bionic (7) cmake-commands.7.gz
NAME
cmake-commands - CMake Language Command Reference
SCRIPTING COMMANDS
These commands are always available.
break
Break from an enclosing foreach or while loop.
break()
Breaks from an enclosing foreach loop or while loop
See also the continue() command.
cmake_host_system_information
Query host system specific information.
cmake_host_system_information(RESULT <variable> QUERY <key> ...)
Queries system information of the host system on which cmake runs. One or more <key> can be provided to
select the information to be queried. The list of queried values is stored in <variable>.
<key> can be one of the following values:
┌──────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
│Key │ Description │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│NUMBER_OF_LOGICAL_CORES │ Number of logical cores │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│NUMBER_OF_PHYSICAL_CORES │ Number of physical cores │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HOSTNAME │ Hostname │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│FQDN │ Fully qualified domain name │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│TOTAL_VIRTUAL_MEMORY │ Total virtual memory in megabytes │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│AVAILABLE_VIRTUAL_MEMORY │ Available virtual memory in megabytes │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│TOTAL_PHYSICAL_MEMORY │ Total physical memory in megabytes │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│AVAILABLE_PHYSICAL_MEMORY │ Available physical memory in │
│ │ megabytes │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│IS_64BIT │ One if processor is 64Bit │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_FPU │ One if processor has floating point │
│ │ unit │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_MMX │ One if processor supports MMX │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_MMX_PLUS │ One if porcessor supports Ext. MMX │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_SSE │ One if porcessor supports SSE │
│ │ instructions │
└──────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
│HAS_SSE2 │ One if porcessor supports SSE2 │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_SSE_FP │ One if porcessor supports SSE FP │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_SSE_MMX │ One if porcessor supports SSE MMX │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_AMD_3DNOW │ One if porcessor supports 3DNow │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_AMD_3DNOW_PLUS │ One if porcessor supports 3DNow+ │
│ │ instructions │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_IA64 │ One if IA64 processor emulating x86 │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│HAS_SERIAL_NUMBER │ One if processor has serial number │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│PROCESSOR_SERIAL_NUMBER │ Processor serial number │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│PROCESSOR_NAME │ Human readable processor name │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│PROCESSOR_DESCRIPTION │ Human readable full processor │
│ │ description │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│OS_NAME │ See CMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_NAME │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│OS_RELEASE │ The OS sub-type e.g. on Windows │
│ │ Professional │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│OS_VERSION │ The OS build ID │
├──────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│OS_PLATFORM │ See CMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR │
└──────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
cmake_minimum_required
Set the minimum required version of cmake for a project and update Policy Settings to match the version
given:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION major.minor[.patch[.tweak]]
[FATAL_ERROR])
If the current version of CMake is lower than that required it will stop processing the project and
report an error.
The FATAL_ERROR option is accepted but ignored by CMake 2.6 and higher. It should be specified so CMake
versions 2.4 and lower fail with an error instead of just a warning.
NOTE:
Call the cmake_minimum_required() command at the beginning of the top-level CMakeLists.txt file even
before calling the project() command. It is important to establish version and policy settings before
invoking other commands whose behavior they may affect. See also policy CMP0000.
Calling cmake_minimum_required() inside a function() limits some effects to the function scope when
invoked. Such calls should not be made with the intention of having global effects.
Policy Settings
The cmake_minimum_required(VERSION) command implicitly invokes the cmake_policy(VERSION) command to
specify that the current project code is written for the given version of CMake. All policies introduced
in the specified version or earlier will be set to use NEW behavior. All policies introduced after the
specified version will be unset. This effectively requests behavior preferred as of a given CMake
version and tells newer CMake versions to warn about their new policies.
When a version higher than 2.4 is specified the command implicitly invokes:
cmake_policy(VERSION major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]])
which sets the cmake policy version level to the version specified. When version 2.4 or lower is given
the command implicitly invokes:
cmake_policy(VERSION 2.4)
which enables compatibility features for CMake 2.4 and lower.
cmake_parse_arguments
cmake_parse_arguments is intended to be used in macros or functions for parsing the arguments given to
that macro or function. It processes the arguments and defines a set of variables which hold the values
of the respective options.
cmake_parse_arguments(<prefix> <options> <one_value_keywords>
<multi_value_keywords> args...)
cmake_parse_arguments(PARSE_ARGV N <prefix> <options> <one_value_keywords>
<multi_value_keywords>)
The first signature reads processes arguments passed in the args.... This may be used in either a
macro() or a function().
The PARSE_ARGV signature is only for use in a function() body. In this case the arguments that are
parsed come from the ARGV# variables of the calling function. The parsing starts with the Nth argument,
where N is an unsigned integer. This allows for the values to have special characters like ; in them.
The <options> argument contains all options for the respective macro, i.e. keywords which can be used
when calling the macro without any value following, like e.g. the OPTIONAL keyword of the install()
command.
The <one_value_keywords> argument contains all keywords for this macro which are followed by one value,
like e.g. DESTINATION keyword of the install() command.
The <multi_value_keywords> argument contains all keywords for this macro which can be followed by more
than one value, like e.g. the TARGETS or FILES keywords of the install() command.
NOTE:
All keywords shall be unique. I.e. every keyword shall only be specified once in either <options>,
<one_value_keywords> or <multi_value_keywords>. A warning will be emitted if uniqueness is violated.
When done, cmake_parse_arguments will consider for each of the keywords listed in <options>,
<one_value_keywords> and <multi_value_keywords> a variable composed of the given <prefix> followed by "_"
and the name of the respective keyword. These variables will then hold the respective value from the
argument list or be undefined if the associated option could not be found. For the <options> keywords,
these will always be defined, to TRUE or FALSE, whether the option is in the argument list or not.
All remaining arguments are collected in a variable <prefix>_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS that will be undefined if
all argument where recognized. This can be checked afterwards to see whether your macro was called with
unrecognized parameters.
As an example here a my_install() macro, which takes similar arguments as the real install() command:
function(MY_INSTALL)
set(options OPTIONAL FAST)
set(oneValueArgs DESTINATION RENAME)
set(multiValueArgs TARGETS CONFIGURATIONS)
cmake_parse_arguments(MY_INSTALL "${options}" "${oneValueArgs}"
"${multiValueArgs}" ${ARGN} )
# ...
Assume my_install() has been called like this:
my_install(TARGETS foo bar DESTINATION bin OPTIONAL blub)
After the cmake_parse_arguments call the macro will have set or undefined the following variables:
MY_INSTALL_OPTIONAL = TRUE
MY_INSTALL_FAST = FALSE # was not used in call to my_install
MY_INSTALL_DESTINATION = "bin"
MY_INSTALL_RENAME <UNDEFINED> # was not used
MY_INSTALL_TARGETS = "foo;bar"
MY_INSTALL_CONFIGURATIONS <UNDEFINED> # was not used
MY_INSTALL_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS = "blub" # nothing expected after "OPTIONAL"
You can then continue and process these variables.
Keywords terminate lists of values, e.g. if directly after a one_value_keyword another recognized
keyword follows, this is interpreted as the beginning of the new option. E.g. my_install(TARGETS foo
DESTINATION OPTIONAL) would result in MY_INSTALL_DESTINATION set to "OPTIONAL", but as OPTIONAL is a
keyword itself MY_INSTALL_DESTINATION will be empty and MY_INSTALL_OPTIONAL will therefore be set to
TRUE.
cmake_policy
Manage CMake Policy settings. See the cmake-policies(7) manual for defined policies.
As CMake evolves it is sometimes necessary to change existing behavior in order to fix bugs or improve
implementations of existing features. The CMake Policy mechanism is designed to help keep existing
projects building as new versions of CMake introduce changes in behavior. Each new policy (behavioral
change) is given an identifier of the form CMP<NNNN> where <NNNN> is an integer index. Documentation
associated with each policy describes the OLD and NEW behavior and the reason the policy was introduced.
Projects may set each policy to select the desired behavior. When CMake needs to know which behavior to
use it checks for a setting specified by the project. If no setting is available the OLD behavior is
assumed and a warning is produced requesting that the policy be set.
Setting Policies by CMake Version
The cmake_policy command is used to set policies to OLD or NEW behavior. While setting policies
individually is supported, we encourage projects to set policies based on CMake versions:
cmake_policy(VERSION major.minor[.patch[.tweak]])
Specify that the current CMake code is written for the given version of CMake. All policies introduced
in the specified version or earlier will be set to use NEW behavior. All policies introduced after the
specified version will be unset (unless the CMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP<NNNN> variable sets a default).
This effectively requests behavior preferred as of a given CMake version and tells newer CMake versions
to warn about their new policies. The policy version specified must be at least 2.4 or the command will
report an error.
Note that the cmake_minimum_required(VERSION) command implicitly calls cmake_policy(VERSION) too.
Setting Policies Explicitly
cmake_policy(SET CMP<NNNN> NEW)
cmake_policy(SET CMP<NNNN> OLD)
Tell CMake to use the OLD or NEW behavior for a given policy. Projects depending on the old behavior of
a given policy may silence a policy warning by setting the policy state to OLD. Alternatively one may
fix the project to work with the new behavior and set the policy state to NEW.
NOTE:
The OLD behavior of a policy is deprecated by definition and may be removed in a future version of
CMake.
Checking Policy Settings
cmake_policy(GET CMP<NNNN> <variable>)
Check whether a given policy is set to OLD or NEW behavior. The output <variable> value will be OLD or
NEW if the policy is set, and empty otherwise.
CMake Policy Stack
CMake keeps policy settings on a stack, so changes made by the cmake_policy command affect only the top
of the stack. A new entry on the policy stack is managed automatically for each subdirectory to protect
its parents and siblings. CMake also manages a new entry for scripts loaded by include() and
find_package() commands except when invoked with the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option (see also policy CMP0011).
The cmake_policy command provides an interface to manage custom entries on the policy stack:
cmake_policy(PUSH)
cmake_policy(POP)
Each PUSH must have a matching POP to erase any changes. This is useful to make temporary changes to
policy settings. Calls to the cmake_minimum_required(VERSION), cmake_policy(VERSION), or
cmake_policy(SET) commands influence only the current top of the policy stack.
Commands created by the function() and macro() commands record policy settings when they are created and
use the pre-record policies when they are invoked. If the function or macro implementation sets
policies, the changes automatically propagate up through callers until they reach the closest nested
policy stack entry.
configure_file
Copy a file to another location and modify its contents.
configure_file(<input> <output>
[COPYONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES] [@ONLY]
[NEWLINE_STYLE [UNIX|DOS|WIN32|LF|CRLF] ])
Copies an <input> file to an <output> file and substitutes variable values referenced as @VAR@ or ${VAR}
in the input file content. Each variable reference will be replaced with the current value of the
variable, or the empty string if the variable is not defined. Furthermore, input lines of the form:
#cmakedefine VAR ...
will be replaced with either:
#define VAR ...
or:
/* #undef VAR */
depending on whether VAR is set in CMake to any value not considered a false constant by the if()
command. The “…” content on the line after the variable name, if any, is processed as above. Input file
lines of the form #cmakedefine01 VAR will be replaced with either #define VAR 1 or #define VAR 0
similarly. The result lines (with the exception of the #undef comments) can be indented using spaces
and/or tabs between the # character and the cmakedefine or cmakedefine01 words. This whitespace
indentation will be preserved in the output lines:
# cmakedefine VAR
# cmakedefine01 VAR
will be replaced, if VAR is defined, with:
# define VAR
# define VAR 1
If the input file is modified the build system will re-run CMake to re-configure the file and generate
the build system again. The generated file is modified and its timestamp updated on subsequent cmake
runs only if its content is changed.
The arguments are:
<input>
Path to the input file. A relative path is treated with respect to the value of
CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR. The input path must be a file, not a directory.
<output>
Path to the output file or directory. A relative path is treated with respect to the value of
CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR. If the path names an existing directory the output file is placed in
that directory with the same file name as the input file.
COPYONLY
Copy the file without replacing any variable references or other content. This option may not be
used with NEWLINE_STYLE.
ESCAPE_QUOTES
Escape any substituted quotes with backslashes (C-style).
@ONLY Restrict variable replacement to references of the form @VAR@. This is useful for configuring
scripts that use ${VAR} syntax.
NEWLINE_STYLE <style>
Specify the newline style for the output file. Specify UNIX or LF for \n newlines, or specify
DOS, WIN32, or CRLF for \r\n newlines. This option may not be used with COPYONLY.
Example
Consider a source tree containing a foo.h.in file:
#cmakedefine FOO_ENABLE
#cmakedefine FOO_STRING "@FOO_STRING@"
An adjacent CMakeLists.txt may use configure_file to configure the header:
option(FOO_ENABLE "Enable Foo" ON)
if(FOO_ENABLE)
set(FOO_STRING "foo")
endif()
configure_file(foo.h.in foo.h @ONLY)
This creates a foo.h in the build directory corresponding to this source directory. If the FOO_ENABLE
option is on, the configured file will contain:
#define FOO_ENABLE
#define FOO_STRING "foo"
Otherwise it will contain:
/* #undef FOO_ENABLE */
/* #undef FOO_STRING */
One may then use the include_directories() command to specify the output directory as an include
directory:
include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
so that sources may include the header as #include <foo.h>.
continue
Continue to the top of enclosing foreach or while loop.
continue()
The continue command allows a cmake script to abort the rest of a block in a foreach() or while() loop,
and start at the top of the next iteration. See also the break() command.
elseif
Starts the elseif portion of an if block.
elseif(expression)
See the if() command.
else
Starts the else portion of an if block.
else(expression)
See the if() command.
endforeach
Ends a list of commands in a foreach block.
endforeach(expression)
See the foreach() command.
endfunction
Ends a list of commands in a function block.
endfunction(expression)
See the function() command.
endif
Ends a list of commands in an if block.
endif(expression)
See the if() command.
endmacro
Ends a list of commands in a macro block.
endmacro(expression)
See the macro() command.
endwhile
Ends a list of commands in a while block.
endwhile(expression)
See the while() command.
execute_process
Execute one or more child processes.
execute_process(COMMAND <cmd1> [args1...]]
[COMMAND <cmd2> [args2...] [...]]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY <directory>]
[TIMEOUT <seconds>]
[RESULT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[RESULTS_VARIABLE <variable>]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[ERROR_VARIABLE <variable>]
[INPUT_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_FILE <file>]
[ERROR_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_QUIET]
[ERROR_QUIET]
[OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE]
[ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE]
[ENCODING <name>])
Runs the given sequence of one or more commands in parallel with the standard output of each process
piped to the standard input of the next. A single standard error pipe is used for all processes.
Options:
COMMAND
A child process command line.
CMake executes the child process using operating system APIs directly. All arguments are passed
VERBATIM to the child process. No intermediate shell is used, so shell operators such as > are
treated as normal arguments. (Use the INPUT_*, OUTPUT_*, and ERROR_* options to redirect stdin,
stdout, and stderr.)
If a sequential execution of multiple commands is required, use multiple execute_process() calls
with a single COMMAND argument.
WORKING_DIRECTORY
The named directory will be set as the current working directory of the child processes.
TIMEOUT
The child processes will be terminated if they do not finish in the specified number of seconds
(fractions are allowed).
RESULT_VARIABLE
The variable will be set to contain the result of last child process. This will be an integer
return code from the last child or a string describing an error condition.
