I find autotools thousand times easier than CMake. Autotools just work. I can always ask it to get the hell out of my way!
Doing complex dependencies in CMake is a pain where as with Autmake, I can just go back to Make in the same file.
Doing complex dependencies in CMake is a pain where as with Autmake, I can just go back to Make in the same file.
That's the issue, really ... each of these build systems (including the autotools) seems to have a sweet spot where it works pretty well, but can be a misery outside it.
None of them (that I've encountered) are even close to being universally good. Pick your poison wisely...