🔨 jmake++ — Simple C++ Build Tool

jmake++ is a lightweight, zero-dependency build system for C++ projects, written in C++. It replaces complex systems like Make and CMake for small to mid-size projects with a single JSON configuration file and intuitive CLI.

Version: 1.8.6 Platforms: Windows ✅ & Linux ✅
Dependencies: g++, nlohmann/json, and optionally filio.h (bundled or install separately)

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⚡ Features

• 📦 Easy project config via project.json
• 🔁 Wildcard-based include path expansion (./include/*)
• 🔧 Build targets: Executables (elf) and shared libraries (shared)
• 📁 Header installer: install .h/.hpp files into your project
• 🧼 clean command to delete build artifacts
• 🆙 Automatic version tracking on successful builds
• ✅ Cross-platform: single .exe for Windows; CLI-native on Linux
• 🚀 Installer scripts (installer.sh / installer.ps1) for PATH setup

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patch notes:

• fix a bug where the built project would output a relative path if a relative path was given, now it uses filio::extra::absolute_path

🚀 Getting Started

📥 Installation

On Linux: double click the .deb file

On windows double click the .MSI file

THE INSTALLER SCRIPTS FROM NOW ON WILL BE OUTDATED PLEASE NOTE THIS BUT THEY SHOULD STILL WORK JUST WILL NO LONGER RECIVE UPDATES

or if you have an older version of jmake++:

git clone https://github.com/replit-user/jmakepp ./jmakepp
cd jmakepp
jmakepp build
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however this will only work if the version of jmake++ you have supports the flags key in project.json most newer versions should

🔧 Commands

jmakepp new <path>      # Create a new project in the given directory
jmakepp build <version> # Build the project and update version in project.json
jmakepp install <path>  # Install .h/.hpp files to ./include
jmakepp clean           # Remove the ./build directory
jmakepp version         # Show jmake++ version
jmakepp help            # Show available commands
jmakepp update          # update the script but for some reason doesn't work

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🛠 Example Workflow

jmakepp new myproject
cd myproject
jmakepp build 1.1.0
./build/example-1.1.0

You’ll see:

🚧 Running: g++ -o ./build/example-1.0 ./src/main.cpp -I./include
✅ Build successful -> ./build/example-1.0
🔄 Updated version to: 1.1.0

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📄 project.json Format

{
  "name": "example",
  "version": "1.0",
  "buildpath": "./build/",
  "includepaths": ["./include/*"],
  "srcpath": "./src/main.cpp",
  "type": "elf",
  "flags":"",
  "platforms":[
    "windows",
    "linux"
  ]
}

Fields

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Name of the output binary
version	string	Semantic version string
buildpath	string	Output path for compiled binary
includepaths	array[string]	List of include directories (supports *)
srcpath	string	Source file(s) (currently only one path)
type	"elf" or "shared"	Build target: executable or shared lib
flags	string or list of strings	additional flags to add to g++
platforms	list of strings, either windows or linux	the platofrms to compile with

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📁 Directory Layout (after jmakepp new)

myproject/
├── project.json
├── include/
├── src/
│   └── main.cpp
└── build/           # Generated after build

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🧰 Installing Headers

Install individual headers or full directories:

jmakepp install path/to/header.hpp
jmakepp install include/

Copies valid .h or .hpp files to your project's ./include/.

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🧼 Clean Build Artifacts

jmakepp clean

Removes the build directory completely.

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🧱 Built With

• nlohmann/json for JSON parsing

• filio for cleaner I/O abstraction (optional)

• C++17 and <filesystem> for cross-platform FS operations

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📦 Example Build Output

g++ -o ./build/example-1.0 ./src/main.cpp -I./include

For shared libraries:

g++ -o ./build/libexample-1.0.so ./src/main.cpp -shared -fPIC -I./include

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📌 Roadmap

empty for now

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🧑‍💻 Author

Made by replit-user

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📄 License

Responsible Sharing License do most things freely and give credit if republishing

patch notes

• 1.8.6
  • added support for macos
  • added support for C compilation via clang for macos and gcc for windows/linux