Software Alternatives & Reviews

Apache Ant VS GNU Make

Compare Apache Ant VS GNU Make and see what are their differences

Apache Ant logo Apache Ant

Apache Ant is a Java library and command-line tool whose mission is to drive processes described in build files as targets and extension points dependent upon each other.

GNU Make logo GNU Make

GNU Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the program's source files.
  • Apache Ant Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-08
  • GNU Make Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12

Apache Ant videos

Apache ANT Tutorials for Beginners | ANT Build Process Automation 2

More videos:

GNU Make videos

No GNU Make videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

+ Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Ant and GNU Make)
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Front End Package Manager
Continuous Integration
60 60%
40% 40
JS Build Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Apache Ant and GNU Make. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apache Ant and GNU Make

Apache Ant Reviews

35+ Of The Best CI/CD Tools: Organized By Category
Apache Ant (“Another Neat Tool”) is the oldest tool on this list and it can be considered a precursor to Maven. Just like Maven, it was written entirely in Java. ANT uses XML to define the code build process. While ANT is primarily a JAVA build tool, it can be used to define processes and build C++, C, and C# applications.

GNU Make Reviews

We have no reviews of GNU Make yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Ant seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Ant mentions (6)

  • Want to Get Better at Java? Go Old School.
    I will not suggest truly old-school Java programming. When I started in Java, we built Java classes with the javac command. This led to writing shell scripts to build complex projects and finally, Makefiles using the Unix and Windows commands make and nmake respectively. I remember being thrilled when the Ant utility came out and we had a pure Java build tool. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • I am about to write my first code but god has a different plan.
    Didn't know that people still use Ant for building their source code. Source: over 1 year ago
  • I am about to write my first code but god has a different plan.
    OP is just running this https://ant.apache.org/, nothing to worry about. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Better CI/CD caching with new-gen build systems
    A build system is a program that orchestrates the execution of underlying tools such as compilers, code generators, test runners, linters and so on. Examples of build systems include the venerable Make, the JVM-centric Ant, Maven and Gradle, and newer systems such as Pants and Bazel (full disclosure: I am one of the maintainers of Pants). - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Build error when running 'nix build', running build steps by hand with 'nix develop' works
    You are missing a dependency: antlr. You have ant instead, which is something completely different. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

GNU Make mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GNU Make yet. Tracking of GNU Make recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Ant and GNU Make, you can also consider the following products

Apache Maven - Apache Maven is a project comprehension and management software tool.

CMake - CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software.

Gradle - Accelerate developer productivity. Gradle helps teams build, automate and deliver better software, faster. DocsExplore the documentation of Gradle. Find installation ..

SCons - SCons is an Open Source software construction tool—that is, a next-generation build tool.

Jenkins - Jenkins is an open-source continuous integration server with 300+ plugins to support all kinds of software development

Ninja Build - Ninja is a small build system with a focus on speed.