Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Bazel VS SCons

Compare Bazel VS SCons and see what are their differences

Bazel logo Bazel

Bazel is a tool that automates software builds and tests.

SCons logo SCons

SCons is an Open Source software construction toolโ€”that is, a next-generation build tool.
  • Bazel Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-17
  • SCons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-21

Bazel features and specs

  • High Scalability
    Bazel is designed to handle large codebases and complex dependency graphs efficiently, which makes it suitable for projects with millions of lines of code.
  • Incremental Builds
    Bazel supports incremental builds by only rebuilding parts of the project that have changed, thus saving time and computational resources.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Bazel supports different platforms including Linux, MacOS, and Windows, enabling consistent build processes across diverse development environments.
  • Reproducible Builds
    It ensures that the same source code will yield identical build outputs, which is beneficial for debugging and ensuring consistency across different environments.
  • Extensibility
    Bazel is highly extensible, allowing developers to define custom build rules and macros to fit their specific needs.
  • Wide Language Support
    Out of the box, Bazel supports many programming languages such as Java, C++, Python, and Go, with the ability to extend to other languages.

Possible disadvantages of Bazel

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Bazel has a complex configuration language and many internal concepts, which might be challenging for new users to learn and adopt quickly.
  • Limited IDE Integration
    Compared to other build systems, Bazel might have limited or less mature support in certain Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), potentially hindering productivity.
  • Overhead of Remote Caching
    While remote caching is a powerful feature, setting it up and maintaining it can introduce additional overhead and complexity to the build process.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Getting a project up and running with Bazel can require significant upfront configuration, especially for projects migrating from another build system.
  • Limited Community Support
    Compared to more established build systems, Bazel has a smaller community, which might result in fewer resources and shared knowledge available online.

SCons features and specs

  • Python Integration
    SCons uses Python scripts for build configuration, which allows users to leverage the full power of Pythonโ€™s capabilities, including libraries and modules, for more complex build scenarios.
  • Automatic Dependency Tracking
    SCons automatically tracks dependencies, ensuring that only the necessary parts of the project are rebuilt. This can lead to faster incremental builds and improved efficiency.
  • Cross-Platform
    SCons is cross-platform and works on various operating systems including Windows, Linux, and macOS, providing a consistent build environment across different platforms.
  • Wide Range of Tools
    SCons supports a wide range of tools and compilers out-of-the-box, making it easier to configure build environments for different programming languages and technologies.
  • Extensibility
    The use of Python makes SCons highly extensible. Users can write custom build targets, scanners, and actions to suit specific project needs.

Possible disadvantages of SCons

  • Performance
    SCons can be slower than other build systems, especially for larger projects, due to the overhead of Python and its dependency scanning mechanisms.
  • Complexity
    While Python scripting offers flexibility, it can also add complexity to the build system, especially for users who are not familiar with Python programming.
  • Learning Curve
    Users new to SCons may face a steep learning curve, due to the need to understand both the build system itself and Python if they are not already familiar with it.
  • Limited IDE Integration
    SCons has limited integration with some popular IDEs compared to other build systems like CMake, which can affect the development experience for some users.
  • Smaller Community
    SCons has a smaller user base and community compared to more widely adopted build systems like CMake, which can result in fewer readily available resources, tutorials, and community support.

Analysis of Bazel

Overall verdict

  • Bazel is a powerful and robust build tool, especially for large-scale projects and organizations that require high build performance and scalability. Its advanced features can significantly improve the efficiency of development workflows. However, there is a learning curve, and the complexity of rules and configurations may not suit smaller projects or those with simpler build requirements.

Why this product is good

  • Bazel is a build tool developed by Google that is designed to support fast and correct builds. It is particularly known for its ability to handle large codebases and complex build dependencies efficiently. Bazel uses a single build language across different platforms, and its build system provides features such as incremental builds, remote build execution, and caching, which make it highly suitable for repetitive and reproducible builds. The tool is capable of handling projects written in multiple languages, such as Java, C++, Python, and more, due to its extensibility with custom rules.