RESULTS_VARIABLE <variable>
The variable will be set to contain the result of all processes as a ;-list, in order of the given
COMMAND arguments. Each entry will be an integer return code from the corresponding child or a
string describing an error condition.
OUTPUT_VARIABLE, ERROR_VARIABLE
The variable named will be set with the contents of the standard output and standard error pipes,
respectively. If the same variable is named for both pipes their output will be merged in the
order produced.
INPUT_FILE, OUTPUT_FILE, ERROR_FILE
The file named will be attached to the standard input of the first process, standard output of the
last process, or standard error of all processes, respectively. If the same file is named for
both output and error then it will be used for both.
OUTPUT_QUIET, ERROR_QUIET
The standard output or standard error results will be quietly ignored.
ENCODING <name>
On Windows, the encoding that is used to decode output from the process. Ignored on other
platforms. Valid encoding names are:
NONE Perform no decoding. This assumes that the process output is encoded in the same way as
CMake’s internal encoding (UTF-8). This is the default.
AUTO Use the current active console’s codepage or if that isn’t available then use ANSI.
ANSI Use the ANSI codepage.
OEM Use the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) code page.
UTF8 Use the UTF-8 codepage.
If more than one OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* option is given for the same pipe the precedence is not specified.
If no OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* options are given the output will be shared with the corresponding pipes of the
CMake process itself.
The execute_process() command is a newer more powerful version of exec_program(), but the old command has
been kept for compatibility. Both commands run while CMake is processing the project prior to build
system generation. Use add_custom_target() and add_custom_command() to create custom commands that run
at build time.
file
File manipulation command.
----
file(WRITE <filename> <content>...)
file(APPEND <filename> <content>...)
Write <content> into a file called <filename>. If the file does not exist, it will be created. If the
file already exists, WRITE mode will overwrite it and APPEND mode will append to the end. Any
directories in the path specified by <filename> that do not exist will be created.
If the file is a build input, use the configure_file() command to update the file only when its content
changes.
----
file(READ <filename> <variable>
[OFFSET <offset>] [LIMIT <max-in>] [HEX])
Read content from a file called <filename> and store it in a <variable>. Optionally start from the given
<offset> and read at most <max-in> bytes. The HEX option causes data to be converted to a hexadecimal
representation (useful for binary data).
----
file(STRINGS <filename> <variable> [<options>...])
Parse a list of ASCII strings from <filename> and store it in <variable>. Binary data in the file are
ignored. Carriage return (\r, CR) characters are ignored. The options are:
LENGTH_MAXIMUM <max-len>
Consider only strings of at most a given length.
LENGTH_MINIMUM <min-len>
Consider only strings of at least a given length.
LIMIT_COUNT <max-num>
Limit the number of distinct strings to be extracted.
LIMIT_INPUT <max-in>
Limit the number of input bytes to read from the file.
LIMIT_OUTPUT <max-out>
Limit the number of total bytes to store in the <variable>.
NEWLINE_CONSUME
Treat newline characters (\n, LF) as part of string content instead of terminating at them.
NO_HEX_CONVERSION
Intel Hex and Motorola S-record files are automatically converted to binary while reading unless
this option is given.
REGEX <regex>
Consider only strings that match the given regular expression.
ENCODING <encoding-type>
Consider strings of a given encoding. Currently supported encodings are: UTF-8, UTF-16LE,
UTF-16BE, UTF-32LE, UTF-32BE. If the ENCODING option is not provided and the file has a Byte
Order Mark, the ENCODING option will be defaulted to respect the Byte Order Mark.
For example, the code
file(STRINGS myfile.txt myfile)
stores a list in the variable myfile in which each item is a line from the input file.
----
file(<HASH> <filename> <variable>)
Compute a cryptographic hash of the content of <filename> and store it in a <variable>. The supported
<HASH> algorithm names are those listed by the string(<HASH>) command.
----
file(GLOB <variable>
[LIST_DIRECTORIES true|false] [RELATIVE <path>]
[<globbing-expressions>...])
file(GLOB_RECURSE <variable> [FOLLOW_SYMLINKS]
[LIST_DIRECTORIES true|false] [RELATIVE <path>]
[<globbing-expressions>...])
Generate a list of files that match the <globbing-expressions> and store it into the <variable>.
Globbing expressions are similar to regular expressions, but much simpler. If RELATIVE flag is
specified, the results will be returned as relative paths to the given path. The results will be ordered
lexicographically.
By default GLOB lists directories - directories are omited in result if LIST_DIRECTORIES is set to false.
NOTE:
We do not recommend using GLOB to collect a list of source files from your source tree. If no
CMakeLists.txt file changes when a source is added or removed then the generated build system cannot
know when to ask CMake to regenerate.
Examples of globbing expressions include:
*.cxx - match all files with extension cxx
*.vt? - match all files with extension vta,...,vtz
f[3-5].txt - match files f3.txt, f4.txt, f5.txt
The GLOB_RECURSE mode will traverse all the subdirectories of the matched directory and match the files.
Subdirectories that are symlinks are only traversed if FOLLOW_SYMLINKS is given or policy CMP0009 is not
set to NEW.
By default GLOB_RECURSE omits directories from result list - setting LIST_DIRECTORIES to true adds
directories to result list. If FOLLOW_SYMLINKS is given or policy CMP0009 is not set to OLD then
LIST_DIRECTORIES treats symlinks as directories.
Examples of recursive globbing include:
/dir/*.py - match all python files in /dir and subdirectories
----
file(RENAME <oldname> <newname>)
Move a file or directory within a filesystem from <oldname> to <newname>, replacing the destination
atomically.
----
file(REMOVE [<files>...])
file(REMOVE_RECURSE [<files>...])
Remove the given files. The REMOVE_RECURSE mode will remove the given files and directories, also
non-empty directories. No error is emitted if a given file does not exist.
----
file(MAKE_DIRECTORY [<directories>...])
Create the given directories and their parents as needed.
----
file(RELATIVE_PATH <variable> <directory> <file>)
Compute the relative path from a <directory> to a <file> and store it in the <variable>.
----
file(TO_CMAKE_PATH "<path>" <variable>)
file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "<path>" <variable>)
The TO_CMAKE_PATH mode converts a native <path> into a cmake-style path with forward-slashes (/). The
input can be a single path or a system search path like $ENV{PATH}. A search path will be converted to a
cmake-style list separated by ; characters.
The TO_NATIVE_PATH mode converts a cmake-style <path> into a native path with platform-specific slashes
(\ on Windows and / elsewhere).
Always use double quotes around the <path> to be sure it is treated as a single argument to this command.
----
file(DOWNLOAD <url> <file> [<options>...])
file(UPLOAD <file> <url> [<options>...])
The DOWNLOAD mode downloads the given <url> to a local <file>. The UPLOAD mode uploads a local <file> to
a given <url>.
Options to both DOWNLOAD and UPLOAD are:
INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT <seconds>
Terminate the operation after a period of inactivity.
LOG <variable>
Store a human-readable log of the operation in a variable.
SHOW_PROGRESS
Print progress information as status messages until the operation is complete.
STATUS <variable>
Store the resulting status of the operation in a variable. The status is a ; separated list of
length 2. The first element is the numeric return value for the operation, and the second element
is a string value for the error. A 0 numeric error means no error in the operation.
TIMEOUT <seconds>
Terminate the operation after a given total time has elapsed.
USERPWD <username>:<password>
Set username and password for operation.
HTTPHEADER <HTTP-header>
HTTP header for operation. Suboption can be repeated several times.
Additional options to DOWNLOAD are:
EXPECTED_HASH ALGO=<value>
Verify that the downloaded content hash matches the expected value, where ALGO is one of the
algorithms supported by file(<HASH>). If it does not match, the operation fails with an error.
EXPECTED_MD5 <value>
Historical short-hand for EXPECTED_HASH MD5=<value>.
TLS_VERIFY <ON|OFF>
Specify whether to verify the server certificate for https:// URLs. The default is to not verify.
TLS_CAINFO <file>
Specify a custom Certificate Authority file for https:// URLs.
For https:// URLs CMake must be built with OpenSSL support. TLS/SSL certificates are not checked by
default. Set TLS_VERIFY to ON to check certificates and/or use EXPECTED_HASH to verify downloaded
content. If neither TLS option is given CMake will check variables CMAKE_TLS_VERIFY and
CMAKE_TLS_CAINFO, respectively.
----
file(TIMESTAMP <filename> <variable> [<format>] [UTC])
Compute a string representation of the modification time of <filename> and store it in <variable>.
Should the command be unable to obtain a timestamp variable will be set to the empty string (“”).
See the string(TIMESTAMP) command for documentation of the <format> and UTC options.
----
file(GENERATE OUTPUT output-file
<INPUT input-file|CONTENT content>
[CONDITION expression])
Generate an output file for each build configuration supported by the current CMake Generator. Evaluate
generator expressions from the input content to produce the output content. The options are:
CONDITION <condition>
Generate the output file for a particular configuration only if the condition is true. The
condition must be either 0 or 1 after evaluating generator expressions.
CONTENT <content>
Use the content given explicitly as input.
INPUT <input-file>
Use the content from a given file as input. A relative path is treated with respect to the value
of CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR. See policy CMP0070.
OUTPUT <output-file>
Specify the output file name to generate. Use generator expressions such as $<CONFIG> to specify
a configuration-specific output file name. Multiple configurations may generate the same output
file only if the generated content is identical. Otherwise, the <output-file> must evaluate to an
unique name for each configuration. A relative path (after evaluating generator expressions) is
treated with respect to the value of CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR. See policy CMP0070.
Exactly one CONTENT or INPUT option must be given. A specific OUTPUT file may be named by at most one
invocation of file(GENERATE). Generated files are modified and their timestamp updated on subsequent
cmake runs only if their content is changed.
Note also that file(GENERATE) does not create the output file until the generation phase. The output file
will not yet have been written when the file(GENERATE) command returns, it is written only after
processing all of a project’s CMakeLists.txt files.
----
file(<COPY|INSTALL> <files>... DESTINATION <dir>
[FILE_PERMISSIONS <permissions>...]
[DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONS <permissions>...]
[NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS] [USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS]
[FILES_MATCHING]
[[PATTERN <pattern> | REGEX <regex>]
[EXCLUDE] [PERMISSIONS <permissions>...]] [...])
The COPY signature copies files, directories, and symlinks to a destination folder. Relative input paths
are evaluated with respect to the current source directory, and a relative destination is evaluated with
respect to the current build directory. Copying preserves input file timestamps, and optimizes out a
file if it exists at the destination with the same timestamp. Copying preserves input permissions unless
explicit permissions or NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS are given (default is USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS).
See the install(DIRECTORY) command for documentation of permissions, FILES_MATCHING, PATTERN, REGEX, and
EXCLUDE options. Copying directories preserves the structure of their content even if options are used
to select a subset of files.
The INSTALL signature differs slightly from COPY: it prints status messages (subject to the
CMAKE_INSTALL_MESSAGE variable), and NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS is default. Installation scripts generated by
the install() command use this signature (with some undocumented options for internal use).
----
file(LOCK <path> [DIRECTORY] [RELEASE]
[GUARD <FUNCTION|FILE|PROCESS>]
[RESULT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[TIMEOUT <seconds>])
Lock a file specified by <path> if no DIRECTORY option present and file <path>/cmake.lock otherwise. File
will be locked for scope defined by GUARD option (default value is PROCESS). RELEASE option can be used
to unlock file explicitly. If option TIMEOUT is not specified CMake will wait until lock succeed or until
fatal error occurs. If TIMEOUT is set to 0 lock will be tried once and result will be reported
immediately. If TIMEOUT is not 0 CMake will try to lock file for the period specified by <seconds> value.
Any errors will be interpreted as fatal if there is no RESULT_VARIABLE option. Otherwise result will be
stored in <variable> and will be 0 on success or error message on failure.
Note that lock is advisory - there is no guarantee that other processes will respect this lock, i.e. lock
synchronize two or more CMake instances sharing some modifiable resources. Similar logic applied to
DIRECTORY option - locking parent directory doesn’t prevent other LOCK commands to lock any child
directory or file.
Trying to lock file twice is not allowed. Any intermediate directories and file itself will be created
if they not exist. GUARD and TIMEOUT options ignored on RELEASE operation.
find_file
A short-hand signature is:
find_file (<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
The general signature is:
find_file (
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a full path to named file. A cache entry named by <VAR> is created to store
the result of this command. If the full path to a file is found the result is stored in the variable and
the search will not be repeated unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be
<VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will be attempted again the next time find_file is invoked with the same
variable.
Options include:
NAMES Specify one or more possible names for the full path to a file.
When using this to specify names with and without a version suffix, we recommend specifying the
unversioned name first so that locally-built packages can be found before those provided by
distributions.
HINTS, PATHS
Specify directories to search in addition to the default locations. The ENV var sub-option reads
paths from a system environment variable.
PATH_SUFFIXES
Specify additional subdirectories to check below each directory location otherwise considered.
DOC Specify the documentation string for the <VAR> cache entry.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the
command line with a -DVAR=value. The values are interpreted as ;-lists. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the
user’s shell configuration, and therefore use the host’s native path separator (; on Windows and : on
UNIX). This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option. These should be paths computed by system
introspection, such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded
guesses should be specified with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
is an argument.
• Directories in INCLUDE. On Windows hosts: <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is
set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>/[s]bin in PATH, and <entry>/include for other entries in
PATH, and the directories in PATH itself.
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in the short-hand version of the command. These are
typically hard-coded guesses.
On OS X the CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE variables determine the order of preference
between Apple-style and unix-style package components.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other
search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. Paths which
are descendants of the CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is
always a path on the host system. By default the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is empty.
The CMAKE_SYSROOT variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting
CMAKE_SYSROOT also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.
These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target
environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH are searched, then the CMAKE_SYSROOT directory is searched, and then the non-rooted
directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using
options:
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH
Search in the order described above.
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Do not use the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH variable.
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX.
The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases.
Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_file (<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_file (<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call
will search again.
find_library
A short-hand signature is:
find_library (<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
The general signature is:
find_library (
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...] [NAMES_PER_DIR]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a library. A cache entry named by <VAR> is created to store the result of
this command. If the library is found the result is stored in the variable and the search will not be
repeated unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be <VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the
search will be attempted again the next time find_library is invoked with the same variable.
Options include:
NAMES Specify one or more possible names for the library.
When using this to specify names with and without a version suffix, we recommend specifying the
unversioned name first so that locally-built packages can be found before those provided by
distributions.
HINTS, PATHS
Specify directories to search in addition to the default locations. The ENV var sub-option reads
paths from a system environment variable.
PATH_SUFFIXES
Specify additional subdirectories to check below each directory location otherwise considered.
DOC Specify the documentation string for the <VAR> cache entry.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the
command line with a -DVAR=value. The values are interpreted as ;-lists. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the
user’s shell configuration, and therefore use the host’s native path separator (; on Windows and : on
UNIX). This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option. These should be paths computed by system
introspection, such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded
guesses should be specified with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
is an argument.
• Directories in LIB. On Windows hosts: <prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and
<prefix>/lib for each <prefix>/[s]bin in PATH, and <entry>/lib for other entries in PATH, and the
directories in PATH itself.
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in
CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in the short-hand version of the command. These are
typically hard-coded guesses.
On OS X the CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE variables determine the order of preference
between Apple-style and unix-style package components.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other
search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. Paths which
are descendants of the CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is
always a path on the host system. By default the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is empty.
