Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Bake – A modular build system and package manager for C/C++
Bake, A build system for building, testing and running C & C++ projects - SanderMertens/bake
Bake is a modular build system and package manager designed for C and C++ development. It streamlines the process of compiling code and managing dependencies, allowing developers to organize projects into reusable… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Bake – A modular build system and package manager for C/C++ launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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I love C and C++, but setting up projects can sometimes be a pain. Every time I wanted to start something new I'd spend the first hour writing CMakeLists.txt, figuring out find_package, copying boilerplate from my last project, and googling why my library isn't linking. By the time the project was actually set up I'd lost all momentum. So, I built Craft - a lightweight build and workflow tool for C and C++. Instead of writing CMake, your project configuration goes in a simple craft.toml: [project] name = "my_app" version = "0.1.0" language = "c" c_standard = 99 [build] type = "executable"…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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This is a project I've wanted to write for a long time now. I really love the ideas from Nix and I still have a ton of respect for the project, but Nix-the-language never felt intuitive to me and I wanted something with more approachable tooling (although this was circa 2016, so I'm sure Nix has improved a lot since then too-- that was before Flakes were around!) Anyway, I started on the current iteration of Brioche about 6 months ago, and I finally cut an initial release. I'd still consider this a "technical preview" version (performance especially is pretty painful, so that'll be a focus…
2024 · brioche.dev · its alternatives →
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Minimalist, dependency-free virtual machine sandbox for microcontrollers and other resource-constrained devices. Single C file, no dynamic memory allocations, asynchronous design, pure C99 - ringtailsoftware/uvm32
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4GI
Hi all! I'm going into my freshman year, and figured that the best way to prepare for the intro to programming Racket course would be to implement my own garbage-collected, dynamically typed, functional programming language in C ;) Anyways... here's the repo: https://github.com/liam-ilan/crumb I started learning C over the summer, so I still have a whole lot to learn... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! :D
2023 · its alternatives →
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Devbox is a command-line tool that lets you easily create isolated shells and containers. You start by defining the list of packages required by your development environment, and devbox uses that definition to create an isolated environment just for your application. In practice, Devbox works similar to a package manager like yarn – except the packages it manages are at the operating-system level (the sort of thing you would normally install with brew or apt-get). See it in action: https://youtu.be/WMBaXQZmDoA
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Brisk is an open-source C++ GUI framework with a declarative approach, offering powerful data bindings, GPU-accelerated graphics, and dynamic widget management. It supports macOS, Linux, Windows, and simplifies UI creation with modern paradigms and CSS-like layouts. Initially developed for a graphics-intensive project with a complex and dynamic GUI, the framework is currently under active development.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
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🔥 A cross-platform build utility based on Lua. Contribute to xmake-io/xmake development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Baker▲90Create, provision & share your dev environment in minutes.
2018 · getbaker.io · its alternatives →
- 9OC
2012 · assembly.ynh.io · its alternatives →
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Buildstash▲168Hey HN! We just launched open sign up on Buildstash. It's a platform for managing and sharing software binaries. I'd worked across game dev, mobile apps, and agencies - and found every team had no real system for managing their built binaries. Often just dumped in a shared folder (if someone remembered!). No system for versioning, keeping track of who'd signed off what when, or what exact build had gone to a client, etc. Existing tools out there for managing build artifacts are really focused on package repository management. But miss all the other types of software not being deployed that…
2025 · buildstash.com · its alternatives →
- 11WFWget-finder▲130
Since some days ago I’ve been playing with bifrost-build, a github repository with recipes for building static linux binaries. The recipes are no different from other linux distributions where an…
2015 · javier.io · its alternatives →
- 12
A cross-platform build utility based on Lua
2019 · xmake.io · its alternatives →
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A fast, rootless sandbox and virtual resource runtime for any workload, including untrusted and AI-generated code. Daemonless: a real, kernel-enforced container in ~3.5 ms from an OCI image, out of one static binary - getkern/kern
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14
Simple, zero-dependency garbage collection for C. Contribute to mkirchner/gc development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15
Hi hackers! I'm a self-taught solo teenage dev working on Seastar, a unified build system and dependency manager for C and C++. It is capable of compiling and linking projects, managing recursive dependencies and headers, and even has a template system -- your C++ library is one `seastar new mylib --lang c++ --lib` away! Also, everything is configured in TOML, because TOML is awesome. C is one of my favorite languages, but I usually end up writing stuff in Rust because I love Cargo. Unlike C, Cargo handles the dependencies, linking, globbing, and so much more for you. So I wrote Seastar to…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Programming language that compiles into a x86 ELF executable. - riicchhaarrd/ocean
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
This project contains no code from Linux, BSD, Minix, or any other OS. Everything up until this point is written entirely from scratch, including a pure microkernel (that only implements multiprocessor priority scheduling, memory management, and interprocess communication), a work-in-progress implementation of the standard C library, and a variety of servers that provide drivers and other essential OS functionality. At the time of writing this post, the servers provide drivers for the keyboard, NVMe SSDs (that works on real hardware), a Unix-like virtual file system (with a single root…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
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I built Staying – a tool that instantly turns your code into interactive animations with no setup required. Just write or paste your code and hit "Visualize". No installs, no accounts, no configuration. *Supports*: Python, JavaScript & experimental C++
2025 · staying.fun · its alternatives →
- 20
Hi HN, I've been taking a break from my big side projects to work on a smaller side project - a tiny build system that's based on what I've learned from using Ninja and ad-hoc Python for my homebrew build systems over the last few years. It's basically a promise-based dependency graph runner plus a simple text templating engine, and it works quite well for the smallish projects I've tried it out on so far. If you find Make crufty, CMake inconsistent, Ninja verbose, and Bazel just too much build system, give Hancho a try. Don't like one of Hancho's defaults? It's only 500 lines - hack it up…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21HM
A developer's machine accumulates tools fast. A Rust CLI you compiled last year, a Python formatter installed via `uv`, a language server pulled from npm, a terminal emulator from a curl script, a Go binary built from source. Each came from a different package manager, each with its own install incantation you half-remember. I wanted a way to declare what I need without adopting a complex system like Nix or Ansible just for a single laptop. The result was a plain old Makefile. I wrote a short post on using Make (along with a tiny bash script and fzf) to create a searchable, single-command…
Mar 2026 · thottingal.in · its alternatives →
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Fast, secure, configurable. A bold new take on Nix caching.
2024 · determinate.systems · its alternatives →
- 24
Simple light-weight package manager and build system written in C for c/c++ projects - mainak55512/flint
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
Also compare
- I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++ alternatives
- Brioche – A new Nix-like package manager alternatives
- Tiny VM sandbox in C with apps in Rust, C and Zig alternatives
- Going into freshman year, figured I should build an interpreter alternatives
- Devbox – Easy, predictable shells and containers alternatives
- Brisk – Cross-Platform C++ GUI Framework: Declarative, Reactive, Fast alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →