Is it possible to convert CMakeLists.txt to Unix Makefile?

Question

I'm trying to get rid of cmake in my project for some reasons. I need to create unix makefiles to build my project. If i use cmake to generate them for me, that makefiles would depend of cmake anyway. The only build tools that I can use is one from GNU toolchain.

Answer 1

cmake was invented to be a portable way to create makefiles. If you want to have a look at an alternative, take a look at bjam from boost. This tool works with a lot of toolchains (called toolset in the bjam terminology) and is quite simple to use as cmake is.

If you really want to get rid of cmake or bjam, then write your own makefiles taking the ones generated by cmake as a base for example... But this will limit the scope of systems and toolchains on which your code will compile. To be honest I would see rather that as a pain and encourage you to use bjam if you need better support for other toolsets.