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GNU Make VS Phing

Compare GNU Make VS Phing and see what are their differences

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.

Phing logo Phing

PHing Is Not GNU make; it's a PHP project build system or build tool based on ?Apache Ant.
  • GNU Make Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12
  • Phing Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-15

GNU Make features and specs

  • Portability
    GNU Make is highly portable and can be used across various Unix-like operating systems as well as on Windows.
  • Dependency Management
    It efficiently handles complex dependencies between various parts of the software, ensuring that changes are propagated properly.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source software, GNU Make is freely available and can be modified according to user needs.
  • Wide Adoption
    It is widely adopted in the industry, which means that there is extensive documentation and a large community for support.
  • Efficiency
    GNU Make speeds up the build process by only recompiling the necessary parts of the codebase.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Make

  • Complex Syntax
    The syntax of GNU Makefiles can become very complex, especially for large projects, making them hard to read and maintain.
  • Limited Cross-Platform Scripting
    While the tool itself is cross-platform, Makefiles can sometimes include shell commands that are not portable.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Beginners may find it challenging to grasp the concepts and syntax of GNU Make, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging Makefiles can be difficult, with limited tools available to trace or step through the make process.
  • Performance Bottlenecks
    For extremely large projects, performance can become an issue, as the evaluation of dependencies might become slow.

Phing features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis of GNU Make

Overall verdict

  • Yes, GNU Make is a robust and reliable tool for managing build processes. Its long-established reputation and widespread use in both open-source and commercial projects underline its effectiveness and flexibility.

Why this product is good

  • GNU Make is widely used because it automates the build process, efficiently handling dependencies and detecting minimal sets of changes in source files. It is highly customizable, supports non-recursive builds, and integrates well into various development environments.

Recommended for

  • Software developers working on C/C++ projects
  • Teams looking to automate build processes
  • Projects that require cross-platform build capabilities
  • Developers who prefer command-line tools
  • Open-source project maintainers

GNU Make videos

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Phing videos

Phing review

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Phing~Phing Review How to make ice cream

Category Popularity

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

User comments

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What are some alternatives?

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

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

Deployer - Deployment Tool for PHP

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

Maven - A marketplace for cohort-based courses led by experts

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

CheckInstall - CheckInstall is a Linux program which eases installation & uninstallation of software compiled from source.