Bazel vs GNU Automake
Bazel
bazel.buildGNU Automake
gnu.orgSide by side
| Figure | Bazel | GNU Automake |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Build Automation Software | 8.8 (#3) | 7.4 (#28) |
| Purpose | Bazel is an open-source tool that automates software builds and tests. | GNU Automake generates GNU Coding Standards compliant Makefile.in files from Makefile.am templates. |
| Support | The project directs users to its discussion group, GitHub issue tracker, Slack, and Stack Overflow. | Automake provides public mailing lists for discussion, patches, and bug reports. |
Plans
In their own words
Bazel
Bazel is a free, open-source tool for automating software builds and tests across languages and platforms. Projects define targets in BUILD files using Starlark, which can also be used to create custom rules and macros. Bazel caches prior work and rebuilds what needs to change, while running tasks in parallel. It supports languages including C++, Java, Kotlin, Python, Go, and Rust, with outputs for desktop, server, Android, and iOS. Bazel runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the documentation describes builds with 100,000 or more source files across multiple repositories. Sandboxing can make builds and tests more hermetic, and failures return a non-zero exit code for basic CI integration. Teams can share outputs through a remote cache, but must select and maintain its backend and secure access because it can contain binaries. IDE options include plugins for IntelliJ, Android Studio, CLion, and Visual Studio Code, plus Xcode integration. Bazel is not well suited to uncached deployment steps that change cloud configuration.