Install bmake with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• bmake

Project history

NetBSD make descends from the BSD make family rather than GNU make. bmake packages that implementation for other Unix-like systems, preserving the conditionals, variable modifiers, include behavior, and .mk conventions expected by BSD makefiles.

The bmake documentation describes a portable build that tracks NetBSD make while being installable as a separate command. The separate name matters because many systems already reserve make for GNU make, vendor make, or another platform make.

The tool is maintained by Simon J. Gerraty, who has long maintained the portable bmake distribution and related mk files used to bring NetBSD-style builds to non-NetBSD hosts.

Adoption history

bmake's biggest adoption channel is pkgsrc. The official pkgsrc guide tells users on systems other than NetBSD to use bmake after bootstrapping, and NetBSD's package documentation says bmake is required for correct pkgsrc operation on non-NetBSD systems.

Because pkgsrc targets many Unix-like systems, bmake became a quiet portability layer for package builds on Linux, macOS, Solaris/illumos, the BSDs, and other platforms where /usr/bin/make is not NetBSD make.

It is also packaged directly by Homebrew, MacPorts, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE, and Nix, which makes it easy to test BSD makefiles without installing a full pkgsrc tree.

How it is used

Typical direct use is simply bmake in a source tree whose Makefile expects BSD make semantics. In pkgsrc workflows, users run bmake install, bmake clean, and related package targets after bootstrap.

bmake reads local makefile/Makefile inputs and system .mk includes such as sys.mk, so it is both a build command and an interpreter for a particular makefile language.

Why package nerds care

bmake is package-nerd-significant because it explains why portable packaging systems do not all standardize on GNU make. pkgsrc needs one make dialect everywhere, so it carries the make implementation with the packaging framework.

It is also a reminder that make is not one language. Subtle differences in conditionals, suffix rules, includes, variable expansion, and predefined .mk files can decide whether a cross-platform package build is reproducible or mysterious.

For Homebrew users, bmake is mostly a compatibility and archaeology tool: it lets macOS users build or inspect software written for NetBSD/pkgsrc conventions without repointing the system make.

Timeline

• 1990s: NetBSD continues the BSD make lineage as part of the base system.
• 1998: pkgsrc ships with NetBSD 1.3 and later becomes a major driver for portable NetBSD make usage.
• 2000s: bmake is distributed as a portable form of NetBSD make for non-NetBSD pkgsrc and standalone builds.
• 2010s-2020s: pkgsrc documentation continues to direct non-NetBSD users to the bootstrapped bmake command.

Related projects

• NetBSD make: the upstream make implementation bmake packages for portable use.
• pkgsrc: the NetBSD packages collection and bmake's most important adoption path.
• BSD make and FreeBSD make: related BSD make dialects with overlapping history but different platform defaults.
• GNU make: the dominant make implementation on many Linux systems and the tool bmake commonly coexists with.

Sources

• https://www.crufty.net/help/sjg/bmake.html
• https://www.crufty.net/help/sjg/bmake_1.htm
• https://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/platforms.html
• https://www.netbsd.org/docs/software/packages.html
• https://www.pkgsrc.org/
• source_facts.package-manager