I recently built the Boost libraries in Linux and noticed the package needed an executable called bjam in order to do the build. Is bjam related to jam? If it is related to jam, did they somehow extend (or even dumb-down) bjam? Is it used only for building Boost libraries or is it a general build tool for anything?
Boost.Jam originally was a slightly modified version of classic Jam. It gradually diverged very far. Boost.Jam is actually a low-level engine component of Boost.Build and is not meant to be used independently. Boost.Build is a general build tool, it's not tied to C++ Boost libraries in any way.