The CMAKE_SYSROOT variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting
CMAKE_SYSROOT also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.
These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target
environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH are searched, then the CMAKE_SYSROOT directory is searched, and then the non-rooted
directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using
options:
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH
Search in the order described above.
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Do not use the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH variable.
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX.
The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases.
Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_library (<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_library (<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call
will search again.
When more than one value is given to the NAMES option this command by default will consider one name at a
time and search every directory for it. The NAMES_PER_DIR option tells this command to consider one
directory at a time and search for all names in it.
Each library name given to the NAMES option is first considered as a library file name and then
considered with platform-specific prefixes (e.g. lib) and suffixes (e.g. .so). Therefore one may specify
library file names such as libfoo.a directly. This can be used to locate static libraries on UNIX-like
systems.
If the library found is a framework, then <VAR> will be set to the full path to the framework
<fullPath>/A.framework. When a full path to a framework is used as a library, CMake will use a
-framework A, and a -F<fullPath> to link the framework to the target.
If the CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_CUSTOM_LIB_SUFFIX variable is set all search paths will be tested as normal,
with the suffix appended, and with all matches of lib/ replaced with
lib${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_CUSTOM_LIB_SUFFIX}/. This variable overrides the FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB32_PATHS,
FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIBX32_PATHS, and FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS global properties.
If the FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB32_PATHS global property is set all search paths will be tested as normal,
with 32/ appended, and with all matches of lib/ replaced with lib32/. This property is automatically set
for the platforms that are known to need it if at least one of the languages supported by the project()
command is enabled.
If the FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIBX32_PATHS global property is set all search paths will be tested as normal,
with x32/ appended, and with all matches of lib/ replaced with libx32/. This property is automatically
set for the platforms that are known to need it if at least one of the languages supported by the
project() command is enabled.
If the FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS global property is set all search paths will be tested as normal,
with 64/ appended, and with all matches of lib/ replaced with lib64/. This property is automatically set
for the platforms that are known to need it if at least one of the languages supported by the project()
command is enabled.
find_package
Load settings for an external project.
find_package(<package> [version] [EXACT] [QUIET] [MODULE]
[REQUIRED] [[COMPONENTS] [components...]]
[OPTIONAL_COMPONENTS components...]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE])
Finds and loads settings from an external project. <package>_FOUND will be set to indicate whether the
package was found. When the package is found package-specific information is provided through variables
and Imported Targets documented by the package itself. The QUIET option disables messages if the package
cannot be found. The MODULE option disables the second signature documented below. The REQUIRED option
stops processing with an error message if the package cannot be found.
A package-specific list of required components may be listed after the COMPONENTS option (or after the
REQUIRED option if present). Additional optional components may be listed after OPTIONAL_COMPONENTS.
Available components and their influence on whether a package is considered to be found are defined by
the target package.
The [version] argument requests a version with which the package found should be compatible (format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]). The EXACT option requests that the version be matched exactly. If no
[version] and/or component list is given to a recursive invocation inside a find-module, the
corresponding arguments are forwarded automatically from the outer call (including the EXACT flag for
[version]). Version support is currently provided only on a package-by-package basis (details below).
User code should generally look for packages using the above simple signature. The remainder of this
command documentation specifies the full command signature and details of the search process. Project
maintainers wishing to provide a package to be found by this command are encouraged to read on.
The command has two modes by which it searches for packages: “Module” mode and “Config” mode. Module
mode is available when the command is invoked with the above reduced signature. CMake searches for a
file called Find<package>.cmake in the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH followed by the CMake installation. If the file
is found, it is read and processed by CMake. It is responsible for finding the package, checking the
version, and producing any needed messages. Many find-modules provide limited or no support for
versioning; check the module documentation. If no module is found and the MODULE option is not given the
command proceeds to Config mode.
The complete Config mode command signature is:
find_package(<package> [version] [EXACT] [QUIET]
[REQUIRED] [[COMPONENTS] [components...]]
[CONFIG|NO_MODULE]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE]
[NAMES name1 [name2 ...]]
[CONFIGS config1 [config2 ...]]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PACKAGE_REGISTRY]
[NO_CMAKE_BUILDS_PATH] # Deprecated; does nothing.
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PACKAGE_REGISTRY]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH])
The CONFIG option may be used to skip Module mode explicitly and switch to Config mode. It is synonymous
to using NO_MODULE. Config mode is also implied by use of options not specified in the reduced
signature.
Config mode attempts to locate a configuration file provided by the package to be found. A cache entry
called <package>_DIR is created to hold the directory containing the file. By default the command
searches for a package with the name <package>. If the NAMES option is given the names following it are
used instead of <package>. The command searches for a file called <name>Config.cmake or
<lower-case-name>-config.cmake for each name specified. A replacement set of possible configuration file
names may be given using the CONFIGS option. The search procedure is specified below. Once found, the
configuration file is read and processed by CMake. Since the file is provided by the package it already
knows the location of package contents. The full path to the configuration file is stored in the cmake
variable <package>_CONFIG.
All configuration files which have been considered by CMake while searching for an installation of the
package with an appropriate version are stored in the cmake variable <package>_CONSIDERED_CONFIGS, the
associated versions in <package>_CONSIDERED_VERSIONS.
If the package configuration file cannot be found CMake will generate an error describing the problem
unless the QUIET argument is specified. If REQUIRED is specified and the package is not found a fatal
error is generated and the configure step stops executing. If <package>_DIR has been set to a directory
not containing a configuration file CMake will ignore it and search from scratch.
When the [version] argument is given Config mode will only find a version of the package that claims
compatibility with the requested version (format is major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]). If the EXACT option
is given only a version of the package claiming an exact match of the requested version may be found.
CMake does not establish any convention for the meaning of version numbers. Package version numbers are
checked by “version” files provided by the packages themselves. For a candidate package configuration
file <config-file>.cmake the corresponding version file is located next to it and named either
<config-file>-version.cmake or <config-file>Version.cmake. If no such version file is available then the
configuration file is assumed to not be compatible with any requested version. A basic version file
containing generic version matching code can be created using the CMakePackageConfigHelpers module. When
a version file is found it is loaded to check the requested version number. The version file is loaded
in a nested scope in which the following variables have been defined:
PACKAGE_FIND_NAME
the <package> name
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION
full requested version string
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_MAJOR
major version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_MINOR
minor version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_PATCH
patch version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_TWEAK
tweak version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_COUNT
number of version components, 0 to 4
The version file checks whether it satisfies the requested version and sets these variables:
PACKAGE_VERSION
full provided version string
PACKAGE_VERSION_EXACT
true if version is exact match
PACKAGE_VERSION_COMPATIBLE
true if version is compatible
PACKAGE_VERSION_UNSUITABLE
true if unsuitable as any version
These variables are checked by the find_package command to determine whether the configuration file
provides an acceptable version. They are not available after the find_package call returns. If the
version is acceptable the following variables are set:
<package>_VERSION
full provided version string
<package>_VERSION_MAJOR
major version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_MINOR
minor version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_PATCH
patch version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_TWEAK
tweak version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_COUNT
number of version components, 0 to 4
and the corresponding package configuration file is loaded. When multiple package configuration files
are available whose version files claim compatibility with the version requested it is unspecified which
one is chosen: unless the variable CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_SORT_ORDER is set no attempt is made to choose a
highest or closest version number.
To control the order in which find_package checks for compatibiliy use the two variables
CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_SORT_ORDER and CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_SORT_DIRECTION. For instance in order to select the
highest version one can set:
SET(CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_SORT_ORDER NATURAL)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_SORT_DIRECTION DEC)
before calling find_package.
Config mode provides an elaborate interface and search procedure. Much of the interface is provided for
completeness and for use internally by find-modules loaded by Module mode. Most user code should simply
call:
find_package(<package> [major[.minor]] [EXACT] [REQUIRED|QUIET])
in order to find a package. Package maintainers providing CMake package configuration files are
encouraged to name and install them such that the procedure outlined below will find them without
requiring use of additional options.
CMake constructs a set of possible installation prefixes for the package. Under each prefix several
directories are searched for a configuration file. The tables below show the directories searched. Each
entry is meant for installation trees following Windows (W), UNIX (U), or Apple (A) conventions:
<prefix>/ (W)
<prefix>/(cmake|CMake)/ (W)
<prefix>/<name>*/ (W)
<prefix>/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/ (W)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/cmake/<name>*/ (U)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/ (U)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/ (U)
<prefix>/<name>*/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/cmake/<name>*/ (W/U)
<prefix>/<name>*/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/ (W/U)
<prefix>/<name>*/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/ (W/U)
On systems supporting OS X Frameworks and Application Bundles the following directories are searched for
frameworks or bundles containing a configuration file:
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Resources/CMake/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Versions/*/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Versions/*/Resources/CMake/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.app/Contents/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.app/Contents/Resources/CMake/ (A)
In all cases the <name> is treated as case-insensitive and corresponds to any of the names specified
(<package> or names given by NAMES). Paths with lib/<arch> are enabled if the CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE
variable is set. If PATH_SUFFIXES is specified the suffixes are appended to each (W) or (U) directory
entry one-by-one.
This set of directories is intended to work in cooperation with projects that provide configuration files
in their installation trees. Directories above marked with (W) are intended for installations on Windows
where the prefix may point at the top of an application’s installation directory. Those marked with (U)
are intended for installations on UNIX platforms where the prefix is shared by multiple packages. This
is merely a convention, so all (W) and (U) directories are still searched on all platforms. Directories
marked with (A) are intended for installations on Apple platforms. The CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and
CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE variables determine the order of preference.
The set of installation prefixes is constructed using the following steps. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
specified all NO_* options are enabled.
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the
command line with a -DVAR=value. The values are interpreted as ;-lists. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed:
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the
user’s shell configuration, and therefore use the host’s native path separator (; on Windows and : on
UNIX). This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed:
<package>_DIR
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
3. Search paths specified by the HINTS option. These should be paths computed by system introspection,
such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded guesses should be
specified with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
is passed. Path entries ending in /bin or /sbin are automatically converted to their parent
directories:
PATH
5. Search paths stored in the CMake User Package Registry. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PACKAGE_REGISTRY is passed or by setting the CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_NO_PACKAGE_REGISTRY to TRUE.
See the cmake-packages(7) manual for details on the user package registry.
6. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed:
CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_APPBUNDLE_PATH
7. Search paths stored in the CMake System Package Registry. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PACKAGE_REGISTRY is passed or by setting the
CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_NO_SYSTEM_PACKAGE_REGISTRY to TRUE. See the cmake-packages(7) manual for details
on the system package registry.
8. Search paths specified by the PATHS option. These are typically hard-coded guesses.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other
search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. Paths which
are descendants of the CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is
always a path on the host system. By default the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is empty.
The CMAKE_SYSROOT variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting
CMAKE_SYSROOT also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.
These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target
environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH are searched, then the CMAKE_SYSROOT directory is searched, and then the non-rooted
directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PACKAGE. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using
options:
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH
Search in the order described above.
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Do not use the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH variable.
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX.
The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases.
Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_package (<package> PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_package (<package>)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call
will search again.
Every non-REQUIRED find_package call can be disabled by setting the
CMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_<PackageName> variable to TRUE.
When loading a find module or package configuration file find_package defines variables to provide
information about the call arguments (and restores their original state before returning):
CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_NAME
the <package> name which is searched for
<package>_FIND_REQUIRED
true if REQUIRED option was given
<package>_FIND_QUIETLY
true if QUIET option was given
<package>_FIND_VERSION
full requested version string
<package>_FIND_VERSION_MAJOR
major version if requested, else 0
<package>_FIND_VERSION_MINOR
minor version if requested, else 0
<package>_FIND_VERSION_PATCH
patch version if requested, else 0
<package>_FIND_VERSION_TWEAK
tweak version if requested, else 0
<package>_FIND_VERSION_COUNT
number of version components, 0 to 4
<package>_FIND_VERSION_EXACT
true if EXACT option was given
<package>_FIND_COMPONENTS
list of requested components
<package>_FIND_REQUIRED_<c>
true if component <c> is required, false if component <c> is optional
In Module mode the loaded find module is responsible to honor the request detailed by these variables;
see the find module for details. In Config mode find_package handles REQUIRED, QUIET, and [version]
options automatically but leaves it to the package configuration file to handle components in a way that
makes sense for the package. The package configuration file may set <package>_FOUND to false to tell
find_package that component requirements are not satisfied.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for discussion of the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option.
find_path
A short-hand signature is:
find_path (<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
The general signature is:
find_path (
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a directory containing the named file. A cache entry named by <VAR> is
created to store the result of this command. If the file in a directory is found the result is stored in
the variable and the search will not be repeated unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found,
the result will be <VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will be attempted again the next time find_path is
invoked with the same variable.
Options include:
NAMES Specify one or more possible names for the file in a directory.
When using this to specify names with and without a version suffix, we recommend specifying the
unversioned name first so that locally-built packages can be found before those provided by
distributions.
HINTS, PATHS
Specify directories to search in addition to the default locations. The ENV var sub-option reads
paths from a system environment variable.
PATH_SUFFIXES
Specify additional subdirectories to check below each directory location otherwise considered.
DOC Specify the documentation string for the <VAR> cache entry.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the
command line with a -DVAR=value. The values are interpreted as ;-lists. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the
user’s shell configuration, and therefore use the host’s native path separator (; on Windows and : on
UNIX). This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option. These should be paths computed by system
introspection, such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded
guesses should be specified with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
is an argument.
• Directories in INCLUDE. On Windows hosts: <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is
set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>/[s]bin in PATH, and <entry>/include for other entries in
PATH, and the directories in PATH itself.
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/include/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and <prefix>/include for each <prefix>
in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in the short-hand version of the command. These are
typically hard-coded guesses.
On OS X the CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE variables determine the order of preference
between Apple-style and unix-style package components.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other
search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. Paths which
are descendants of the CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is
always a path on the host system. By default the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is empty.
The CMAKE_SYSROOT variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting
CMAKE_SYSROOT also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.
These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target
environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH are searched, then the CMAKE_SYSROOT directory is searched, and then the non-rooted
directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using
options:
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH
Search in the order described above.
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Do not use the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH variable.
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX.
The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases.
Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_path (<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_path (<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call
will search again.
When searching for frameworks, if the file is specified as A/b.h, then the framework search will look for
A.framework/Headers/b.h. If that is found the path will be set to the path to the framework. CMake will
convert this to the correct -F option to include the file.
find_program
A short-hand signature is:
find_program (<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
The general signature is:
find_program (
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...] [NAMES_PER_DIR]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a program. A cache entry named by <VAR> is created to store the result of
this command. If the program is found the result is stored in the variable and the search will not be
repeated unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be <VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the
search will be attempted again the next time find_program is invoked with the same variable.
Options include:
NAMES Specify one or more possible names for the program.
When using this to specify names with and without a version suffix, we recommend specifying the
unversioned name first so that locally-built packages can be found before those provided by
distributions.
HINTS, PATHS
Specify directories to search in addition to the default locations. The ENV var sub-option reads
paths from a system environment variable.
PATH_SUFFIXES
Specify additional subdirectories to check below each directory location otherwise considered.
