If you define your dependencies correctly, make can do parallel builds (using the -j option). Of course you will have to use Makefiles in that case, which a lot of people don't like.
Maybe part of that is the pain of dealing with configure / autoconf / autotools?
Ive seen a lot of C/C++ programmers write their own build utilities/scripts and lose proper deps in the process.
I found cmake a reasonable alternative.. scons apparently is too, although I hesitate because it seems to encourage writing your own python build plugins, which can be too tempting for people who like to tinker.
agreed, make -j works a treat, and presumably will gain more as cores multiply.
Its kind of nice to work in a scripting environment and avoid some of these problems [via sensible defaults]
