It seems like the most popular option for portable C and C+++ builds. It seems to have solved the nasty Windows build problem the best, as far as I can tell.

It seems like the most popular option for portable C and C+++ builds. It seems to have solved the nasty Windows build problem the best, as far as I can tell. Autoconf is another option, but it doesn't support windows. I think people perceive CMake is old and gross, but autoconf is older and grosser as far as I can tell. For example, LLVM now uses CMake. It used to use autoconf. I don't know of any new developments, but I think people do want to get off of autoconf.