DOC Specify the documentation string for the <VAR> cache entry.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the
command line with a -DVAR=value. The values are interpreted as ;-lists. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_PROGRAM_PATH
• CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the
user’s shell configuration, and therefore use the host’s native path separator (; on Windows and : on
UNIX). This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_PROGRAM_PATH
• CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option. These should be paths computed by system
introspection, such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded
guesses should be specified with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH
is an argument.
• PATH
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
• <prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROGRAM_PATH
• CMAKE_SYSTEM_APPBUNDLE_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in the short-hand version of the command. These are
typically hard-coded guesses.
On OS X the CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE variables determine the order of preference
between Apple-style and unix-style package components.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other
search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. Paths which
are descendants of the CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is
always a path on the host system. By default the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is empty.
The CMAKE_SYSROOT variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting
CMAKE_SYSROOT also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.
These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target
environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH are searched, then the CMAKE_SYSROOT directory is searched, and then the non-rooted
directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using
options:
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH
Search in the order described above.
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Do not use the CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH variable.
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH
Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX.
The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases.
Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_program (<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_program (<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call
will search again.
When more than one value is given to the NAMES option this command by default will consider one name at a
time and search every directory for it. The NAMES_PER_DIR option tells this command to consider one
directory at a time and search for all names in it.
foreach
Evaluate a group of commands for each value in a list.
foreach(loop_var arg1 arg2 ...)
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endforeach(loop_var)
All commands between foreach and the matching endforeach are recorded without being invoked. Once the
endforeach is evaluated, the recorded list of commands is invoked once for each argument listed in the
original foreach command. Before each iteration of the loop ${loop_var} will be set as a variable with
the current value in the list.
foreach(loop_var RANGE total)
foreach(loop_var RANGE start stop [step])
Foreach can also iterate over a generated range of numbers. There are three types of this iteration:
• When specifying single number, the range will have elements 0 to “total”.
• When specifying two numbers, the range will have elements from the first number to the second number.
• The third optional number is the increment used to iterate from the first number to the second number.
foreach(loop_var IN [LISTS [list1 [...]]]
[ITEMS [item1 [...]]])
Iterates over a precise list of items. The LISTS option names list-valued variables to be traversed,
including empty elements (an empty string is a zero-length list). (Note macro arguments are not
variables.) The ITEMS option ends argument parsing and includes all arguments following it in the
iteration.
function
Start recording a function for later invocation as a command:
function(<name> [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ...]]])
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endfunction(<name>)
Define a function named <name> that takes arguments named arg1, arg2, arg3, (…). Commands listed after
function, but before the matching endfunction(), are not invoked until the function is invoked. When it
is invoked, the commands recorded in the function are first modified by replacing formal parameters
(${arg1}) with the arguments passed, and then invoked as normal commands. In addition to referencing the
formal parameters you can reference the ARGC variable which will be set to the number of arguments passed
into the function as well as ARGV0, ARGV1, ARGV2, … which will have the actual values of the arguments
passed in. This facilitates creating functions with optional arguments. Additionally ARGV holds the
list of all arguments given to the function and ARGN holds the list of arguments past the last expected
argument. Referencing to ARGV# arguments beyond ARGC have undefined behavior. Checking that ARGC is
greater than # is the only way to ensure that ARGV# was passed to the function as an extra argument.
A function opens a new scope: see set(var PARENT_SCOPE) for details.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for the behavior of policies inside functions.
get_cmake_property
Get a global property of the CMake instance.
get_cmake_property(VAR property)
Get a global property from the CMake instance. The value of the property is stored in the variable VAR.
If the property is not found, VAR will be set to “NOTFOUND”. See the cmake-properties(7) manual for
available properties.
See also the get_property() command GLOBAL option.
In addition to global properties, this command (for historical reasons) also supports the VARIABLES and
MACROS directory properties. It also supports a special COMPONENTS global property that lists the
components given to the install() command.
get_directory_property
Get a property of DIRECTORY scope.
get_directory_property(<variable> [DIRECTORY <dir>] <prop-name>)
Store a property of directory scope in the named variable. If the property is not defined the
empty-string is returned. The DIRECTORY argument specifies another directory from which to retrieve the
property value. The specified directory must have already been traversed by CMake.
get_directory_property(<variable> [DIRECTORY <dir>]
DEFINITION <var-name>)
Get a variable definition from a directory. This form is useful to get a variable definition from
another directory.
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_filename_component
Get a specific component of a full filename.
----
get_filename_component(<VAR> <FileName> <COMP> [CACHE])
Set <VAR> to a component of <FileName>, where <COMP> is one of:
DIRECTORY = Directory without file name
NAME = File name without directory
EXT = File name longest extension (.b.c from d/a.b.c)
NAME_WE = File name without directory or longest extension
PATH = Legacy alias for DIRECTORY (use for CMake <= 2.8.11)
Paths are returned with forward slashes and have no trailing slashes. The longest file extension is
always considered. If the optional CACHE argument is specified, the result variable is added to the
cache.
----
get_filename_component(<VAR> <FileName>
<COMP> [BASE_DIR <BASE_DIR>]
[CACHE])
Set <VAR> to the absolute path of <FileName>, where <COMP> is one of:
ABSOLUTE = Full path to file
REALPATH = Full path to existing file with symlinks resolved
If the provided <FileName> is a relative path, it is evaluated relative to the given base directory
<BASE_DIR>. If no base directory is provided, the default base directory will be
CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR.
Paths are returned with forward slashes and have no trailing slahes. If the optional CACHE argument is
specified, the result variable is added to the cache.
----
get_filename_component(<VAR> <FileName>
PROGRAM [PROGRAM_ARGS <ARG_VAR>]
[CACHE])
The program in <FileName> will be found in the system search path or left as a full path. If
PROGRAM_ARGS is present with PROGRAM, then any command-line arguments present in the <FileName> string
are split from the program name and stored in <ARG_VAR>. This is used to separate a program name from
its arguments in a command line string.
get_property
Get a property.
get_property(<variable>
<GLOBAL |
DIRECTORY [dir] |
TARGET <target> |
SOURCE <source> |
INSTALL <file> |
TEST <test> |
CACHE <entry> |
VARIABLE>
PROPERTY <name>
[SET | DEFINED | BRIEF_DOCS | FULL_DOCS])
Get one property from one object in a scope. The first argument specifies the variable in which to store
the result. The second argument determines the scope from which to get the property. It must be one of
the following:
GLOBAL Scope is unique and does not accept a name.
DIRECTORY
Scope defaults to the current directory but another directory (already processed by CMake) may be
named by full or relative path.
TARGET Scope must name one existing target.
SOURCE Scope must name one source file.
INSTALL
Scope must name one installed file path.
TEST Scope must name one existing test.
CACHE Scope must name one cache entry.
VARIABLE
Scope is unique and does not accept a name.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by the name of the property to get. If the property
is not set an empty value is returned. If the SET option is given the variable is set to a boolean value
indicating whether the property has been set. If the DEFINED option is given the variable is set to a
boolean value indicating whether the property has been defined such as with the define_property()
command. If BRIEF_DOCS or FULL_DOCS is given then the variable is set to a string containing
documentation for the requested property. If documentation is requested for a property that has not been
defined NOTFOUND is returned.
if
Conditionally execute a group of commands.
if(expression)
# then section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
#...
elseif(expression2)
# elseif section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
#...
else(expression)
# else section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
#...
endif(expression)
Evaluates the given expression. If the result is true, the commands in the THEN section are invoked.
Otherwise, the commands in the else section are invoked. The elseif and else sections are optional. You
may have multiple elseif clauses. Note that the expression in the else and endif clause is optional.
Long expressions can be used and there is a traditional order of precedence. Parenthetical expressions
are evaluated first followed by unary tests such as EXISTS, COMMAND, and DEFINED. Then any binary tests
such as EQUAL, LESS, LESS_EQUAL, GREATER, GREATER_EQUAL, STREQUAL, STRLESS, STRLESS_EQUAL, STRGREATER,
STRGREATER_EQUAL, VERSION_EQUAL, VERSION_LESS, VERSION_LESS_EQUAL, VERSION_GREATER,
VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL, and MATCHES will be evaluated. Then boolean NOT operators and finally boolean AND
and then OR operators will be evaluated.
Possible expressions are:
if(<constant>)
True if the constant is 1, ON, YES, TRUE, Y, or a non-zero number. False if the constant is 0,
OFF, NO, FALSE, N, IGNORE, NOTFOUND, the empty string, or ends in the suffix -NOTFOUND. Named
boolean constants are case-insensitive. If the argument is not one of these specific constants,
it is treated as a variable or string and the following signature is used.
if(<variable|string>)
True if given a variable that is defined to a value that is not a false constant. False
otherwise. (Note macro arguments are not variables.)
if(NOT <expression>)
True if the expression is not true.
if(<expr1> AND <expr2>)
True if both expressions would be considered true individually.
if(<expr1> OR <expr2>)
True if either expression would be considered true individually.
if(COMMAND command-name)
True if the given name is a command, macro or function that can be invoked.
if(POLICY policy-id)
True if the given name is an existing policy (of the form CMP<NNNN>).
if(TARGET target-name)
True if the given name is an existing logical target name created by a call to the
add_executable(), add_library(), or add_custom_target() command that has already been invoked (in
any directory).
if(TEST test-name)
True if the given name is an existing test name created by the add_test() command.
if(EXISTS path-to-file-or-directory)
True if the named file or directory exists. Behavior is well-defined only for full paths.
if(file1 IS_NEWER_THAN file2)
True if file1 is newer than file2 or if one of the two files doesn’t exist. Behavior is
well-defined only for full paths. If the file time stamps are exactly the same, an IS_NEWER_THAN
comparison returns true, so that any dependent build operations will occur in the event of a tie.
This includes the case of passing the same file name for both file1 and file2.
if(IS_DIRECTORY path-to-directory)
True if the given name is a directory. Behavior is well-defined only for full paths.
if(IS_SYMLINK file-name)
True if the given name is a symbolic link. Behavior is well-defined only for full paths.
if(IS_ABSOLUTE path)
True if the given path is an absolute path.
if(<variable|string> MATCHES regex)
True if the given string or variable’s value matches the given regular expression. See Regex
Specification for regex format. () groups are captured in CMAKE_MATCH_<n> variables.
if(<variable|string> LESS <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is a valid number and less than that on the right.
if(<variable|string> GREATER <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is a valid number and greater than that on the right.
if(<variable|string> EQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is a valid number and equal to that on the right.
if(<variable|string> LESS_EQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is a valid number and less than or equal to that on
the right.
if(<variable|string> GREATER_EQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is a valid number and greater than or equal to that
on the right.
if(<variable|string> STRLESS <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is lexicographically less than the string or variable
on the right.
if(<variable|string> STRGREATER <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is lexicographically greater than the string or
variable on the right.
if(<variable|string> STREQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is lexicographically equal to the string or variable
on the right.
if(<variable|string> STRLESS_EQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is lexicographically less than or equal to the string
or variable on the right.
if(<variable|string> STRGREATER_EQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable’s value is lexicographically greater than or equal to the
string or variable on the right.
if(<variable|string> VERSION_LESS <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (version format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(<variable|string> VERSION_GREATER <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (version format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(<variable|string> VERSION_EQUAL <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (version format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(<variable|string> VERSION_LESS_EQUAL <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (version format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(<variable|string> VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (version format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(<variable|string> IN_LIST <variable>)
True if the given element is contained in the named list variable.
if(DEFINED <variable>)
True if the given variable is defined. It does not matter if the variable is true or false just
if it has been set. (Note macro arguments are not variables.)
if((expression) AND (expression OR (expression)))
The expressions inside the parenthesis are evaluated first and then the remaining expression is
evaluated as in the previous examples. Where there are nested parenthesis the innermost are
evaluated as part of evaluating the expression that contains them.
The if command was written very early in CMake’s history, predating the ${} variable evaluation syntax,
and for convenience evaluates variables named by its arguments as shown in the above signatures. Note
that normal variable evaluation with ${} applies before the if command even receives the arguments.
Therefore code like:
set(var1 OFF)
set(var2 "var1")
if(${var2})
appears to the if command as:
if(var1)
and is evaluated according to the if(<variable>) case documented above. The result is OFF which is
false. However, if we remove the ${} from the example then the command sees:
if(var2)
which is true because var2 is defined to “var1” which is not a false constant.
Automatic evaluation applies in the other cases whenever the above-documented signature accepts
<variable|string>:
• The left hand argument to MATCHES is first checked to see if it is a defined variable, if so the
variable’s value is used, otherwise the original value is used.
• If the left hand argument to MATCHES is missing it returns false without error
• Both left and right hand arguments to LESS, GREATER, EQUAL, LESS_EQUAL, and GREATER_EQUAL, are
independently tested to see if they are defined variables, if so their defined values are used
otherwise the original value is used.
• Both left and right hand arguments to STRLESS, STRGREATER, STREQUAL, STRLESS_EQUAL, and
STRGREATER_EQUAL are independently tested to see if they are defined variables, if so their defined
values are used otherwise the original value is used.
• Both left and right hand arguments to VERSION_LESS, VERSION_GREATER, VERSION_EQUAL, VERSION_LESS_EQUAL,
and VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL are independently tested to see if they are defined variables, if so their
defined values are used otherwise the original value is used.
• The right hand argument to NOT is tested to see if it is a boolean constant, if so the value is used,
otherwise it is assumed to be a variable and it is dereferenced.
• The left and right hand arguments to AND and OR are independently tested to see if they are boolean
constants, if so they are used as such, otherwise they are assumed to be variables and are
dereferenced.
To prevent ambiguity, potential variable or keyword names can be specified in a Quoted Argument or a
Bracket Argument. A quoted or bracketed variable or keyword will be interpreted as a string and not
dereferenced or interpreted. See policy CMP0054.
include
Load and run CMake code from a file or module.
include(<file|module> [OPTIONAL] [RESULT_VARIABLE <VAR>]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE])
Load and run CMake code from the file given. Variable reads and writes access the scope of the caller
(dynamic scoping). If OPTIONAL is present, then no error is raised if the file does not exist. If
RESULT_VARIABLE is given the variable will be set to the full filename which has been included or
NOTFOUND if it failed.
If a module is specified instead of a file, the file with name <modulename>.cmake is searched first in
CMAKE_MODULE_PATH, then in the CMake module directory. There is one exception to this: if the file which
calls include() is located itself in the CMake builtin module directory, then first the CMake builtin
module directory is searched and CMAKE_MODULE_PATH afterwards. See also policy CMP0017.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for discussion of the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option.
include_guard
Provides an include guard for the file currently being processed by CMake.
include_guard([DIRECTORY|GLOBAL])
Sets up an include guard for the current CMake file (see the CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_FILE variable
documentation).
CMake will end its processing of the current file at the location of the include_guard() command if the
current file has already been processed for the applicable scope (see below). This provides functionality
similar to the include guards commonly used in source headers or to the #pragma once directive. If the
current file has been processed previously for the applicable scope, the effect is as though return() had
been called. Do not call this command from inside a function being defined within the current file.
An optional argument specifying the scope of the guard may be provided. Possible values for the option
are:
DIRECTORY
The include guard applies within the current directory and below. The file will only be included
once within this directory scope, but may be included again by other files outside of this
directory (i.e. a parent directory or another directory not pulled in by add_subdirectory() or
include() from the current file or its children).
GLOBAL The include guard applies globally to the whole build. The current file will only be included once
regardless of the scope.
