Bazel vs GNU Make

Struggling to choose between Bazel and GNU Make? 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, GNU Make is a Development product tagged with build, automation, make, compiler.

Its standout features include Dependency tracking - Automatically determines dependencies between files, Parallel builds - Can build independent targets simultaneously, Built-in functions - Many built-in functions for common build tasks, Recursive builds - Can build targets in subdirectories recursively, Pattern rules - General rules can be applied based on pattern matching, Conditionals - Supports if/else conditionals in makefiles, and it shines with pros like Widely used and well-supported, Mature and stable, Powerful dependency tracking, Built-in parallelism, Portable across platforms, Integrates well with other tools.

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


GNU Make

GNU Make

GNU Make is a utility that automatically builds executable programs and libraries from source code by reading files called Makefiles which specify how to derive the target program. It allows users to easily compile large projects without manually issuing the compilation commands.

Categories:
build automation make compiler

GNU Make Features

  1. Dependency tracking - Automatically determines dependencies between files
  2. Parallel builds - Can build independent targets simultaneously
  3. Built-in functions - Many built-in functions for common build tasks
  4. Recursive builds - Can build targets in subdirectories recursively
  5. Pattern rules - General rules can be applied based on pattern matching
  6. Conditionals - Supports if/else conditionals in makefiles

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Widely used and well-supported

Mature and stable

Powerful dependency tracking

Built-in parallelism

Portable across platforms

Integrates well with other tools

Cons

Cryptic syntax

Difficult for complex builds

Only rebuilds out-of-date targets

Not suitable for all project types

Limited to makefile build process