Recommended for

  • Large-scale and complex software projects
  • Organizations that utilize monorepos
  • Developers needing cross-platform support
  • Teams looking to leverage remote build execution
  • Projects with complex dependencies across multiple programming languages

Analysis of SCons

Overall verdict

  • SCons is a good choice for those looking for a robust and flexible build automation tool, especially if they are comfortable with Python. It allows for a more streamlined and manageable build process, particularly for complex and multi-language projects.

Why this product is good

  • SCons is a software construction tool that is used for automating the build process. It is recognized for its ability to handle complex build requirements through a Python-based configuration language. This allows for greater flexibility and power compared to traditional make-based systems. SCons automatically handles dependencies, has a built-in cache system for faster builds, and is cross-platform, making it suitable for both small and large projects.

Recommended for

  • Software developers and engineers who need a flexible and powerful build system
  • Teams working with multi-language and complex codebases
  • Projects that require cross-platform support
  • Developers familiar with or interested in using Python for build configurations

Bazel videos

Kebenaran dari Powerbank Bazel 450 Series

More videos:

  • Review - BazelCon 2019 Day 2: Half-Day Bazel Bootcamp (Part 1)
  • Review - What's new in Bazel build and Gerrit Code Review

SCons videos

Review Scons Baรฑados Dia %

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Bazel and SCons)
Front End Package Manager
JavaScript Package Manager
JS Build Tools
0 0%
100% 100
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bazel should be more popular than SCons. It has been mentiond 67 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.

Bazel mentions (67)

  • Swift and Cute 2D Game Framework: Setting Up a Project with CMake
    I really recommend Bazel (https://bazel.build). - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Why Is This Site Built with C
    Agree regarding easiness of building rust (`cargo build`), extremely satisfying (git clone and cargo build...) Does anyone have any comments on Bazel[1] because I'm kind of settling on using it whenever it's appropriate (c/c++)?.. [1] https://bazel.build/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • 7 Ways to Use the SLSA Framework to Secure the SDLC
    To achieve reproducibility, your build process must control for environmental differences like timestamps, file ordering, or machine-specific configurations. Tools like Bazel or Nixprovide deterministic build systems that lock down these variables. For instance, Bazel uses a content-addressable cache, meaning the same source code and dependencies always result in the same build outputs, even when run on different... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Contributing To Open Source - C++ Edition
    Despite following all the steps (on both Windows and Unix), I couldn't get the cmake build to succeed. After several hours of debugging, I decided to try another build method provided by the project, using bazel, which was much simpler. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • How to effectively work in big codebases
    Many big companies have built their own tools to reign in this complexity and make it easier and faster for developers to work on large, multi-language code bases. Meta has buck, Amazon has brazil, and Google has bazel. But from my experience, especially, with brazil, these tools also have some rough edges, so understanding how they work can go a long way. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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SCons mentions (16)

  • Modern CMake
    Scons is very easy and readable yet very powerful. It is Python based and extensible. https://scons.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Tired of Makefiles
    Has anyone tried SCONS? Came across someone using it in a place where I worked earlier. Python-based make-like tool. https://scons.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Jeeves โ€“ A Pythonic Alternative to GNU Make
    The most comprehensive make alternative in python I've seen is Scons (https://scons.org/) It would be worth to see how they tackles some of the challenges you're looking into. Blurb from the website: SCons is an Open Source software construction tool. Think of SCons as an improved, cross-platform substitute for the classic Make utility with integrated functionality similar to autoconf/automake and compiler caches... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Taskfile: A Modern Alternative to Makefile
    Https://scons.org/ It has cache facility to speed up re-builds. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • What was used to build C++ programs before Cmake?
    SCons never got popular enough to escape the niches it grew up in. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Bazel and SCons, you can also consider the following products

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

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.

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

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

Meson - Meson is an open source build system meant to be both extremely fast, and, even more importantly...

SBT - SBT is a build tool for Scala, like Ant or Maven but with hieroglyphics.