Seeking help on compiling big projects

Question

Recently I've had to work with big, existing projects to get them to compile. So far, it's been a pain in the butt to download all of the necessary libraries and configure the environment correctly.

If I had a checklist that I could hand to project leads, listing: "here's what I need to run your project," that'd save me time and effort.

Does anyone have any checklists, advice or readings on how to simplify compilation of big projects?

thanks

Answer 1

Use build scripts. Compiling a large project shouldn't be any more difficult than compiling a small project. A single command should be all that is required.

without knowing what language you're targeting, I can't be more specific.

Answer 2

almost all nix source distributions come with a README file which should list the dependencies.