If no arguments given, include_guard has the same scope as a variable, meaning that the include guard
effect is isolated by the most recent function scope or current directory if no inner function scopes
exist. In this case the command behavior is the same as:
if(__CURRENT_FILE_VAR__)
return()
endif()
set(__CURRENT_FILE_VAR__ TRUE)
list
List operations.
list(LENGTH <list> <output variable>)
list(GET <list> <element index> [<element index> ...]
<output variable>)
list(APPEND <list> [<element> ...])
list(FILTER <list> <INCLUDE|EXCLUDE> REGEX <regular_expression>)
list(FIND <list> <value> <output variable>)
list(INSERT <list> <element_index> <element> [<element> ...])
list(REMOVE_ITEM <list> <value> [<value> ...])
list(REMOVE_AT <list> <index> [<index> ...])
list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES <list>)
list(REVERSE <list>)
list(SORT <list>)
LENGTH will return a given list’s length.
GET will return list of elements specified by indices from the list.
APPEND will append elements to the list.
FILTER will include or remove items from the list that match the mode’s pattern. In REGEX mode, items
will be matched against the given regular expression. For more information on regular expressions see
also the string() command.
FIND will return the index of the element specified in the list or -1 if it wasn’t found.
INSERT will insert elements to the list to the specified location.
REMOVE_AT and REMOVE_ITEM will remove items from the list. The difference is that REMOVE_ITEM will
remove the given items, while REMOVE_AT will remove the items at the given indices.
REMOVE_DUPLICATES will remove duplicated items in the list.
REVERSE reverses the contents of the list in-place.
SORT sorts the list in-place alphabetically.
The list subcommands APPEND, INSERT, FILTER, REMOVE_AT, REMOVE_ITEM, REMOVE_DUPLICATES, REVERSE and SORT
may create new values for the list within the current CMake variable scope. Similar to the set()
command, the LIST command creates new variable values in the current scope, even if the list itself is
actually defined in a parent scope. To propagate the results of these operations upwards, use set() with
PARENT_SCOPE, set() with CACHE INTERNAL, or some other means of value propagation.
NOTES: A list in cmake is a ; separated group of strings. To create a list the set command can be used.
For example, set(var a b c d e) creates a list with a;b;c;d;e, and set(var "a b c d e") creates a string
or a list with one item in it. (Note macro arguments are not variables, and therefore cannot be used in
LIST commands.)
When specifying index values, if <element index> is 0 or greater, it is indexed from the beginning of the
list, with 0 representing the first list element. If <element index> is -1 or lesser, it is indexed from
the end of the list, with -1 representing the last list element. Be careful when counting with negative
indices: they do not start from 0. -0 is equivalent to 0, the first list element.
macro
Start recording a macro for later invocation as a command:
macro(<name> [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ...]]])
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endmacro(<name>)
Define a macro named <name> that takes arguments named arg1, arg2, arg3, (…). Commands listed after
macro, but before the matching endmacro(), are not invoked until the macro is invoked. When it is
invoked, the commands recorded in the macro are first modified by replacing formal parameters (${arg1})
with the arguments passed, and then invoked as normal commands. In addition to referencing the formal
parameters you can reference the values ${ARGC} which will be set to the number of arguments passed into
the function as well as ${ARGV0}, ${ARGV1}, ${ARGV2}, … which will have the actual values of the
arguments passed in. This facilitates creating macros with optional arguments. Additionally ${ARGV}
holds the list of all arguments given to the macro and ${ARGN} holds the list of arguments past the last
expected argument. Referencing to ${ARGV#} arguments beyond ${ARGC} have undefined behavior. Checking
that ${ARGC} is greater than # is the only way to ensure that ${ARGV#} was passed to the function as an
extra argument.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for the behavior of policies inside macros.
Macro Argument Caveats
Note that the parameters to a macro and values such as ARGN are not variables in the usual CMake sense.
They are string replacements much like the C preprocessor would do with a macro. Therefore you will NOT
be able to use commands like:
if(ARGV1) # ARGV1 is not a variable
if(DEFINED ARGV2) # ARGV2 is not a variable
if(ARGC GREATER 2) # ARGC is not a variable
foreach(loop_var IN LISTS ARGN) # ARGN is not a variable
In the first case, you can use if(${ARGV1}). In the second and third case, the proper way to check if an
optional variable was passed to the macro is to use if(${ARGC} GREATER 2). In the last case, you can use
foreach(loop_var ${ARGN}) but this will skip empty arguments. If you need to include them, you can use:
set(list_var "${ARGN}")
foreach(loop_var IN LISTS list_var)
Note that if you have a variable with the same name in the scope from which the macro is called, using
unreferenced names will use the existing variable instead of the arguments. For example:
macro(_BAR)
foreach(arg IN LISTS ARGN)
[...]
endforeach()
endmacro()
function(_FOO)
_bar(x y z)
endfunction()
_foo(a b c)
Will loop over a;b;c and not over x;y;z as one might be expecting. If you want true CMake variables
and/or better CMake scope control you should look at the function command.
mark_as_advanced
Mark cmake cached variables as advanced.
mark_as_advanced([CLEAR|FORCE] VAR [VAR2 ...])
Mark the named cached variables as advanced. An advanced variable will not be displayed in any of the
cmake GUIs unless the show advanced option is on. If CLEAR is the first argument advanced variables are
changed back to unadvanced. If FORCE is the first argument, then the variable is made advanced. If
neither FORCE nor CLEAR is specified, new values will be marked as advanced, but if the variable already
has an advanced/non-advanced state, it will not be changed.
It does nothing in script mode.
math
Mathematical expressions.
math(EXPR <output-variable> <math-expression>)
EXPR evaluates mathematical expression and returns result in the output variable. Example mathematical
expression is 5 * (10 + 13). Supported operators are +, -, *, /, %, |, &, ^, ~, <<, >>, and (...). They
have the same meaning as they do in C code.
message
Display a message to the user.
message([<mode>] "message to display" ...)
The optional <mode> keyword determines the type of message:
(none) = Important information
STATUS = Incidental information
WARNING = CMake Warning, continue processing
AUTHOR_WARNING = CMake Warning (dev), continue processing
SEND_ERROR = CMake Error, continue processing,
but skip generation
FATAL_ERROR = CMake Error, stop processing and generation
DEPRECATION = CMake Deprecation Error or Warning if variable
CMAKE_ERROR_DEPRECATED or CMAKE_WARN_DEPRECATED
is enabled, respectively, else no message.
The CMake command-line tool displays STATUS messages on stdout and all other message types on stderr.
The CMake GUI displays all messages in its log area. The interactive dialogs (ccmake and CMakeSetup)
show STATUS messages one at a time on a status line and other messages in interactive pop-up boxes.
CMake Warning and Error message text displays using a simple markup language. Non-indented text is
formatted in line-wrapped paragraphs delimited by newlines. Indented text is considered pre-formatted.
option
Provides an option that the user can optionally select.
option(<option_variable> "help string describing option"
[initial value])
Provide an option for the user to select as ON or OFF. If no initial value is provided, OFF is used.
If you have options that depend on the values of other options, see the module help for
CMakeDependentOption.
return
Return from a file, directory or function.
return()
Returns from a file, directory or function. When this command is encountered in an included file (via
include() or find_package()), it causes processing of the current file to stop and control is returned to
the including file. If it is encountered in a file which is not included by another file, e.g. a
CMakeLists.txt, control is returned to the parent directory if there is one. If return is called in a
function, control is returned to the caller of the function. Note that a macro is not a function and
does not handle return like a function does.
separate_arguments
Parse space-separated arguments into a semicolon-separated list.
separate_arguments(<var> <NATIVE|UNIX|WINDOWS>_COMMAND "<args>")
Parses a UNIX- or Windows-style command-line string “<args>” and stores a semicolon-separated list of the
arguments in <var>. The entire command line must be given in one “<args>” argument.
The UNIX_COMMAND mode separates arguments by unquoted whitespace. It recognizes both single-quote and
double-quote pairs. A backslash escapes the next literal character (\" is "); there are no special
escapes (\n is just n).
The WINDOWS_COMMAND mode parses a Windows command-line using the same syntax the runtime library uses to
construct argv at startup. It separates arguments by whitespace that is not double-quoted. Backslashes
are literal unless they precede double-quotes. See the MSDN article Parsing C Command-Line Arguments for
details.
The NATIVE_COMMAND mode parses a Windows command-line if the host system is Windows, and a UNIX
command-line otherwise.
separate_arguments(<var>)
Convert the value of <var> to a semi-colon separated list. All spaces are replaced with ‘;’. This helps
with generating command lines.
set_directory_properties
Set a property of the directory.
set_directory_properties(PROPERTIES prop1 value1 prop2 value2)
Set a property for the current directory and subdirectories. See Directory Properties for the list of
properties known to CMake.
set_property
Set a named property in a given scope.
set_property(<GLOBAL |
DIRECTORY [dir] |
TARGET [target1 [target2 ...]] |
SOURCE [src1 [src2 ...]] |
INSTALL [file1 [file2 ...]] |
TEST [test1 [test2 ...]] |
CACHE [entry1 [entry2 ...]]>
[APPEND] [APPEND_STRING]
PROPERTY <name> [value1 [value2 ...]])
Set one property on zero or more objects of a scope. The first argument determines the scope in which
the property is set. It must be one of the following:
GLOBAL Scope is unique and does not accept a name.
DIRECTORY
Scope defaults to the current directory but another directory (already processed by CMake) may be
named by full or relative path.
TARGET Scope may name zero or more existing targets.
SOURCE Scope may name zero or more source files. Note that source file properties are visible only to
targets added in the same directory (CMakeLists.txt).
INSTALL
Scope may name zero or more installed file paths. These are made available to CPack to influence
deployment.
Both the property key and value may use generator expressions. Specific properties may apply to
installed files and/or directories.
Path components have to be separated by forward slashes, must be normalized and are case
sensitive.
To reference the installation prefix itself with a relative path use “.”.
Currently installed file properties are only defined for the WIX generator where the given paths
are relative to the installation prefix.
TEST Scope may name zero or more existing tests.
CACHE Scope must name zero or more cache existing entries.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by the name of the property to set. Remaining
arguments are used to compose the property value in the form of a semicolon-separated list. If the
APPEND option is given the list is appended to any existing property value. If the APPEND_STRING option
is given the string is append to any existing property value as string, i.e. it results in a longer
string and not a list of strings.
See the cmake-properties(7) manual for a list of properties in each scope.
set
Set a normal, cache, or environment variable to a given value. See the cmake-language(7) variables
documentation for the scopes and interaction of normal variables and cache entries.
Signatures of this command that specify a <value>... placeholder expect zero or more arguments. Multiple
arguments will be joined as a ;-list to form the actual variable value to be set. Zero arguments will
cause normal variables to be unset. See the unset() command to unset variables explicitly.
Set Normal Variable
set(<variable> <value>... [PARENT_SCOPE])
Set the given <variable> in the current function or directory scope.
If the PARENT_SCOPE option is given the variable will be set in the scope above the current scope. Each
new directory or function creates a new scope. This command will set the value of a variable into the
parent directory or calling function (whichever is applicable to the case at hand). The previous state of
the variable’s value stays the same in the current scope (e.g., if it was undefined before, it is still
undefined and if it had a value, it is still that value).
Set Cache Entry
set(<variable> <value>... CACHE <type> <docstring> [FORCE])
Set the given cache <variable> (cache entry). Since cache entries are meant to provide user-settable
values this does not overwrite existing cache entries by default. Use the FORCE option to overwrite
existing entries.
The <type> must be specified as one of:
BOOL Boolean ON/OFF value. cmake-gui(1) offers a checkbox.
FILEPATH
Path to a file on disk. cmake-gui(1) offers a file dialog.
PATH Path to a directory on disk. cmake-gui(1) offers a file dialog.
STRING A line of text. cmake-gui(1) offers a text field or a drop-down selection if the STRINGS cache
entry property is set.
INTERNAL
A line of text. cmake-gui(1) does not show internal entries. They may be used to store variables
persistently across runs. Use of this type implies FORCE.
The <docstring> must be specified as a line of text providing a quick summary of the option for
presentation to cmake-gui(1) users.
If the cache entry does not exist prior to the call or the FORCE option is given then the cache entry
will be set to the given value. Furthermore, any normal variable binding in the current scope will be
removed to expose the newly cached value to any immediately following evaluation.
It is possible for the cache entry to exist prior to the call but have no type set if it was created on
the cmake(1) command line by a user through the -D<var>=<value> option without specifying a type. In
this case the set command will add the type. Furthermore, if the <type> is PATH or FILEPATH and the
<value> provided on the command line is a relative path, then the set command will treat the path as
relative to the current working directory and convert it to an absolute path.
Set Environment Variable
set(ENV{<variable>} <value>...)
Set the current process environment <variable> to the given value.
site_name
Set the given variable to the name of the computer.
site_name(variable)
string
String operations.
Search and Replace
FIND
string(FIND <string> <substring> <output variable> [REVERSE])
Return the position where the given substring was found in the supplied string. If the REVERSE flag was
used, the command will search for the position of the last occurrence of the specified substring. If the
substring is not found, a position of -1 is returned.
REPLACE
string(REPLACE <match_string>
<replace_string> <output variable>
<input> [<input>...])
Replace all occurrences of match_string in the input with replace_string and store the result in the
output.
Regular Expressions
REGEX MATCH
string(REGEX MATCH <regular_expression>
<output variable> <input> [<input>...])
Match the regular expression once and store the match in the output variable. All <input> arguments are
concatenated before matching.
REGEX MATCHALL
string(REGEX MATCHALL <regular_expression>
<output variable> <input> [<input>...])
Match the regular expression as many times as possible and store the matches in the output variable as a
list. All <input> arguments are concatenated before matching.
REGEX REPLACE
string(REGEX REPLACE <regular_expression>
<replace_expression> <output variable>
<input> [<input>...])
Match the regular expression as many times as possible and substitute the replacement expression for the
match in the output. All <input> arguments are concatenated before matching.
The replace expression may refer to paren-delimited subexpressions of the match using \1, \2, …, \9.
Note that two backslashes (\\1) are required in CMake code to get a backslash through argument parsing.
Regex Specification
The following characters have special meaning in regular expressions:
^ Matches at beginning of input
$ Matches at end of input
. Matches any single character
[ ] Matches any character(s) inside the brackets
[^ ] Matches any character(s) not inside the brackets
- Inside brackets, specifies an inclusive range between characters on either side e.g. [a-f] is
[abcdef] To match a literal - using brackets, make it the first or the last character e.g. [+*/-]
matches basic mathematical operators.
* Matches preceding pattern zero or more times
+ Matches preceding pattern one or more times
? Matches preceding pattern zero or once only
| Matches a pattern on either side of the |
() Saves a matched subexpression, which can be referenced in the REGEX REPLACE operation.
Additionally it is saved by all regular expression-related commands, including e.g. if(MATCHES),
in the variables CMAKE_MATCH_<n> for <n> 0..9.
*, + and ? have higher precedence than concatenation. | has lower precedence than concatenation. This
means that the regular expression ^ab+d$ matches abbd but not ababd, and the regular expression ^(ab|cd)$
matches ab but not abd.
Manipulation
APPEND
string(APPEND <string variable> [<input>...])
Append all the input arguments to the string.
PREPEND
string(PREPEND <string variable> [<input>...])
Prepend all the input arguments to the string.
CONCAT
string(CONCAT <output variable> [<input>...])
