Windows Presentation Foundation, JSON - REST interfaces, Programmatic (Can generate definitions through code)
Visual Build	XML
Waf	Python

Notes and References

1. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-make/2003-02/msg00019.html mailing list discussion about porting PVCS-make scripts to GNU-make
2. Web site: cmake-generators(7) — CMake 3.11.1 Documentation. cmake.org.
3. Web site: Setting Up CMake - Qt Creator Manual. doc.qt.io.
4. Web site: GNOME Builder Development Environment Picking Up Many Features For GNOME 3.28 - Phoronix. www.phoronix.com.
5. https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucket/build-test-and-deploy-with-pipelines-792496469.html Cross-platform