TrustRadius Insights
GNU Make is a versatile tool that has found numerous use cases among its users. It is commonly used for automating software builds and …
Overview
What is GNU Make?
GNU Make is an open source and free build automation tool.
Recent Reviews
Pricing
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?
Alternatives Pricing
What is GitLab?
GitLab DevSecOps platform enables software innovation by aiming to empower development, security, and operations teams to build better software, faster. With GitLab, teams can create, deliver, and manage code quickly and continuously instead of managing disparate tools and scripts. GitLab helps…
What is Azure DevOps Services?
Azure DevOps (formerly VSTS, Microsoft Visual Studio Team System) is an agile development product that is an extension of the Microsoft Visual Studio architecture. Azure DevOps includes software development, collaboration, and reporting capabilities.
Product Demos
Funky demo #1: embeddable programming language integration demo
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is GNU Make?
GNU Make Video
GNU Make
GNU Make Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(4)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Recommendations
GNU Make is a versatile tool that has found numerous use cases among its users. It is commonly used for automating software builds and managing server configurations. Many users have relied on GNU Make to build C programs and applications written in other languages, allowing them to efficiently compile and run programs across different platforms without the need for dual booting. Its multi-language support has made it an invaluable tool for project development purposes.
One key use case of GNU Make is its ability to automate validation and verification scenarios, improving overall code quality. Users have found it helpful in automating rebuilds of modules in production systems and seamlessly rolling them out. Additionally, GNU Make has been effective in speeding up code deployments and change processes for large programs, making it a time-saving tool for developers.
Another important use case of GNU Make is its role in building scripts and handling projects with multiple code files. It enables users to package their code into a single makefile, simplifying the build process and facilitating project management. Moreover, GNU Make has been used to automate the building of static websites and internal documentation systems, streamlining the publishing process.
Furthermore, GNU Make is chosen as a solution for managing the building of source code in various programming languages such as Go, C, and Fortran-based projects. Users appreciate its simplicity and extensibility compared to other tools available for different languages. It allows them to write build scripts with powerful configuration options, empowering others to build development programs locally.
Overall, GNU Make provides a wide range of capabilities and solutions for software developers and project managers. With its ability to automate builds, manage server configurations, and support multiple programming languages, it has become an indispensable tool in the software development industry.
-
Many users recommend investing the necessary time to learn GNU Make and understand its capabilities. They believe that this effort will save more trouble down the line.
-
Reviewers highly recommend GNU Make for building and installing packages, as well as software development. They suggest it as a valuable tool for building or writing code for in-house products.
-
Some users advise using GNU Make for projects with a smaller number of files or code. They mention that it provides better customization and code structure, especially for users who are unfamiliar with it. However, users do not recommend GNU for bigger projects.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-2 of 2)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
January 10, 2020
The venerable UNG Make: An ancient build tool that works great and is still better than most alternatives
Our team uses GNU Make to build any of our software projects once they have reached a reasonable level of complexity. We use it to build Go, C, and Fortran-based projects to provide simple "make build" or "make test" steps to compile code and run tests. It's an old-fashioned tool, and I wish there were better tools available, but none of the contenders seem to have the simplicity and extensibility that Make does. Other devices seem to be language-specific and specialized for specific ecosystems (e.g., maven or Gradle are great for Java, but not for C projects). Batch files are simpler but don't perform as well and don't provide as much out-of-the-box flexibility (e.g., ability to compile only specific files rather than a full build).
- Dependency tracking (only re-build files if needed)
- Simple to integrate with existing command-line tools
- No dependency management tools (but there are no cross-platform tools of this type anyway)
- Tedious to do cross-compilation (Debug & Release builds, 32- and 64-bit builds, x86/ARM builds)
- Easier to onboard new developers
- Straightforward integration with CI/CD systems
- Apache Maven and Gradle
I'm a full-stack developer that has used various build tools, including Maven, Gradle, and NPM/yarn. For our C projects, I also investigated CMake and Ninja, but they seemed more difficult to learn and more tedious to work with. GNU Make is a single binary that can be easily downloaded, even for Windows under MingW32, is straightforward to learn, and works pretty well despite its age.
December 23, 2019
GNU Make evaluation
GNU Make is being used as a build script in our product software development, specifically for embedded software development.
- Performance and accuracy of cross-module dependencies.
- Simple to write and easy to understand.
- Constrained by the tab to start for command.
- Cannot append something on the end of a variable.
- Streamline the build based on a lot of existing component being done, reusable.
- Commonly understandable, therefore, rampup effort is small.
A lot of existing projects we had been running are based on GNU Make, it does not make sense to move away from that. To build on top of those, GNU Make had been used. A lot of experienced engineers in the team are already familiar with the GNU Make syntax and structure and no rampup time required.