Concatenate all the input arguments together and store the result in the named output variable.
TOLOWER
string(TOLOWER <string1> <output variable>)
Convert string to lower characters.
TOUPPER
string(TOUPPER <string1> <output variable>)
Convert string to upper characters.
LENGTH
string(LENGTH <string> <output variable>)
Store in an output variable a given string’s length.
SUBSTRING
string(SUBSTRING <string> <begin> <length> <output variable>)
Store in an output variable a substring of a given string. If length is -1 the remainder of the string
starting at begin will be returned. If string is shorter than length then end of string is used instead.
NOTE:
CMake 3.1 and below reported an error if length pointed past the end of string.
STRIP
string(STRIP <string> <output variable>)
Store in an output variable a substring of a given string with leading and trailing spaces removed.
GENEX_STRIP
string(GENEX_STRIP <input string> <output variable>)
Strip any generator expressions from the input string and store the result in the output variable.
Comparison
string(COMPARE LESS <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE GREATER <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE EQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE NOTEQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE LESS_EQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE GREATER_EQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
Compare the strings and store true or false in the output variable.
Hashing
string(<HASH> <output variable> <input>)
Compute a cryptographic hash of the input string. The supported <HASH> algorithm names are:
MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm 5, RFC 1321.
SHA1 US Secure Hash Algorithm 1, RFC 3174.
SHA224 US Secure Hash Algorithms, RFC 4634.
SHA256 US Secure Hash Algorithms, RFC 4634.
SHA384 US Secure Hash Algorithms, RFC 4634.
SHA512 US Secure Hash Algorithms, RFC 4634.
SHA3_224
Keccak SHA-3.
SHA3_256
Keccak SHA-3.
SHA3_384
Keccak SHA-3.
SHA3_512
Keccak SHA-3.
Generation
ASCII
string(ASCII <number> [<number> ...] <output variable>)
Convert all numbers into corresponding ASCII characters.
CONFIGURE
string(CONFIGURE <string1> <output variable>
[@ONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES])
Transform a string like configure_file() transforms a file.
RANDOM
string(RANDOM [LENGTH <length>] [ALPHABET <alphabet>]
[RANDOM_SEED <seed>] <output variable>)
Return a random string of given length consisting of characters from the given alphabet. Default length
is 5 characters and default alphabet is all numbers and upper and lower case letters. If an integer
RANDOM_SEED is given, its value will be used to seed the random number generator.
TIMESTAMP
string(TIMESTAMP <output variable> [<format string>] [UTC])
Write a string representation of the current date and/or time to the output variable.
Should the command be unable to obtain a timestamp the output variable will be set to the empty string
“”.
The optional UTC flag requests the current date/time representation to be in Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC) rather than local time.
The optional <format string> may contain the following format specifiers:
%% A literal percent sign (%).
%d The day of the current month (01-31).
%H The hour on a 24-hour clock (00-23).
%I The hour on a 12-hour clock (01-12).
%j The day of the current year (001-366).
%m The month of the current year (01-12).
%b Abbreviated month name (e.g. Oct).
%B Full month name (e.g. October).
%M The minute of the current hour (00-59).
%s Seconds since midnight (UTC) 1-Jan-1970 (UNIX time).
%S The second of the current minute.
60 represents a leap second. (00-60)
%U The week number of the current year (00-53).
%w The day of the current week. 0 is Sunday. (0-6)
%a Abbreviated weekday name (e.g. Fri).
%A Full weekday name (e.g. Friday).
%y The last two digits of the current year (00-99)
%Y The current year.
Unknown format specifiers will be ignored and copied to the output as-is.
If no explicit <format string> is given it will default to:
%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S for local time.
%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ for UTC.
string(MAKE_C_IDENTIFIER <input string> <output variable>)
Write a string which can be used as an identifier in C.
NOTE:
If the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable is set, its value will be used instead of the current
time. See https://reproducible-builds.org/specs/source-date-epoch/ for details.
UUID
string(UUID <output variable> NAMESPACE <namespace> NAME <name>
TYPE <MD5|SHA1> [UPPER])
Create a univerally unique identifier (aka GUID) as per RFC4122 based on the hash of the combined values
of <namespace> (which itself has to be a valid UUID) and <name>. The hash algorithm can be either MD5
(Version 3 UUID) or SHA1 (Version 5 UUID). A UUID has the format xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
where each x represents a lower case hexadecimal character. Where required an uppercase representation
can be requested with the optional UPPER flag.
unset
Unset a variable, cache variable, or environment variable.
unset(<variable> [CACHE | PARENT_SCOPE])
Removes the specified variable causing it to become undefined. If CACHE is present then the variable is
removed from the cache instead of the current scope.
If PARENT_SCOPE is present then the variable is removed from the scope above the current scope. See the
same option in the set() command for further details.
<variable> can be an environment variable such as:
unset(ENV{LD_LIBRARY_PATH})
in which case the variable will be removed from the current environment.
variable_watch
Watch the CMake variable for change.
variable_watch(<variable name> [<command to execute>])
If the specified variable changes, the message will be printed about the variable being changed. If the
command is specified, the command will be executed. The command will receive the following arguments:
COMMAND(<variable> <access> <value> <current list file> <stack>)
while
Evaluate a group of commands while a condition is true
while(condition)
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endwhile(condition)
All commands between while and the matching endwhile() are recorded without being invoked. Once the
endwhile() is evaluated, the recorded list of commands is invoked as long as the condition is true. The
condition is evaluated using the same logic as the if() command.
PROJECT COMMANDS
These commands are available only in CMake projects.
add_compile_options
Adds options to the compilation of source files.
add_compile_options(<option> ...)
Adds options to the compiler command line for targets in the current directory and below that are added
after this command is invoked. See documentation of the directory and target COMPILE_OPTIONS properties.
This command can be used to add any options, but alternative commands exist to add preprocessor
definitions (target_compile_definitions() and add_definitions()) or include directories
(target_include_directories() and include_directories()).
Arguments to add_compile_options may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
add_custom_command
Add a custom build rule to the generated build system.
There are two main signatures for add_custom_command.
Generating Files
The first signature is for adding a custom command to produce an output:
add_custom_command(OUTPUT output1 [output2 ...]
COMMAND command1 [ARGS] [args1...]
[COMMAND command2 [ARGS] [args2...] ...]
[MAIN_DEPENDENCY depend]
[DEPENDS [depends...]]
[BYPRODUCTS [files...]]
[IMPLICIT_DEPENDS <lang1> depend1
[<lang2> depend2] ...]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment]
[DEPFILE depfile]
[VERBATIM] [APPEND] [USES_TERMINAL]
[COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS])
This defines a command to generate specified OUTPUT file(s). A target created in the same directory
(CMakeLists.txt file) that specifies any output of the custom command as a source file is given a rule to
generate the file using the command at build time. Do not list the output in more than one independent
target that may build in parallel or the two instances of the rule may conflict (instead use the
add_custom_target() command to drive the command and make the other targets depend on that one). In
makefile terms this creates a new target in the following form:
OUTPUT: MAIN_DEPENDENCY DEPENDS
COMMAND
The options are:
APPEND Append the COMMAND and DEPENDS option values to the custom command for the first output specified.
There must have already been a previous call to this command with the same output. The COMMENT,
MAIN_DEPENDENCY, and WORKING_DIRECTORY options are currently ignored when APPEND is given, but may
be used in the future.
BYPRODUCTS
Specify the files the command is expected to produce but whose modification time may or may not be
newer than the dependencies. If a byproduct name is a relative path it will be interpreted
relative to the build tree directory corresponding to the current source directory. Each
byproduct file will be marked with the GENERATED source file property automatically.
Explicit specification of byproducts is supported by the Ninja generator to tell the ninja build
tool how to regenerate byproducts when they are missing. It is also useful when other build rules
(e.g. custom commands) depend on the byproducts. Ninja requires a build rule for any generated
file on which another rule depends even if there are order-only dependencies to ensure the
byproducts will be available before their dependents build.
The BYPRODUCTS option is ignored on non-Ninja generators except to mark byproducts GENERATED.
COMMAND
Specify the command-line(s) to execute at build time. If more than one COMMAND is specified they
will be executed in order, but not necessarily composed into a stateful shell or batch script.
(To run a full script, use the configure_file() command or the file(GENERATE) command to create
it, and then specify a COMMAND to launch it.) The optional ARGS argument is for backward
compatibility and will be ignored.
If COMMAND specifies an executable target name (created by the add_executable() command) it will
automatically be replaced by the location of the executable created at build time. If set, the
CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR executable target property will also be prepended to the command to allow
the executable to run on the host. (Use the TARGET_FILE generator expression to reference an
executable later in the command line.) Additionally a target-level dependency will be added so
that the executable target will be built before any target using this custom command. However
this does NOT add a file-level dependency that would cause the custom command to re-run whenever
the executable is recompiled.
Arguments to COMMAND may use generator expressions. References to target names in generator
expressions imply target-level dependencies, but NOT file-level dependencies. List target names
with the DEPENDS option to add file-level dependencies.
COMMENT
Display the given message before the commands are executed at build time.
DEPENDS
Specify files on which the command depends. If any dependency is an OUTPUT of another custom
command in the same directory (CMakeLists.txt file) CMake automatically brings the other custom
command into the target in which this command is built. If DEPENDS is not specified the command
will run whenever the OUTPUT is missing; if the command does not actually create the OUTPUT then
the rule will always run. If DEPENDS specifies any target (created by the add_custom_target(),
add_executable(), or add_library() command) a target-level dependency is created to make sure the
target is built before any target using this custom command. Additionally, if the target is an
executable or library a file-level dependency is created to cause the custom command to re-run
whenever the target is recompiled.
Arguments to DEPENDS may use generator expressions.
COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
Lists in COMMAND arguments will be expanded, including those created with generator expressions,
allowing COMMAND arguments such as ${CC}
"-I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>,;-I>" foo.cc to be properly expanded.
IMPLICIT_DEPENDS
Request scanning of implicit dependencies of an input file. The language given specifies the
programming language whose corresponding dependency scanner should be used. Currently only C and
CXX language scanners are supported. The language has to be specified for every file in the
IMPLICIT_DEPENDS list. Dependencies discovered from the scanning are added to those of the custom
command at build time. Note that the IMPLICIT_DEPENDS option is currently supported only for
Makefile generators and will be ignored by other generators.
MAIN_DEPENDENCY
Specify the primary input source file to the command. This is treated just like any value given
to the DEPENDS option but also suggests to Visual Studio generators where to hang the custom
command. At most one custom command may specify a given source file as its main dependency.
OUTPUT Specify the output files the command is expected to produce. If an output name is a relative path
it will be interpreted relative to the build tree directory corresponding to the current source
directory. Each output file will be marked with the GENERATED source file property automatically.
If the output of the custom command is not actually created as a file on disk it should be marked
with the SYMBOLIC source file property.
USES_TERMINAL
The command will be given direct access to the terminal if possible. With the Ninja generator,
this places the command in the console pool.
VERBATIM
All arguments to the commands will be escaped properly for the build tool so that the invoked
command receives each argument unchanged. Note that one level of escapes is still used by the
CMake language processor before add_custom_command even sees the arguments. Use of VERBATIM is
recommended as it enables correct behavior. When VERBATIM is not given the behavior is platform
specific because there is no protection of tool-specific special characters.
WORKING_DIRECTORY
Execute the command with the given current working directory. If it is a relative path it will be
interpreted relative to the build tree directory corresponding to the current source directory.
DEPFILE
Specify a .d depfile for the Ninja generator. A .d file holds dependencies usually emitted by the
custom command itself. Using DEPFILE with other generators than Ninja is an error.
Build Events
The second signature adds a custom command to a target such as a library or executable. This is useful
for performing an operation before or after building the target. The command becomes part of the target
and will only execute when the target itself is built. If the target is already built, the command will
not execute.
add_custom_command(TARGET <target>
PRE_BUILD | PRE_LINK | POST_BUILD
COMMAND command1 [ARGS] [args1...]
[COMMAND command2 [ARGS] [args2...] ...]
[BYPRODUCTS [files...]]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment]
[VERBATIM] [USES_TERMINAL])
This defines a new command that will be associated with building the specified <target>. The <target>
must be defined in the current directory; targets defined in other directories may not be specified.
When the command will happen is determined by which of the following is specified:
PRE_BUILD
Run before any other rules are executed within the target. This is supported only on Visual
Studio 8 or later. For all other generators PRE_BUILD will be treated as PRE_LINK.
PRE_LINK
Run after sources have been compiled but before linking the binary or running the librarian or
archiver tool of a static library. This is not defined for targets created by the
add_custom_target() command.
POST_BUILD
Run after all other rules within the target have been executed.
NOTE:
Because generator expressions can be used in custom commands, it is possible to define COMMAND lines
or whole custom commands which evaluate to empty strings for certain configurations. For Visual
Studio 2010 (and newer) generators these command lines or custom commands will be omitted for the
specific configuration and no “empty-string-command” will be added.
This allows to add individual build events for every configuration.
add_custom_target
Add a target with no output so it will always be built.
add_custom_target(Name [ALL] [command1 [args1...]]
[COMMAND command2 [args2...] ...]
[DEPENDS depend depend depend ... ]
[BYPRODUCTS [files...]]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment]
[VERBATIM] [USES_TERMINAL]
[COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS]
[SOURCES src1 [src2...]])
Adds a target with the given name that executes the given commands. The target has no output file and is
always considered out of date even if the commands try to create a file with the name of the target. Use
the add_custom_command() command to generate a file with dependencies. By default nothing depends on the
custom target. Use the add_dependencies() command to add dependencies to or from other targets.
The options are:
ALL Indicate that this target should be added to the default build target so that it will be run every
time (the command cannot be called ALL).
BYPRODUCTS
Specify the files the command is expected to produce but whose modification time may or may not be
updated on subsequent builds. If a byproduct name is a relative path it will be interpreted
relative to the build tree directory corresponding to the current source directory. Each
byproduct file will be marked with the GENERATED source file property automatically.
Explicit specification of byproducts is supported by the Ninja generator to tell the ninja build
tool how to regenerate byproducts when they are missing. It is also useful when other build rules
(e.g. custom commands) depend on the byproducts. Ninja requires a build rule for any generated
file on which another rule depends even if there are order-only dependencies to ensure the
byproducts will be available before their dependents build.
The BYPRODUCTS option is ignored on non-Ninja generators except to mark byproducts GENERATED.
COMMAND
Specify the command-line(s) to execute at build time. If more than one COMMAND is specified they
will be executed in order, but not necessarily composed into a stateful shell or batch script.
(To run a full script, use the configure_file() command or the file(GENERATE) command to create
it, and then specify a COMMAND to launch it.)
If COMMAND specifies an executable target name (created by the add_executable() command) it will
automatically be replaced by the location of the executable created at build time. If set, the
CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR executable target property will also be prepended to the command to allow
the executable to run on the host. Additionally a target-level dependency will be added so that
the executable target will be built before this custom target.
Arguments to COMMAND may use generator expressions. References to target names in generator
expressions imply target-level dependencies.
The command and arguments are optional and if not specified an empty target will be created.
COMMENT
Display the given message before the commands are executed at build time.
DEPENDS
Reference files and outputs of custom commands created with add_custom_command() command calls in
the same directory (CMakeLists.txt file). They will be brought up to date when the target is
built.
