Replacing Make for the DMD build

[Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d]

On 6/17/2017 1:25 PM, Joakim wrote:
> A lot of this is simply saying Make is popular so we should just stick with it: 
> I hate that mindset.  It is the same mindset D has to combat with C or C++, and 
> that was exhibited when you spoke against the SDL format for dub.

It's not quite the same. I spend 99.99% of my time programming working with 
code, not makefiles. Productivity gains from using a better language have a 
major effect. A better make simply does not.


> D should pick its battles,

That's a good summary of the situation.


> All that said, I'll reiterate what I said earlier to Russel, and what I'd say to 
> Atila too: don't aim to replace Make, just aim to provide an alternative in the 
> dmd/phobos repos.  If we find that everybody is using that instead of Make, 
> we'll just switch over to it naturally someday.

Maintaining two parallel build systems is having the downsides of both and the 
benefits of neither. Then there's the endless vim-vs-emacs debate about which 
alternative build system is better. It's not a battle we need to or can afford 
to invest in.

Let's please stay focused on things that will move the needle.