Makefiles are underrated. The concept is so simple – it is basically a dependency graph with attached shell scripts – yet so powerful. Not just for building software, but also for everyday tasks where you need some files to be updated under some condition.

I recommend mk (original make replacement for Plan 9, available for different OSes through Plan9Port [0,1]). It has a bit more uniform syntax, and can check that the dependency graph is wellfounded.

[0] https://github.com/9fans/plan9port

[1] https://swtch.com/plan9port/

I've been getting into Makefiles more over the past year, and still a noob at it. I see them as a necessary evil - they're baroque and they hurt... and yet they make other things easier. I'm using them less to compile stuff and more to package/upload things, but they certainly have their place.

another advantage of make is that every host have it. like vim.

mk is not there yet.

Did you mean "vi"? Lots of systems don't install vim by default.

And contrariwise, lots of hosts install "vi" which actually seems to be vim. Aah, 'standards'. :P

not since 1990. :)

and even if that is the case, I'm still better being a vim user at a system that only has vi and ed, then any other editor's user.

now I have to ask, is it just to run/execute things or there are other stuff you do with it?

You wouldn't do calculation in a Makefile, if that's what you mean. Make is not well-suited to use as a general-purpose programming language.