The compiler is located in the module compile (see the manual page in Compiler).

There is also a module make, which provides a set of functions similar to the UNIX type Make functions, see the make(3) manual page in Tools.

The erlc program provides an even better way to compile modules from the shell, see the manual page in ERTS. It understands a number of flags that can be used to define macros, add search paths for include files, and more.