Software Build Systems: Principles and Experience (Hardcover)

“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 overcome all these problems, so you can deliver reliable software more rapidly, at lower cost.

Smith explains the core principles underlying highly efficient build systems, surveying both system features and usage scenarios. Next, he encapsulates years of experience in creating and maintaining diverse build systems–helping you make well-informed choices about tools and practices, and avoid common traps and pitfalls. Throughout, he shares a wide range of practical examples and lessons from multiple environments, including Java, C++, C, and C#. Coverage includes

• Mastering build system concepts, including source trees, build tools, and compilation tools

• Comparing five leading build tools: GNU Make, Ant, SCons, CMake, and the Eclipse IDE’s integrated build features

• Ensuring accurate dependency checking and efficient incremental compilation

• Using metadata to assist debugging, profiling, and source code documentation

• Packaging software for installation on your target machine

• Best practices for managing complex version-control systems, build machines, and compilation tools

If you’re a developer, this book will illuminate the issues involved in building and maintaining the build system that’s best for your team. If you’re a manager, you’ll discover how to evaluate your team’s build system and improve its effectiveness. And if you’re a build “guru,” you’ll learn how to optimize the performance and scalability of your build system, no matter how demanding your requirements are.

「這本書全面且詳盡地介紹了軟體建置過程，包括良好設計的建置過程的選擇、好處和挑戰。我不僅推薦給所有軟體建置工程師，也推薦給所有軟體開發人員，因為良好設計的建置過程是有效軟體開發過程的關鍵。」
— Kevin Bodie，Pitney Bowes Inc.軟體開發總監

「這本書詳細解釋了建置系統，這是軟體開發專案中重要但常常被忽視的一部分。關於建置系統與生產力的討論，單單這一點就值得花時間閱讀這本書。」
— John M. Pantone，Objectech Corporation副總裁、IT教育家和課程開發者

「Peter Smith提供了一個有趣且易於理解的軟體建置系統世界，融合多年的經驗，涵蓋了建置工程師工具箱中幾乎所有類型的工具。組織良好、寫作精煉、非常詳盡；我會推薦這本書給任何負責建置系統的人。」
— Jeff Overbey，Photran項目共同負責人

「《軟體建置系統》教導如何思考軟體建置。它概述了建置軟體產品的工具和技術，以及可能出現的問題。這本書將吸引那些對建置系統新手以及有經驗的建置系統工程師。」
— Monte Davidoff，Alluvial Software, Inc.軟體開發顧問

不完善的建置系統可能會大大影響開發人員的生產力。錯誤的相依性、編譯錯誤、軟體映像失敗、編譯速度慢和浪費時間的手動流程只是低劣建置系統的副產物之一。在《軟體建置系統》中，軟體生產力專家Peter Smith向您展示如何實施能克服所有這些問題的建置系統，以便以更低的成本更快地交付可靠的軟體。

Smith解釋了高效建置系統的核心原則，概述了系統功能和使用場景。接下來，他將多年的經驗融入到創建和維護多種建置系統中，幫助您在工具和實踐方面做出明智的選擇，避免常見的陷阱和問題。在整個過程中，他分享了多種環境（包括Java、C++、C和C#）的實際例子和經驗教訓。內容包括：

• 掌握建置系統概念，包括源代碼樹、建置工具和編譯工具
• 比較五種領先的建置工具：GNU Make、Ant、SCons、CMake和Eclipse IDE的集成建置功能
• 確保準確的相依性檢查和高效的增量編譯
• 使用元數據協助調試、分析和源代碼文檔
• 將軟體打包安裝到目標機器上
• 管理複雜的版本控制系統、建置機器和編譯工具的最佳實踐

如果您是開發人員，這本書將闡明建置和維護最適合您團隊的建置系統所涉及的問題。如果您是管理者，您將了解如何評估團隊的建置系統並提高其效能。如果您是建置「大師」，您將學習如何優化性能和可擴展性。