Apache Maven vs qmake

Apache Maven is a free build tool for Java projects. It uses a project object model, or POM, and plugins to manage compilation, testing and documentation through a uniform build system. Maven manages dependencies, including transitive dependencies and automatic updates, and can download them from a central repository. Project metadata can produce outputs such as JARs, WARs and distributions. Maven can also generate project information, including changelogs, cross-referenced sources, dependency lists and unit test reports. Java or scripting-language plugins extend it, and it can work with source control systems such as Subversion or Git to manage tag-based releases. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Maven 3.10 and later requires JDK 8 or above to execute, while toolchains can target other JDK versions. Its project layout is opinionated, so projects with unusual structures that cannot be reorganized may have to give up some Maven features or Maven itself. The software is distributed under Apache License 2.0; its listed plan costs nothing.

qmake manages builds for applications, libraries and other components by turning project files into Makefiles. Its `.pro` files can define source files, configuration, libraries and include paths. It supplies build rules for Qt's moc and uic tools, with templates for applications, libraries and plugins. Projects can specify third-party libraries, and qmake can use pkg-config for supported libraries such as D-Bus and ogg. It can generate Microsoft Visual Studio project files and, on macOS, Xcode project files. Platform notes cover iOS universal binaries, frameworks and bundles. In Qt 6, qmake remains supported for building Qt applications, but cannot compile custom Qt plugins or libraries that rely on Qt 5 build-system internals. Qt warns that building an untrusted project can execute code on the build machine. The Qt Community Edition is free under LGPL or GPL terms, with source-code obligations and limited access to some Qt capabilities.