The problems of make are in the scope of what it actually tries to do versus what we really want it to do. I explained a few weeks ago in another thread as to w

The problems of make are in the scope of what it actually tries to do versus what we really want it to do. I explained a few weeks ago in another thread as to why all other replacements don't actually provide the solution.[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7221515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7221515]. Almost every problem with makefiles is nothing to do with the tool itself - it's something to do with the environment, and the tool not being sufficiently intelligent enough (read: psychic) to figure stuff out. Most of the hacks built on top of make (eg, pkg-config) are attempts to fix some of these problems, but IMO, they're going about it from completely the wrong direction. The Nix/Guix approach - declare your entire environment up front - will greatly simplify the requirements of any build system - there no longer any magic involved. You won't necessarily make the same mistakes, or even need to consider half of the problems Make has had to deal with over the years. Make is still relevant and useful in combination with Guix/Nix, but it shouldn't need the hacks built on top of it, like pkg-config.