cmake-init
The missing CMake project initializer (by friendlyanon)
meson
The Meson Build System (by mesonbuild)
| cmake-init | meson | |
|---|---|---|
| 166 | 118 | |
| 2,527 | 6,529 | |
| 0.5% | 0.7% | |
| 4.6 | 9.9 | |
| about 2 months ago | about 12 hours ago | |
| CMake | Python | |
| GNU General Public License v3.0 only | Apache License 2.0 |
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
cmake-init
Posts with mentions or reviews of cmake-init.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2026-02-10.
-
Initializing C and C++ projects with cmake-init
Meet cmake-init — an awesome open-source project that can completely tale care of creating your C/C++ projects with a professional structure, ready-made CMake setup, testing, and more.
- CMake-init – The missing CMake project initializer
-
CMake install schema for single- and multi-config generators
https://github.com/friendlyanon/cmake-init This is how you do CMake properly. If you deviate from its install rules you are highly likely to do something wrong.
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cgen: another declarative CMake configuration generator
CMake itself is as declarative as a build systems need to be. For anything nontrivial, these "declarative" solutions all fall apart. Just use https://github.com/friendlyanon/cmake-init, learn CMake and you won't have any issues.
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How does one actually build a C++ project
If you want something with a (mostly) Just Works experience then just use https://github.com/friendlyanon/cmake-init
- CMakeList.txt, add_executable vs. add_library vs. target_link_libraries vs. target_link_directories
- Check out my tasks.json for C++ of VScode
- Clang++ Halp
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Putting libraries in program folder
For CMake basics check out the official "Getting started" tutorial: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/guide/tutorial/index.html, as well as Introduction to Modern CMake. You can also get inspired by the CMake project generator cmake-init
- Recourses to help understand libraries/projects and setting them up?
meson
Posts with mentions or reviews of meson.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2026-04-15.
-
NH:STA S01E04 systemd
Just like most open source projects, systemd is never “finished” and there is always more that can be done to improve things. Though the project already maintains a high quality bar and is very robust, the maintainers wanted some help adding extra test coverage and finding edge cases, particularly in the resolved component. The project uses the Meson build system, which can be configured to output code coverage reports using LCOV. This made it easy for us to identify source code modules and functions that lacked any test coverage, so we could focus our effort on those code paths where adding tests would have the biggest impact.
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I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++
actually looks very similar to Meson [https://mesonbuild.com/], which is getting a lot of traction in FOSS [https://mesonbuild.com/Users.html]
- C++26 is done ISO C++ standards meeting, Trip Report
- Converting HEIC image extension in Node.js with the sharp library
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C++20 Modules: Practical Insights, Status and TODOs
https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/5024
Reading the last few blog posts from a developer of Meson:
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Learn Makefiles
Than checked Autotools and shared the head. At the very same time Meson[1] appeared and the thing with Builds is solved :)
[1] https://mesonbuild.com
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cargo-c common questions
With cargo-c I try to use the best practices to support as many platform as possible, trying to stay in sync with what meson does. Sadly what is conceptually trivial, installing a package, has lots of details that are platform-specific.
- Ask HN: How to handle user file uploads?
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Which Build Tool for a Bootstrappable Project?
[1]: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/8153
- Building Waybar fails
What are some alternatives?
When comparing cmake-init and meson you can also consider the following projects:
llvm-mingw - An LLVM/Clang/LLD based mingw-w64 toolchain
ninja - a small build system with a focus on speed
cmake-init-shared-static - Example static/shared library output of cmake-init
PyBuilder - Software build automation tool for Python.
xmake - 🔥 A cross-platform build utility based on Lua
BitBake - The official bitbake Git is at https://git.openembedded.org/bitbake/. Do not open issues or file pull requests here.