Difference between revisions of "CMake"

Latest revision as of 23:20, 5 October 2024

CMake is a build system which replaces automake/autoconf (the "autotools") and the shell scripts which were produced by the autotools. Similar to the autotools, the actual build on Linux is done through Makefiles. CMake supports Linux, Windows/mingw, Windows/MSVC and other platforms.

• FAQ
• Download CMake
• Documentation - The same page which you also get by "man cmake".
• http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdelibs/cmake/modules/ [Moved, probably related: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindKDE4.html] - Potentially helpful additional macros
• A blog post about handling dependencies and targets for custom build commands.
• LLVM's CMake Primer, a more programmer-oriented tutorial than the one in the CMake documentation.
• Professional CMake: A Practical Guide, ~ US $30

Building

Please see Building On Linux#Build using CMake and Ninja.

GnuCash Documentation Configuration Variables

They are in Initializing_Documentation_Build_Environment#CMake.

GnuCash Program Configuration Variables

GnuCash's CMakeLists.txt defines the following configuration options and defaults:

To change from a default define the option on the cmake command line, e.g. -DWITH_PYTHON=ON. Other CMake variables you may need to define:

CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE

Debug, Release, or … CMake Manual

CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX

The target installation directory, defaults to /usr/local.

CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH

A ';' separated list of paths where dependencies are installed. No default.

GNC_DBD_DIR

The location of the dbi-driver libraries, required for the SQL backends.

See also

Dependency Graphs

FAQ

How can you change between a Debug and Release build

Use the options -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug or -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release when calling CMake, or change the Variable CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE directly in the CMakeCache.txt file.

How can I see the actual compiler commands: Verbose mode?

By default, cmake builds the makefiles with verbose mode disabled. You can enable this verbose mode when calling make by the argument VERBOSE=1, like so:

make VERBOSE=1

Alternatively, you can switch on the verbose mode for the cmake configuration by setting the variable CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=on, like so:

cmake -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=on .

Which variables are set in CMake when running CMakeLists.txt?

That's a long list. See CMake Wiki: CMake_Useful_Variables

Which C preprocessor macros tell me whether I'm on Windows or Linux?

See CMake Wiki: Platform-Dependent-Issues#the-platforms--compilers-table:

#ifdef __linux // For linux-only code
// ...
#ifdef _WIN32 // For Windows-MSVC and Windows-Cygwin, but *not* Windows-mingw
// ...
#ifdef __MINGW32__ // For Windows-mingw
// ...
#ifdef _MSC_VER // For only Windows-MSVC
// ...

Note: These macros do not result from CMake; instead, they exist in the respective build system already. Hence, those macros can be used regardless whether cmake is used or not.

How can I check in the CMakeLists.txt code whether I'm on Windows or Linux?

See CMake Wiki: System & Compiler Information

IF (UNIX)  # All unix-like OS's, including Apple OS X (and Cygwin)
# ...
IF (WIN32) # All windows versions (including Cygwin)
# ...
IF (MINGW) # Mingw compiler on windows
# ...
IF (MSVC)  # Microsoft compiler on windows
# ...

In other words:

• For Unix-only stuff you would write IF (UNIX)
• For Windows issues which concern either Mingw or MSVC, you would use IF (MINGW) or IF (MSVC), respectively.
• For Windows issues which hold for both compilers, you would useIF (WIN32).