[mto]

+1 for cmake. It works so well, in my latest C++ project the cmake file is more or less just a listing of source files and it does it job on windows, Mac and a few different Linux distros without any platform specific stuff. So well that I replaced the huge makefiles of the libraries I use with really small cmake files that just work and don't require modifications every 3 months because this specific distro causes problems or whatever.

It feels much more like in those IDEs where you just drag all the source files in and you're done.

I even prefer editing visual Studio project files by hand to many makefiles out there..