The biggest problem is that, despite the many different solutions, no build system has come out as a clear winner for C/C++. So every library out there uses a different build system, and to use them all in your app, you must degenerate to makefiles in order to be able to call all the different build tools you need for each library.<p>Every now and then, a new god build system comes out (one builder to rule them all), which only exacerbates the problem.<p>Until the C++ language leaders bless a particular builder, this will continue.