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CMake VS Spack

Compare CMake VS Spack and see what are their differences

CMake

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

Rating
0 reviews
Alternatives Is it good?
Spack

A flexible package manager supporting multiple versions, configurations, platforms, and compilers.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source
Alternatives Is it good?
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Which is more popular?

Based on our record, CMake seems to be a lot more popular than Spack. While we know about 55 links to CMake, we've tracked only 3 mentions of Spack.

social mentions
55 vs 3
Front End Package Manager popularity
85% vs 15%
alternatives listed
154 vs 25

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

CMake
Spack
Website cmake.org spack.io
Pricing —
Open source
Listed in
Front End Package Manager JavaScript Package Manager JS Build Tools Package Manager +1
Front End Package Manager Windows Tools Package Manager Software Marketplace +1

About CMake and Spack

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

CMake
Spack

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

Read more about CMake

No description of Spack yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

CMake 5 features
Spack 0 features
  • 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

  • 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.

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

CMake
Spack

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

No analysis of Spack yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

CMake 3 videos + Add
Spack 0 videos + Add

CMake for Dummies

More videos

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

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

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
CMake
Spack
85% 85%
Front End Package Manager
15% 15%
100% 100%
JS Build Tools
0% 0%
0% 0%
Windows Tools
100% 100%
100% 100%
JavaScript Package Manager
0% 0%

User comments

Share your experience with using CMake and Spack. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

CMake 55 mentions
Spack 3 mentions
  • How I deployed my first project for my devops portfolio: Project Architecture
    I used CMAKE as my compiling tool followed by make. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • 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 / over 1 year 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 / over 1 year ago

View more

  • Pkgsrc Is Cool (2022)
    In a similar vein, Spack and Easybuild are similar (more recent) build systems which are often used in the HPC space. * https://spack.io * https://easybuild.io. - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • The Future of Flatpak
    > I find Appimage to be better alternative to Flatpak Me too. But there is a "bigger picture" view of this which I think is important and relevant: * AppImage encapsulates apps' requirements using the app bundle format from the ROX... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Autodafe: "freeing your freeing your project from the clammy grip of autotools."
    > Are we talking about the same autotools? Yes. Instead of figuring out how to do something particular with every single software package, I can do a --with-foo or --without-bar or --prefix=/opt/baz-1.2.3, and... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

Alternatives to CMake and Spack

When comparing CMake and Spack, you can also consider the following products.

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