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I made rust's cargo copy but for CPP

CRow is a new build system for C/C++ written in Rust, aiming to bring the elegant simplicity and built-in dependency management of Rust's Cargo to the notoriously complex C/C++ ecosystem. This project tackles a long-standing pain point for developers, offering a modern approach to configuring and building projects. Its direct comparison to Cargo suggests a significant quality-of-life improvement for C/C++ programmers, making it an interesting technical endeavor for the HN crowd.

4
Score
1
Comments
#16
Highest Rank
5h
on Front Page
First Seen
May 13, 7:00 AM
Last Seen
May 13, 11:00 AM
Rank Over Time
1623282830

The Lowdown

CRow is introduced as a lightweight C/C++ build system, developed in Rust, designed to streamline the development process for C and C++ projects. Its primary goal is to provide a user experience akin to Rust's Cargo, which is widely praised for its ease of use and integrated dependency management.

  • Core Philosophy: CRow positions itself as "Cargo, but for C/C++," indicating a focus on simplicity and efficiency in project management.
  • Key Features: It offers simple configuration via a crow.toml file, promises fast build times, and includes a built-in dependency manager.
  • Getting Started: Users can install CRow either by downloading pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases or by building from source using cargo install. Project creation is straightforward with the crow new my_project command.
  • Community and Licensing: The project actively encourages community contributions, providing guidelines for contributors and adhering to an MIT License.

By leveraging Rust to build a C/C++ tool, CRow aims to modernize and simplify a fundamental aspect of C/C++ development, offering a refreshing alternative to existing, often more complex, build systems.