Use the add_dependencies() command to add dependencies on other targets.
COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
Lists in COMMAND arguments will be expanded, including those created with generator expressions,
allowing COMMAND arguments such as ${CC}
"-I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>,;-I>" foo.cc to be properly expanded.
SOURCES
Specify additional source files to be included in the custom target. Specified source files will
be added to IDE project files for convenience in editing even if they have no build rules.
VERBATIM
All arguments to the commands will be escaped properly for the build tool so that the invoked
command receives each argument unchanged. Note that one level of escapes is still used by the
CMake language processor before add_custom_target even sees the arguments. Use of VERBATIM is
recommended as it enables correct behavior. When VERBATIM is not given the behavior is platform
specific because there is no protection of tool-specific special characters.
USES_TERMINAL
The command will be given direct access to the terminal if possible. With the Ninja generator,
this places the command in the console pool.
WORKING_DIRECTORY
Execute the command with the given current working directory. If it is a relative path it will be
interpreted relative to the build tree directory corresponding to the current source directory.
add_definitions
Adds -D define flags to the compilation of source files.
add_definitions(-DFOO -DBAR ...)
Adds definitions to the compiler command line for targets in the current directory and below (whether
added before or after this command is invoked). This command can be used to add any flags, but it is
intended to add preprocessor definitions (see the add_compile_options() command to add other flags).
Flags beginning in -D or /D that look like preprocessor definitions are automatically added to the
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS directory property for the current directory. Definitions with non-trivial values
may be left in the set of flags instead of being converted for reasons of backwards compatibility. See
documentation of the directory, target, source file COMPILE_DEFINITIONS properties for details on adding
preprocessor definitions to specific scopes and configurations.
See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.
add_dependencies
Add a dependency between top-level targets.
add_dependencies(<target> [<target-dependency>]...)
Make a top-level <target> depend on other top-level targets to ensure that they build before <target>
does. A top-level target is one created by one of the add_executable(), add_library(), or
add_custom_target() commands (but not targets generated by CMake like install).
Dependencies added to an imported target or an interface library are followed transitively in its place
since the target itself does not build.
See the DEPENDS option of add_custom_target() and add_custom_command() commands for adding file-level
dependencies in custom rules. See the OBJECT_DEPENDS source file property to add file-level dependencies
to object files.
add_executable
Add an executable to the project using the specified source files.
add_executable(<name> [WIN32] [MACOSX_BUNDLE]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
source1 [source2 ...])
Adds an executable target called <name> to be built from the source files listed in the command
invocation. The <name> corresponds to the logical target name and must be globally unique within a
project. The actual file name of the executable built is constructed based on conventions of the native
platform (such as <name>.exe or just <name>).
By default the executable file will be created in the build tree directory corresponding to the source
tree directory in which the command was invoked. See documentation of the RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
target property to change this location. See documentation of the OUTPUT_NAME target property to change
the <name> part of the final file name.
If WIN32 is given the property WIN32_EXECUTABLE will be set on the target created. See documentation of
that target property for details.
If MACOSX_BUNDLE is given the corresponding property will be set on the created target. See
documentation of the MACOSX_BUNDLE target property for details.
If EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL is given the corresponding property will be set on the created target. See
documentation of the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property for details.
Source arguments to add_executable may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
See also HEADER_FILE_ONLY on what to do if some sources are pre-processed, and you want to have the
original sources reachable from within IDE.
----
add_executable(<name> IMPORTED [GLOBAL])
An IMPORTED executable target references an executable file located outside the project. No rules are
generated to build it, and the IMPORTED target property is True. The target name has scope in the
directory in which it is created and below, but the GLOBAL option extends visibility. It may be
referenced like any target built within the project. IMPORTED executables are useful for convenient
reference from commands like add_custom_command(). Details about the imported executable are specified
by setting properties whose names begin in IMPORTED_. The most important such property is
IMPORTED_LOCATION (and its per-configuration version IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>) which specifies the
location of the main executable file on disk. See documentation of the IMPORTED_* properties for more
information.
----
add_executable(<name> ALIAS <target>)
Creates an Alias Target, such that <name> can be used to refer to <target> in subsequent commands. The
<name> does not appear in the generated buildsystem as a make target. The <target> may not be an
Imported Target or an ALIAS. ALIAS targets can be used as targets to read properties from, executables
for custom commands and custom targets. They can also be tested for existence with the regular
if(TARGET) subcommand. The <name> may not be used to modify properties of <target>, that is, it may not
be used as the operand of set_property(), set_target_properties(), target_link_libraries() etc. An ALIAS
target may not be installed or exported.
add_library
Add a library to the project using the specified source files.
Normal Libraries
add_library(<name> [STATIC | SHARED | MODULE]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
source1 [source2 ...])
Adds a library target called <name> to be built from the source files listed in the command invocation.
The <name> corresponds to the logical target name and must be globally unique within a project. The
actual file name of the library built is constructed based on conventions of the native platform (such as
lib<name>.a or <name>.lib).
STATIC, SHARED, or MODULE may be given to specify the type of library to be created. STATIC libraries
are archives of object files for use when linking other targets. SHARED libraries are linked dynamically
and loaded at runtime. MODULE libraries are plugins that are not linked into other targets but may be
loaded dynamically at runtime using dlopen-like functionality. If no type is given explicitly the type
is STATIC or SHARED based on whether the current value of the variable BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is ON. For
SHARED and MODULE libraries the POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE target property is set to ON automatically. A
SHARED or STATIC library may be marked with the FRAMEWORK target property to create an OS X Framework.
If a library does not export any symbols, it must not be declared as a SHARED library. For example, a
Windows resource DLL or a managed C++/CLI DLL that exports no unmanaged symbols would need to be a MODULE
library. This is because CMake expects a SHARED library to always have an associated import library on
Windows.
By default the library file will be created in the build tree directory corresponding to the source tree
directory in which the command was invoked. See documentation of the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY,
LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, and RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY target properties to change this location. See
documentation of the OUTPUT_NAME target property to change the <name> part of the final file name.
If EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL is given the corresponding property will be set on the created target. See
documentation of the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property for details.
Source arguments to add_library may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
See also HEADER_FILE_ONLY on what to do if some sources are pre-processed, and you want to have the
original sources reachable from within IDE.
Imported Libraries
add_library(<name> <SHARED|STATIC|MODULE|OBJECT|UNKNOWN> IMPORTED
[GLOBAL])
An IMPORTED library target references a library file located outside the project. No rules are generated
to build it, and the IMPORTED target property is True. The target name has scope in the directory in
which it is created and below, but the GLOBAL option extends visibility. It may be referenced like any
target built within the project. IMPORTED libraries are useful for convenient reference from commands
like target_link_libraries(). Details about the imported library are specified by setting properties
whose names begin in IMPORTED_ and INTERFACE_. The most important such property is IMPORTED_LOCATION
(and its per-configuration variant IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>) which specifies the location of the main
library file on disk. See documentation of the IMPORTED_* and INTERFACE_* properties for more
information.
Object Libraries
add_library(<name> OBJECT <src>...)
Creates an Object Library. An object library compiles source files but does not archive or link their
object files into a library. Instead other targets created by add_library() or add_executable() may
reference the objects using an expression of the form $<TARGET_OBJECTS:objlib> as a source, where objlib
is the object library name. For example:
add_library(... $<TARGET_OBJECTS:objlib> ...)
add_executable(... $<TARGET_OBJECTS:objlib> ...)
will include objlib’s object files in a library and an executable along with those compiled from their
own sources. Object libraries may contain only sources that compile, header files, and other files that
would not affect linking of a normal library (e.g. .txt). They may contain custom commands generating
such sources, but not PRE_BUILD, PRE_LINK, or POST_BUILD commands. Object libraries cannot be linked.
Some native build systems may not like targets that have only object files, so consider adding at least
one real source file to any target that references $<TARGET_OBJECTS:objlib>.
Alias Libraries
add_library(<name> ALIAS <target>)
Creates an Alias Target, such that <name> can be used to refer to <target> in subsequent commands. The
<name> does not appear in the generated buildsystem as a make target. The <target> may not be an
Imported Target or an ALIAS. ALIAS targets can be used as linkable targets and as targets to read
properties from. They can also be tested for existence with the regular if(TARGET) subcommand. The
<name> may not be used to modify properties of <target>, that is, it may not be used as the operand of
set_property(), set_target_properties(), target_link_libraries() etc. An ALIAS target may not be
installed or exported.
Interface Libraries
add_library(<name> INTERFACE [IMPORTED [GLOBAL]])
Creates an Interface Library. An INTERFACE library target does not directly create build output, though
it may have properties set on it and it may be installed, exported and imported. Typically the
INTERFACE_* properties are populated on the interface target using the commands:
• set_property(),
• target_link_libraries(INTERFACE),
• target_include_directories(INTERFACE),
• target_compile_options(INTERFACE),
• target_compile_definitions(INTERFACE), and
• target_sources(INTERFACE),
and then it is used as an argument to target_link_libraries() like any other target.
An INTERFACE Imported Target may also be created with this signature. An IMPORTED library target
references a library defined outside the project. The target name has scope in the directory in which it
is created and below, but the GLOBAL option extends visibility. It may be referenced like any target
built within the project. IMPORTED libraries are useful for convenient reference from commands like
target_link_libraries().
add_subdirectory
Add a subdirectory to the build.
add_subdirectory(source_dir [binary_dir]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL])
Add a subdirectory to the build. The source_dir specifies the directory in which the source
CMakeLists.txt and code files are located. If it is a relative path it will be evaluated with respect to
the current directory (the typical usage), but it may also be an absolute path. The binary_dir specifies
the directory in which to place the output files. If it is a relative path it will be evaluated with
respect to the current output directory, but it may also be an absolute path. If binary_dir is not
specified, the value of source_dir, before expanding any relative path, will be used (the typical usage).
The CMakeLists.txt file in the specified source directory will be processed immediately by CMake before
processing in the current input file continues beyond this command.
If the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL argument is provided then targets in the subdirectory will not be included in the
ALL target of the parent directory by default, and will be excluded from IDE project files. Users must
explicitly build targets in the subdirectory. This is meant for use when the subdirectory contains a
separate part of the project that is useful but not necessary, such as a set of examples. Typically the
subdirectory should contain its own project() command invocation so that a full build system will be
generated in the subdirectory (such as a VS IDE solution file). Note that inter-target dependencies
supercede this exclusion. If a target built by the parent project depends on a target in the
subdirectory, the dependee target will be included in the parent project build system to satisfy the
dependency.
add_test
Add a test to the project to be run by ctest(1).
add_test(NAME <name> COMMAND <command> [<arg>...]
[CONFIGURATIONS <config>...]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY <dir>])
Add a test called <name>. The test name may not contain spaces, quotes, or other characters special in
CMake syntax. The options are:
COMMAND
Specify the test command-line. If <command> specifies an executable target (created by
add_executable()) it will automatically be replaced by the location of the executable created at
build time.
CONFIGURATIONS
Restrict execution of the test only to the named configurations.
WORKING_DIRECTORY
Set the WORKING_DIRECTORY test property to specify the working directory in which to execute the
test. If not specified the test will be run with the current working directory set to the build
directory corresponding to the current source directory.
The given test command is expected to exit with code 0 to pass and non-zero to fail, or vice-versa if the
WILL_FAIL test property is set. Any output written to stdout or stderr will be captured by ctest(1) but
does not affect the pass/fail status unless the PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION or FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION test
property is used.
The COMMAND and WORKING_DIRECTORY options may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See
the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.
Example usage:
add_test(NAME mytest
COMMAND testDriver --config $<CONFIGURATION>
--exe $<TARGET_FILE:myexe>)
This creates a test mytest whose command runs a testDriver tool passing the configuration name and the
full path to the executable file produced by target myexe.
NOTE:
CMake will generate tests only if the enable_testing() command has been invoked. The CTest module
invokes the command automatically when the BUILD_TESTING option is ON.
----
add_test(<name> <command> [<arg>...])
Add a test called <name> with the given command-line. Unlike the above NAME signature no transformation
is performed on the command-line to support target names or generator expressions.
aux_source_directory
Find all source files in a directory.
aux_source_directory(<dir> <variable>)
Collects the names of all the source files in the specified directory and stores the list in the
<variable> provided. This command is intended to be used by projects that use explicit template
instantiation. Template instantiation files can be stored in a “Templates” subdirectory and collected
automatically using this command to avoid manually listing all instantiations.
It is tempting to use this command to avoid writing the list of source files for a library or executable
target. While this seems to work, there is no way for CMake to generate a build system that knows when a
new source file has been added. Normally the generated build system knows when it needs to rerun CMake
because the CMakeLists.txt file is modified to add a new source. When the source is just added to the
directory without modifying this file, one would have to manually rerun CMake to generate a build system
incorporating the new file.
build_command
Get a command line to build the current project. This is mainly intended for internal use by the CTest
module.
build_command(<variable>
[CONFIGURATION <config>]
[TARGET <target>]
[PROJECT_NAME <projname>] # legacy, causes warning
)
Sets the given <variable> to a command-line string of the form:
<cmake> --build . [--config <config>] [--target <target>] [-- -i]
where <cmake> is the location of the cmake(1) command-line tool, and <config> and <target> are the values
provided to the CONFIGURATION and TARGET options, if any. The trailing -- -i option is added for
Makefile Generators if policy CMP0061 is not set to NEW.
When invoked, this cmake --build command line will launch the underlying build system tool.
build_command(<cachevariable> <makecommand>)
This second signature is deprecated, but still available for backwards compatibility. Use the first
signature instead.
It sets the given <cachevariable> to a command-line string as above but without the --target option. The
<makecommand> is ignored but should be the full path to devenv, nmake, make or one of the end user build
tools for legacy invocations.
NOTE:
In CMake versions prior to 3.0 this command returned a command line that directly invokes the native
build tool for the current generator. Their implementation of the PROJECT_NAME option had no useful
effects, so CMake now warns on use of the option.
create_test_sourcelist
Create a test driver and source list for building test programs.
create_test_sourcelist(sourceListName driverName
test1 test2 test3
EXTRA_INCLUDE include.h
FUNCTION function)
A test driver is a program that links together many small tests into a single executable. This is useful
when building static executables with large libraries to shrink the total required size. The list of
source files needed to build the test driver will be in sourceListName. driverName is the name of the
test driver program. The rest of the arguments consist of a list of test source files, can be semicolon
separated. Each test source file should have a function in it that is the same name as the file with no
extension (foo.cxx should have int foo(int, char*[]);) driverName will be able to call each of the tests
by name on the command line. If EXTRA_INCLUDE is specified, then the next argument is included into the
generated file. If FUNCTION is specified, then the next argument is taken as a function name that is
passed a pointer to ac and av. This can be used to add extra command line processing to each test. The
CMAKE_TESTDRIVER_BEFORE_TESTMAIN cmake variable can be set to have code that will be placed directly
before calling the test main function. CMAKE_TESTDRIVER_AFTER_TESTMAIN can be set to have code that will
be placed directly after the call to the test main function.
define_property
Define and document custom properties.
define_property(<GLOBAL | DIRECTORY | TARGET | SOURCE |
TEST | VARIABLE | CACHED_VARIABLE>
PROPERTY <name> [INHERITED]
BRIEF_DOCS <brief-doc> [docs...]
FULL_DOCS <full-doc> [docs...])
