Software Build Systems

"This book represents a thorough and extensive treatment of the software build process including the choices, benefits, and challenges of a well designed build process. I recommend it not only to all software build engineers but to all software developers since a well designed build process is key to an effective software development process.”

—Kevin Bodie, Director Software Development, Pitney Bowes Inc.



"An excellent and detailed explanation of build systems, an important but often overlooked part of software development projects. The discussion of productivity as related to build systems is, alone, well worth the time spent reading this book.”

—John M. Pantone, Objectech Corporation, VP, IT Educator and Course Developer



"Peter Smith provides an interesting and accessible look into the world of software build systems, distilling years of experience and covering virtually every type of tool in the build engineer's toolbox. Well organized, well written, and very thorough; I would recommend this book to anyone with a build system under their responsibility.”

—Jeff Overbey, Project Co-Lead, Photran



"Software Build Systems teaches how to think about building software. It surveys the tools and techniques for building software products and the ways things go wrong. This book will appeal to those new to build systems as well as experienced build system engineers.”

—Monte Davidoff, Software Development Consultant, Alluvial Software, Inc.





Inadequate build systems can dramatically impact developer productivity. Bad dependencies, false compile errors, failed software images, slow compilation, and time-wasting manual processes are just some of the byproducts of a subpar build system. In Software Build Systems, software productivity expert Peter Smith shows you how to implement build systems that