Barrapunto

It is comparable to the Unix GNU build system in that the build process is ultimately controlled by configuration files, in the case of CMake called CMakeLists.txt files. Like the GNU build system tools, it does not directly build the final software, but instead generates standard build files (e.g., Makefiles on Unix and projects/workspaces in Windows Visual C++ or Eclipse CDT) which are used in the standard way, allowing an easier approach for developers familiar with a particular development environment. However, unlike GNU build system, which is restricted to Unix-like platforms, CMake supports the generation of build files for several build systems across several operating systems. CMake thus supports cross-platform development by eliminating the need to maintain separate build systems for each target platform.

SCons is a computer software construction tool that automatically analyzes source code file dependencies and operating system adaptation requirements from a software project description and generates final binary executables for installation on the target operating system platform. Its function is analogous to the traditional GNU build system based on the make utility and the autoconf tools.

tanto Autotools como CMake pretenden automatizar el proceso de construcción entre distintos sistemas operativos

El problema principal es la configuración: incluso dentro de un mismo sistema operativo las ubicaciones de los paquetes de terceros, las versiones de las bibliotecas, o las opciones del compilador pueden ser distintas. Son las típicas opciones que dentro del IDE las cambias a mano en función de la máquina, pero el objetivo de autoconf es que no tengas que cambiar nada a mano, y que con un simple "./configure;make install", se configure, se compile y se instale el programa.