Bazel vs Autoconf

Struggling to choose between Bazel and Autoconf? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Bazel is a Development solution with tags like build-tool, incremental-builds, multilanguage.

It boasts features such as Fast, incremental builds, Scales to very large codebases, Language-agnostic, Hermetic and reproducible builds, Supports multiple platforms and pros including Very fast build times, Easily build large projects, Reproducible builds, Language-agnostic, Active open source community.

On the other hand, Autoconf is a Development product tagged with configuration, portability, automation.

Its standout features include Portability, Extensibility, Automatic dependency tracking, Support for conditional compilation, Built-in caching, Macro language, and it shines with pros like Makes software portable across Unix-like systems, Allows customization through macros, Automates tedious configuration tasks, Avoids manual editing of configuration files, Reuses previous configuration results.

To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison of these two products, delving into their features, pros, cons, pricing, and more. Get ready to explore the nuances that set them apart and determine which one is the perfect fit for your requirements.

Bazel

Bazel

Bazel is an open-source build and test tool similar to Make, Maven, or Gradle. It is optimized for building large, multi-language software projects efficiently by incrementally building only what has changed.

Categories:
build-tool incremental-builds multilanguage

Bazel Features

  1. Fast, incremental builds
  2. Scales to very large codebases
  3. Language-agnostic
  4. Hermetic and reproducible builds
  5. Supports multiple platforms

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Very fast build times

Easily build large projects

Reproducible builds

Language-agnostic

Active open source community

Cons

Steep learning curve

Requires buy-in from entire team

Not as feature-rich as alternatives like Gradle


Autoconf

Autoconf

Autoconf is an extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell scripts to automatically configure software source code packages. It can adapt the software to many kinds of Unix-like systems without manual user intervention.

Categories:
configuration portability automation

Autoconf Features

  1. Portability
  2. Extensibility
  3. Automatic dependency tracking
  4. Support for conditional compilation
  5. Built-in caching
  6. Macro language

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Makes software portable across Unix-like systems

Allows customization through macros

Automates tedious configuration tasks

Avoids manual editing of configuration files

Reuses previous configuration results

Cons

Complex macro language has steep learning curve

Hard to debug issues

Can produce convoluted configuration scripts

Limited support on non-Unix platforms