Designing a Modern Build System and Dependency Manager - How Hard Can It Be?

Explore the challenges and intricacies of designing a modern build system and dependency manager in this conference talk. Delve into the complexities of creating a package manager for C and C++ projects, focusing on the Meson build system. Discover the various reasons that make designing such systems difficult, including support for multiple compilers and seamless integration across diverse platforms. Learn about key design principles, dependency management techniques, and practical examples of build definitions. Gain insights into topics such as system dependencies, vendoring, third-party package managers, and language-specific source collators. Understand the importance of cohesion, simplicity, and adherence to the "law of programmers" in build system design. Witness live demos of building complex projects on multiple platforms while conforming to specific system requirements.