Different strokes for different folks. The solution to your problems is a simple batch file, but that might not be the solution to other peoples problems.

These "get of my grass" comments really miss the point. If you don't understand why you might need a more complex build system than "a simple batch file" then this really isn't software you need. That doesn't mean it's insane.

I start out with a shell script.

At some point "recompile everything" is a bit slow, so I swap it out for a makefile.

At some point the makefile gets too complicated and I swap it out for Bazel.

And would it not be much easier to use apenwarrs redo?

A lot of the time I see these build systems try to solve a few issues:

1. Dependency handling

2. Single script for multiple platforms

3. Easy for a new user to just "run"

But I have yet to find a build system (for C/C++) that solves all these issues better than simply having a few scripts.

I use just a build.batch, linux_build.sh and osx_build.sh usually and I have never had problems.

A new user can just download those scripts, and as long as they haven't tampered with file/library locations it just works.

If people like their build systems - fine by me - but I just think they are unnecessarily complex a lot of the time. Granted I don't have a huge project with 100's of dependencies, but even then, those dependencies don't come all at once.

Problem is I do tamper with those. I often cross compile software (my day job is embedded linux). Different distributions like to put things in different locations for their own reasons. I have a multi-core computer and I'd like to use more than one of them so my build goes faster.

As a developer I don't want to have to worry about how to make all of the above work. I learned cmake and so I don't have to worry, now that I know it (the learning curve is there) almost all my issues go away because it just works with all the weird stuff people do.

Nothing wrong with using a shovel to dig in your backyard for planting. But that experience does not extrapolate to using an excavator to build a skyscraper.