GNU Make is still being developed. What features are you talking about? IMHO GNU Make is pretty complete, and it shouldn't change drastically.
Also note that ninja exists as an alternative.
Tracking files based on content hash in addition to timestamps would be a very nice feature Make could add in a compatible way. The current timestamp-only tracking is problematic in many environments, especially with Docker.
DVC and Dud do this, but they're more meant for data analysis projects than building software.