> My users run WSL Ok, what if they weren't? We don't all get to make such calls for our users. Especially if we're writing libraries, which should be usable i

> My users run WSL Ok, what if they weren't? We don't all get to make such calls for our users. Especially if we're writing libraries, which should be usable in Windows software development as well. This is a significant consideration for me in preferring CMake over autotools. > are you asking for interdependencies? It works in principle I would say, for an elaborate foolproof setup I would anyway use bazel or buck in such a situation. Ok, so - while I'm certain that in many cases, autotools is fine, your answers clarify how CMake is a better "swiss army knife". It caters to multiple modes of composition and inter-dependency: build-install-then-find_packages; download dependencies and build during dependent project configuration step; download dependencies and build during dependent project build step; manage dependencies via packager manager (e.g. conan and probably vcpkg); etc. Now, some of these require a bit of care to get right; but they're all tried-and-true. And again, this will work on both Unix-like and Windows-like platforms.