Can Language Models Go Beyond Coding? Assessing the Capability of Language Models to Build Real-World Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces Build-bench, a benchmark for evaluating large language models' ability to repair cross-ISA software build failures, revealing current models achieve up to 63.19% success.

Contribution

It presents the first architecture-aware benchmark for LLM-based software build and repair, integrating real-world failure data and auxiliary tools for autonomous repair evaluation.

Findings

Maximum build success rate of 63.19% among studied models.

Significant differences in tool usage patterns across models.

Build-bench enables systematic evaluation of LLMs in real-world build repair tasks.

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) have shown growing potential in software engineering, yet few benchmarks evaluate their ability to repair software during migration across instruction set architectures (ISAs). Cross-ISA migration, such as between x86_64 and aarch64, requires handling complex dependencies, heterogeneous toolchains, and long build logs while ensuring executable verification. To address this challenge, we present Build-bench, an end-to-end benchmark that systematically evaluates the capability of LLMs to repair build failures in cross-ISA settings. Build-bench collects 268 real-world failed packages and integrates auxiliary tools including Structure Extraction, File Content Extraction, Content Modification, and Build Verification to support autonomous, tool-augmented reasoning. The repair process operates in an iterative loop where, upon failure, the model receives updated build logs and previous repair outcomes to refine subsequent attempts. Through a comparative evaluation across the studied models, Build-bench reveals that current models achieve a maximum build success rate of 63.19% and tool usage patterns differ significantly across models. By coupling real build environments with verifiable outcomes, Build-bench establishes the first architecture-aware benchmark for studying LLM-based software build and repair.