Make is only bad under the Autotools mess. Every build-related struggle in an open-source project that uses Autotools can be traced to Autotools, not to make.

Autotools wasn't invented to overcome deficiencies in make, but deficiencies in C portability across Unix flavors.

Those deficiencies are greatly diminished today, both by POSIX standardization, and there being fewer viable surviving Unix variants that anyone cares to build for.

Don't tell them: show them. I've found they get quite a reaction to the mess underneath illustrated by the PHK article below.

https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2349257

Exactly. Don't forget `pkg-config` [1], which I've found eliminates most cross-POSIXish-platform linking issues.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pkg-config

I've used make for 15 years and never once needed automake. The company I'm currently at uses straight make without problems for a 500 kLOC code base of multiple languages, 3rd-party code, code generators, and unit tests. Our make code totals 1000 lines.

I've seen plenty of messes using scons and ant, more so than I've seen with make. Make is a solid tool.

Across multiple operating systems (unix and windows)? Does it fetch and install 3rd party dependencies? Can a noob maintain the makefile without pulling their hair out?