Ninja Build

Ninja Build

Ninja is a small, fast build system designed for compiling code quickly. It focuses on speed and supports parallel execution for very fast builds using multiple CPU cores.
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Ninja Build: Fast & Parallel Code Compilation System

A small, fast build system designed for compiling code quickly, supporting parallel execution for very fast builds using multiple CPU cores.

What is Ninja Build?

Ninja is an open-source build system designed to build software quickly. It is small and lightweight but very fast due to its focus on performance and speed of compilation. Some key highlights of Ninja:

  • Ninja files are simple and easy to write to describe the build process
  • It can compile projects significantly faster than alternatives like Make as it runs multiple compiler processes in parallel
  • Integrates seamlessly with other developer tools like CMake,SCons,Meson etc to describe the build process
  • Actively developed and maintained with frequent releases for bug fixes and improvements
  • Used extensively in large projects like Chromium, LLVM, Google etc where fast build/compile times are critical
  • Available on multiple platforms like Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD etc

Overall, Ninja lives up to its name and provides extremely fast build performance coupled with small resource utilization. It is a great choice for compiling large C/C++ projects where you need very snappy iteration times.

Ninja Build Features

Features

  1. Fast build system
  2. Built-in dependency analysis
  3. Parallel execution
  4. Minimal project configuration
  5. Cross-platform support

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Very fast build times

Simple and easy to use

Good for small to medium sized projects

Active development and support

Cons

Limited features compared to larger build tools

Less customizable than other build tools

Lacks GUI or IDE integration


The Best Ninja Build Alternatives

Top Development and Build Tools and other similar apps like Ninja Build


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