I like to use Makefiles. I like to use Makefiles in Java. I like to use Makefiles in Erlang. I like to use Makefiles in Elixir. And most recently, I like to use Makefiles in Ruby. I think you, too, would like to use Makefiles in your environment, and the engineering community would benefit if more of us used Makefiles, in general.

Build software of any size, quickly and reliably, just as engineers do at Google.

Bazel is Google's own build tool, now publicly available in Beta. Bazel has built-in support for building both client and server software, including client applications for both Android and iOS platforms. It also provides an extensible framework that you can use to develop your own build rules.