The &variant_dir; keyword argument of the &SConscript; function provides everything we need to show how easy it is to create variant builds using &SCons;. Suppose, for example, that we want to build a program for both Windows and Linux platforms, but that we want to build it in a shared directory with separate side-by-side build directories for the Windows and Linux versions of the program. platform = ARGUMENTS.get('OS', Platform()) include = "#export/$PLATFORM/include" lib = "#export/$PLATFORM/lib" bin = "#export/$PLATFORM/bin" env = Environment(PLATFORM = platform, BINDIR = bin, INCDIR = include, LIBDIR = lib, CPPPATH = [include], LIBPATH = [lib], LIBS = 'world') Export('env') env.SConscript('src/SConscript', variant_dir='build/$PLATFORM') This SConstruct file, when run on a Linux system, yields: % scons -Q OS=linux Install file: "build/linux/world/world.h" as "export/linux/include/world.h" cc -o build/linux/hello/hello.o -c -Iexport/linux/include build/linux/hello/hello.c cc -o build/linux/world/world.o -c -Iexport/linux/include build/linux/world/world.c ar rc build/linux/world/libworld.a build/linux/world/world.o ranlib build/linux/world/libworld.a Install file: "build/linux/world/libworld.a" as "export/linux/lib/libworld.a" cc -o build/linux/hello/hello build/linux/hello/hello.o -Lexport/linux/lib -lworld Install file: "build/linux/hello/hello" as "export/linux/bin/hello" The same SConstruct file on Windows would build: C:\>scons -Q OS=windows Install file: "build/windows/world/world.h" as "export/windows/include/world.h" cl /Fobuild\windows\hello\hello.obj /c build\windows\hello\hello.c /nologo /Iexport\windows\include cl /Fobuild\windows\world\world.obj /c build\windows\world\world.c /nologo /Iexport\windows\include lib /nologo /OUT:build\windows\world\world.lib build\windows\world\world.obj Install file: "build/windows/world/world.lib" as "export/windows/lib/world.lib" link /nologo /OUT:build\windows\hello\hello.exe /LIBPATH:export\windows\lib world.lib build\windows\hello\hello.obj Install file: "build/windows/hello/hello.exe" as "export/windows/bin/hello.exe"