Makefile generator for c++?

Question

Do the following build systems: cmake, jam and bjam also generate makefiles like qmake does? What utility does MS visual c++ uses to generate make file?

Answer 1

CMake does generate makefiles and projects files for several different build systems on different platforms. CMake is more generalised than qmake, which is specialised for Qt projects.

jam and bjam are replacements for make, i.e. different syntax. They do not generate build files.

You can generate makefiles (that nmake can use) from Visual Studio by saving them out once you have generated a solution.

Answer 2

Visual Studio has its own project file format (*.vcproj), which CMake can generate. CMake can also generate Makefiles.

I can highly recommend CMake.

Answer 3

You might want to look at premake. Not sure if it does what qmake does, but it does generate project / make files for several tools.