I'm referring to package management. Modern build systems all have some way of doing package management directly or interfacing with package managers instead of just shelling out to them, which you would have to do with make.
It normally works in conjunction with GCC’s “-MMD -MP” arguments which provide .d files which then get included back into the Makefile with something like “-include $(OBJS:%.o=%.d)”.
It doesn’t directly interpret any source file though, if that’s what you mean.
Do you really expect an answer from a self-defined "ignorant"? Or is this a rhetoric question and you are hiding an answer inside it? If so I don't get it. Wouldn't it better to explain it in plain words?
Ignorant's question: isn't dependency resolution the core of make? What are you referring to here?