[gnufx]

To me autotools have the great advantage that I can make projects using them work relatively easily if they need adjusting in one of the many things I build, and I can write the support for a new project easily. They're pragmatic, and I don't think deserve "atrocity" by any means. In contrast, cmake often causes me to throw up my hands. It's not my experience that cmake projects just work even on GNU/Linux when needing, say, to build shared libraries or install in a different sort of tree. I've used autotools quite painlessly over many years on assorted platforms including in GCC "Canadian cross" (cross-building a cross-compiler -- between GNU/Linux, SunOS, and MS-DOS originally). I did find a new level of horror in bazel when faced with building tensorflow for a different target, despite explicit instructions for a different release.

[Shorel]

You should write an article detailing your experience with both systems.

It should make for an interesting read.