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Phing VS GNU Make

Compare Phing VS GNU Make and see what are their differences

Phing logo Phing

PHing Is Not GNU make; it's a PHP project build system or build tool based on ?Apache Ant.

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 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-15
  • GNU Make Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12

Phing features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

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.

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

Phing videos

Phing review

More videos:

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

GNU Make videos

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

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Category Popularity

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

User comments

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What are some alternatives?

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

Deployer - Deployment Tool for PHP

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

Ansistrano - ansistrano.deploy and ansistrano.

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

Capistrano - A remote server automation and deployment tool written in Ruby

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