Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CMake VS RPM Package Manager

Compare CMake VS RPM Package Manager and see what are their differences

CMake logo CMake

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

RPM Package Manager logo RPM Package Manager

The RPM Package Manager (RPM) is a powerful command line driven package management system capable...
  • CMake Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-21

We recommend LibHunt CMake for discovery and comparisons of trending CMake projects.

  • RPM Package Manager Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-20

CMake features and specs

  • Cross-platform support
    CMake is designed to support multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This allows developers to write platform-independent CMake scripts.
  • Build tool agnostic
    CMake can generate build files for a variety of build systems including Makefiles, Ninja, and Visual Studio solutions. This means developers are not tied to a specific build tool.
  • Large community and extensive documentation
    CMake has a large user base and an extensive amount of documentation and tutorials available which can be helpful for new and experienced users alike.
  • Integrated testing support
    CMake includes support for testing frameworks such as CTest, which allows for automated testing of code during the build process.
  • Modular and scalable
    CMake is highly modular, enabling users to create reusable and maintainable code by organizing CMake scripts into libraries and modules.

Possible disadvantages of CMake

  • Steep learning curve
    CMake's complexity and its extensive range of features can be difficult for beginners to grasp, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Verbose syntax
    CMake scripts can often become verbose and difficult to read, especially for large projects. This can make maintenance and debugging challenging.
  • Inconsistent module quality
    The quality and support of different CMake modules can vary, sometimes leading to issues with compatibility or functionality.
  • Performance overhead
    CMake may introduce some performance overhead during the configuration process, especially for very large projects.
  • Complexity in advanced features
    Some of the more advanced features of CMake, such as custom commands and complex dependency management, can be quite difficult to implement correctly.

RPM Package Manager features and specs

  • Wide Adoption
    RPM is widely adopted in the Linux community, particularly in Red Hat-based distributions like Fedora, CentOS, and RHEL, which ensures substantial community and commercial support.
  • Dependency Tracking
    RPM packages can include metadata about dependencies, which can help in managing software installations and ensuring that all necessary libraries and tools are installed together.
  • Robust Verification
    RPM provides strong tools for verifying package authenticity and integrity, such as GPG signature verification and checksum validation, which improves security and reliability.
  • Flexibility in Configuration
    RPM allows extensive configuration options, enabling custom build scripts and configuration files setup at the time of package creation.
  • Scalability
    RPM is designed to efficiently handle a large number of packages, making it suitable for enterprise-scale systems and environments.

Possible disadvantages of RPM Package Manager

  • Complexity
    The RPM packaging process can be complex, and creating RPM spec files requires an understanding of its syntax and structure, which might be cumbersome for new users.
  • Dependency Management
    While RPM includes features for dependency management, manual intervention may still be necessary to resolve dependency conflicts or issues not addressed by the package metadata.
  • Limited to RPM-based Systems
    RPM is predominantly used on Red Hat-based systems, which can limit its use and integration on non-compatible systems like Debian-based distributions.
  • Potential for Fragmentation
    Different distributions may implement RPM differently or have variations in RPM-based tools, which can lead to fragmentation and compatibility issues.
  • File Oversight
    RPM primarily handles the installation and removal of packages, but it may not effectively track or manage all changes to the system made by the installed packages.

Analysis of CMake

Overall verdict

  • CMake is generally considered a good tool for managing the build process of software projects, especially those with a complex codebase that spans multiple platforms.

Why this product is good

  • Flexibility
    It offers great flexibility in terms of defining build processes, enabling advanced configuration and optimization techniques to be used.
  • Integration
    It integrates well with many popular IDEs and other tools, providing a smoother development experience.
  • Wide adoption
    CMake is widely used in the industry, which leads to robust community support and regular updates.
  • Cross platform support
    CMake is designed to support multiple platforms, which makes it highly valuable for projects that need to be compiled and run on different operating systems.

Recommended for

  • projects requiring cross-platform compatibility
  • developers looking for a powerful build configuration tool
  • complex software projects with numerous dependencies
  • teams that value strong community and industry support

CMake videos

CMake for Dummies

More videos:

  • Review - CppCon 2017: Mathieu Ropert “Using Modern CMake Patterns to Enforce a Good Modular Design”
  • Review - Hunter, a CMake driven package manager for C/C++ projects - Daniel Friedrich - Lightning Talks

RPM Package Manager videos

Understanding RPM Package Manager | Build an RPM Package | Redhat Package Manager | Edureka

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CMake and RPM Package Manager)
Front End Package Manager
JavaScript Package Manager
Package Manager
0 0%
100% 100
JS Build Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CMake seems to be a lot more popular than RPM Package Manager. While we know about 54 links to CMake, we've tracked only 3 mentions of RPM Package Manager. 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.

CMake mentions (54)

  • DeadLock: Research Results & Tech Stack
    All this C++ project can't be ran as simple C++ code, so I will be building this whole package using CMake. It will streamline building this project onto other computers. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • Master This Feature of DevEco Studio to Efficiently Implement ArkTS and C++ Glue Code
    For knowledge in this aspect, you can refer to the relevant documents of the CMake build tool: https://cmake.org/. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Creating a Native Desktop GUI Using C++ with GTK
    I used CMAKE to define the build configurations. I find it very convenient that CMAKE generates the Makefile on Linux and can also create a Visual Studio project on Windows. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Top 7 C++ Tools to explore in 2024 if it's not already the case.
    CMake stands for "Cross-platform Make" and is an open-source, platform-independent build system. It's designed to build, test, and package software projects written in C and C++, but it can also be used for other languages. Here's an overview of CMake and its features:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • My first Software Release using GitHub Release
    When doing research for this lab exercise I looked at both vcpkg and conan. Both are package managers that would automate the installation and configuration of my program with its dependencies. However, when it came to releasing and sharing my program my options were limited. For example, the central public registry for conan packages is conan-center, but these packages are curated and the process is very... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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RPM Package Manager mentions (3)

  • How to choose the right API Gateway
    Another point to consider is how difficult is it to install the API Gateway or redeploy the gateway when changes are made. Check what installation options are offered. Most modern API Gateways can be installed in many different ways(Package based, Docker, Helm, RPM) in any environment (Linux, Windows, macOS). For example, one of the biggest advantages of Kong is its wide range of installation choices, with... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Deploy and Run Apache APISIX on Scaleway Cloud
    It is also possible to install Apache APISIX by different methods (Docker, Helm, or RPM) and run it in the various public cloud providers because of its cloud-native behavior. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Run Apache APISIX on Microsoft Azure Container Instance
    Apache APISIX is an open-source Microservice API gateway and platform designed for managing microservices requests of high availability, fault tolerance, and distributed system. You can install Apache APISIX by the different methods (Docker, Helm, or RPM) and run it in the various public cloud providers because of its cloud-native behavior. In this post, you will learn how easily run Apache APISIX API Gateway in... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CMake and RPM Package Manager, you can also consider the following products

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.

npm - npm is a package manager for Node.

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

Helm.sh - The Kubernetes Package Manager

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

Chocolatey - The sane way to manage software on Windows.