SCons

SCons is an open source software construction tool that acts as a cross-platform alternative to Make, with functionality comparable to autoconf/automake and compiler caches such as ccache. Build configuration files are written as Python scripts, and the tool performs automatic dependency analysis for C, C++, and Fortran, eliminating the need for separate dependency passes.

Features include built-in support for C, C++, D, Java, Fortran, Yacc, Lex, Qt, SWIG, and TeX/LaTeX documents, along with Microsoft Visual Studio file generation (.dsp, .dsw, .sln, .vcproj). It detects build changes using MD5 signatures with optional timestamp support, supports parallel builds, provides Autoconf-like detection of include files, libraries, functions, and typedefs, and offers a shared build cache for any target file type. Dependency analysis and Builders are extensible through user-defined scanners and builders, and site_scons provides a plugin mechanism for project-specific code. It runs on Linux, POSIX systems, Windows, macOS, and OS/2.

SCons is intended for developers and build engineers managing cross-platform software builds. It is distributed as open source software under the SCons Foundation, with no paid editions or usage-based pricing indicated.