Define one property in a scope for use with the set_property() and get_property() commands. This is
primarily useful to associate documentation with property names that may be retrieved with the
get_property() command. The first argument determines the kind of scope in which the property should be
used. It must be one of the following:
GLOBAL = associated with the global namespace
DIRECTORY = associated with one directory
TARGET = associated with one target
SOURCE = associated with one source file
TEST = associated with a test named with add_test
VARIABLE = documents a CMake language variable
CACHED_VARIABLE = documents a CMake cache variable
Note that unlike set_property() and get_property() no actual scope needs to be given; only the kind of
scope is important.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by the name of the property being defined.
If the INHERITED option then the get_property() command will chain up to the next higher scope when the
requested property is not set in the scope given to the command. DIRECTORY scope chains to GLOBAL.
TARGET, SOURCE, and TEST chain to DIRECTORY.
The BRIEF_DOCS and FULL_DOCS options are followed by strings to be associated with the property as its
brief and full documentation. Corresponding options to the get_property() command will retrieve the
documentation.
enable_language
Enable a language (CXX/C/Fortran/etc)
enable_language(<lang> [OPTIONAL] )
This command enables support for the named language in CMake. This is the same as the project command
but does not create any of the extra variables that are created by the project command. Example
languages are CXX, C, Fortran.
This command must be called in file scope, not in a function call. Furthermore, it must be called in the
highest directory common to all targets using the named language directly for compiling sources or
indirectly through link dependencies. It is simplest to enable all needed languages in the top-level
directory of a project.
The OPTIONAL keyword is a placeholder for future implementation and does not currently work.
enable_testing
Enable testing for current directory and below.
enable_testing()
Enables testing for this directory and below. See also the add_test() command. Note that ctest expects
to find a test file in the build directory root. Therefore, this command should be in the source
directory root.
export
Export targets from the build tree for use by outside projects.
export(EXPORT <export-name> [NAMESPACE <namespace>] [FILE <filename>])
Create a file <filename> that may be included by outside projects to import targets from the current
project’s build tree. This is useful during cross-compiling to build utility executables that can run on
the host platform in one project and then import them into another project being compiled for the target
platform. If the NAMESPACE option is given the <namespace> string will be prepended to all target names
written to the file.
Target installations are associated with the export <export-name> using the EXPORT option of the
install(TARGETS) command.
The file created by this command is specific to the build tree and should never be installed. See the
install(EXPORT) command to export targets from an installation tree.
The properties set on the generated IMPORTED targets will have the same values as the final values of the
input TARGETS.
export(TARGETS [target1 [target2 [...]]] [NAMESPACE <namespace>]
[APPEND] FILE <filename> [EXPORT_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES])
This signature is similar to the EXPORT signature, but targets are listed explicitly rather than
specified as an export-name. If the APPEND option is given the generated code will be appended to the
file instead of overwriting it. The EXPORT_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES keyword, if present, causes the
contents of the properties matching (IMPORTED_)?LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES(_<CONFIG>)? to be exported, when
policy CMP0022 is NEW. If a library target is included in the export but a target to which it links is
not included the behavior is unspecified.
export(PACKAGE <name>)
Store the current build directory in the CMake user package registry for package <name>. The
find_package command may consider the directory while searching for package <name>. This helps dependent
projects find and use a package from the current project’s build tree without help from the user. Note
that the entry in the package registry that this command creates works only in conjunction with a package
configuration file (<name>Config.cmake) that works with the build tree. In some cases, for example for
packaging and for system wide installations, it is not desirable to write the user package registry. If
the CMAKE_EXPORT_NO_PACKAGE_REGISTRY variable is enabled, the export(PACKAGE) command will do nothing.
export(TARGETS [target1 [target2 [...]]] [ANDROID_MK <filename>])
This signature exports cmake built targets to the android ndk build system by creating an Android.mk file
that references the prebuilt targets. The Android NDK supports the use of prebuilt libraries, both static
and shared. This allows cmake to build the libraries of a project and make them available to an ndk
build system complete with transitive dependencies, include flags and defines required to use the
libraries. The signature takes a list of targets and puts them in the Android.mk file specified by the
<filename> given. This signature can only be used if policy CMP0022 is NEW for all targets given. A error
will be issued if that policy is set to OLD for one of the targets.
fltk_wrap_ui
Create FLTK user interfaces Wrappers.
fltk_wrap_ui(resultingLibraryName source1
source2 ... sourceN )
Produce .h and .cxx files for all the .fl and .fld files listed. The resulting .h and .cxx files will be
added to a variable named resultingLibraryName_FLTK_UI_SRCS which should be added to your library.
get_source_file_property
Get a property for a source file.
get_source_file_property(VAR file property)
Get a property from a source file. The value of the property is stored in the variable VAR. If the
property is not found, VAR will be set to “NOTFOUND”. Use set_source_files_properties() to set property
values. Source file properties usually control how the file is built. One property that is always there
is LOCATION
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_target_property
Get a property from a target.
get_target_property(VAR target property)
Get a property from a target. The value of the property is stored in the variable VAR. If the property
is not found, VAR will be set to “NOTFOUND”. Use set_target_properties() to set property values.
Properties are usually used to control how a target is built, but some query the target instead. This
command can get properties for any target so far created. The targets do not need to be in the current
CMakeLists.txt file.
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_test_property
Get a property of the test.
get_test_property(test property VAR)
Get a property from the test. The value of the property is stored in the variable VAR. If the test or
property is not found, VAR will be set to “NOTFOUND”. For a list of standard properties you can type
cmake --help-property-list.
See also the more general get_property() command.
include_directories
Add include directories to the build.
include_directories([AFTER|BEFORE] [SYSTEM] dir1 [dir2 ...])
Add the given directories to those the compiler uses to search for include files. Relative paths are
interpreted as relative to the current source directory.
The include directories are added to the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES directory property for the current
CMakeLists file. They are also added to the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property for each target in the
current CMakeLists file. The target property values are the ones used by the generators.
By default the directories specified are appended onto the current list of directories. This default
behavior can be changed by setting CMAKE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES_BEFORE to ON. By using AFTER or BEFORE
explicitly, you can select between appending and prepending, independent of the default.
If the SYSTEM option is given, the compiler will be told the directories are meant as system include
directories on some platforms. Signalling this setting might achieve effects such as the compiler
skipping warnings, or these fixed-install system files not being considered in dependency calculations -
see compiler docs.
Arguments to include_directories may use “generator expressions” with the syntax “$<…>”. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
include_external_msproject
Include an external Microsoft project file in a workspace.
include_external_msproject(projectname location
[TYPE projectTypeGUID]
[GUID projectGUID]
[PLATFORM platformName]
dep1 dep2 ...)
Includes an external Microsoft project in the generated workspace file. Currently does nothing on UNIX.
This will create a target named [projectname]. This can be used in the add_dependencies() command to
make things depend on the external project.
TYPE, GUID and PLATFORM are optional parameters that allow one to specify the type of project, id (GUID)
of the project and the name of the target platform. This is useful for projects requiring values other
than the default (e.g. WIX projects).
If the imported project has different configuration names than the current project, set the
MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_<CONFIG> target property to specify the mapping.
include_regular_expression
Set the regular expression used for dependency checking.
include_regular_expression(regex_match [regex_complain])
Set the regular expressions used in dependency checking. Only files matching regex_match will be traced
as dependencies. Only files matching regex_complain will generate warnings if they cannot be found
(standard header paths are not searched). The defaults are:
regex_match = "^.*$" (match everything)
regex_complain = "^$" (match empty string only)
install
Specify rules to run at install time.
Introduction
This command generates installation rules for a project. Rules specified by calls to this command within
a source directory are executed in order during installation. The order across directories is not
defined.
There are multiple signatures for this command. Some of them define installation options for files and
targets. Options common to multiple signatures are covered here but they are valid only for signatures
that specify them. The common options are:
DESTINATION
Specify the directory on disk to which a file will be installed. If a full path (with a leading
slash or drive letter) is given it is used directly. If a relative path is given it is
interpreted relative to the value of the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX variable. The prefix can be
relocated at install time using the DESTDIR mechanism explained in the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
variable documentation.
PERMISSIONS
Specify permissions for installed files. Valid permissions are OWNER_READ, OWNER_WRITE,
OWNER_EXECUTE, GROUP_READ, GROUP_WRITE, GROUP_EXECUTE, WORLD_READ, WORLD_WRITE, WORLD_EXECUTE,
SETUID, and SETGID. Permissions that do not make sense on certain platforms are ignored on those
platforms.
CONFIGURATIONS
Specify a list of build configurations for which the install rule applies (Debug, Release, etc.).
COMPONENT
Specify an installation component name with which the install rule is associated, such as
“runtime” or “development”. During component-specific installation only install rules associated
with the given component name will be executed. During a full installation all components are
installed unless marked with EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL. If COMPONENT is not provided a default component
“Unspecified” is created. The default component name may be controlled with the
CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME variable.
EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
Specify that the file is excluded from a full installation and only installed as part of a
component-specific installation
RENAME Specify a name for an installed file that may be different from the original file. Renaming is
allowed only when a single file is installed by the command.
OPTIONAL
Specify that it is not an error if the file to be installed does not exist.
Command signatures that install files may print messages during installation. Use the
CMAKE_INSTALL_MESSAGE variable to control which messages are printed.
Installing Targets
install(TARGETS targets... [EXPORT <export-name>]
[[ARCHIVE|LIBRARY|RUNTIME|OBJECTS|FRAMEWORK|BUNDLE|
PRIVATE_HEADER|PUBLIC_HEADER|RESOURCE]
[DESTINATION <dir>]
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[OPTIONAL] [EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
[NAMELINK_ONLY|NAMELINK_SKIP]
] [...]
[INCLUDES DESTINATION [<dir> ...]]
)
The TARGETS form specifies rules for installing targets from a project. There are six kinds of target
files that may be installed: ARCHIVE, LIBRARY, RUNTIME, OBJECTS, FRAMEWORK, and BUNDLE. Executables are
treated as RUNTIME targets, except that those marked with the MACOSX_BUNDLE property are treated as
BUNDLE targets on OS X. Static libraries are treated as ARCHIVE targets, except that those marked with
the FRAMEWORK property are treated as FRAMEWORK targets on OS X. Module libraries are always treated as
LIBRARY targets. For non-DLL platforms shared libraries are treated as LIBRARY targets, except that
those marked with the FRAMEWORK property are treated as FRAMEWORK targets on OS X. For DLL platforms the
DLL part of a shared library is treated as a RUNTIME target and the corresponding import library is
treated as an ARCHIVE target. All Windows-based systems including Cygwin are DLL platforms. Object
libraries are always treated as OBJECTS targets. The ARCHIVE, LIBRARY, RUNTIME, OBJECTS, and FRAMEWORK
arguments change the type of target to which the subsequent properties apply. If none is given the
installation properties apply to all target types. If only one is given then only targets of that type
will be installed (which can be used to install just a DLL or just an import library).
The PRIVATE_HEADER, PUBLIC_HEADER, and RESOURCE arguments cause subsequent properties to be applied to
installing a FRAMEWORK shared library target’s associated files on non-Apple platforms. Rules defined by
these arguments are ignored on Apple platforms because the associated files are installed into the
appropriate locations inside the framework folder. See documentation of the PRIVATE_HEADER,
PUBLIC_HEADER, and RESOURCE target properties for details.
Either NAMELINK_ONLY or NAMELINK_SKIP may be specified as a LIBRARY option. On some platforms a
versioned shared library has a symbolic link such as:
lib<name>.so -> lib<name>.so.1
where lib<name>.so.1 is the soname of the library and lib<name>.so is a “namelink” allowing linkers to
find the library when given -l<name>. The NAMELINK_ONLY option causes installation of only the namelink
when a library target is installed. The NAMELINK_SKIP option causes installation of library files other
than the namelink when a library target is installed. When neither option is given both portions are
installed. On platforms where versioned shared libraries do not have namelinks or when a library is not
versioned the NAMELINK_SKIP option installs the library and the NAMELINK_ONLY option installs nothing.
See the VERSION and SOVERSION target properties for details on creating versioned shared libraries.
The INCLUDES DESTINATION specifies a list of directories which will be added to the
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property of the <targets> when exported by the install(EXPORT)
command. If a relative path is specified, it is treated as relative to the $<INSTALL_PREFIX>. This is
independent of the rest of the argument groups and does not actually install anything.
One or more groups of properties may be specified in a single call to the TARGETS form of this command.
A target may be installed more than once to different locations. Consider hypothetical targets myExe,
mySharedLib, and myStaticLib. The code:
install(TARGETS myExe mySharedLib myStaticLib
RUNTIME DESTINATION bin
LIBRARY DESTINATION lib
ARCHIVE DESTINATION lib/static)
install(TARGETS mySharedLib DESTINATION /some/full/path)
will install myExe to <prefix>/bin and myStaticLib to <prefix>/lib/static. On non-DLL platforms
mySharedLib will be installed to <prefix>/lib and /some/full/path. On DLL platforms the mySharedLib DLL
will be installed to <prefix>/bin and /some/full/path and its import library will be installed to
<prefix>/lib/static and /some/full/path.
The EXPORT option associates the installed target files with an export called <export-name>. It must
appear before any RUNTIME, LIBRARY, ARCHIVE, or OBJECTS options. To actually install the export file
itself, call install(EXPORT), documented below.
Installing a target with the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property set to TRUE has undefined behavior.
The install destination given to the target install DESTINATION may use “generator expressions” with the
syntax $<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.
Installing Files
install(<FILES|PROGRAMS> files... DESTINATION <dir>
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[RENAME <name>] [OPTIONAL] [EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL])
The FILES form specifies rules for installing files for a project. File names given as relative paths
are interpreted with respect to the current source directory. Files installed by this form are by
default given permissions OWNER_WRITE, OWNER_READ, GROUP_READ, and WORLD_READ if no PERMISSIONS argument
is given.
The PROGRAMS form is identical to the FILES form except that the default permissions for the installed
file also include OWNER_EXECUTE, GROUP_EXECUTE, and WORLD_EXECUTE. This form is intended to install
programs that are not targets, such as shell scripts. Use the TARGETS form to install targets built
within the project.
The list of files... given to FILES or PROGRAMS may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>.
See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. However, if any item begins in
a generator expression it must evaluate to a full path.
The install destination given to the files install DESTINATION may use “generator expressions” with the
syntax $<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.
Installing Directories
install(DIRECTORY dirs... DESTINATION <dir>
[FILE_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS] [OPTIONAL] [MESSAGE_NEVER]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>] [EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
[FILES_MATCHING]
[[PATTERN <pattern> | REGEX <regex>]
[EXCLUDE] [PERMISSIONS permissions...]] [...])
The DIRECTORY form installs contents of one or more directories to a given destination. The directory
structure is copied verbatim to the destination. The last component of each directory name is appended
to the destination directory but a trailing slash may be used to avoid this because it leaves the last
component empty. Directory names given as relative paths are interpreted with respect to the current
source directory. If no input directory names are given the destination directory will be created but
nothing will be installed into it. The FILE_PERMISSIONS and DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONS options specify
permissions given to files and directories in the destination. If USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS is specified
and FILE_PERMISSIONS is not, file permissions will be copied from the source directory structure. If no
permissions are specified files will be given the default permissions specified in the FILES form of the
command, and the directories will be given the default permissions specified in the PROGRAMS form of the
command.
The MESSAGE_NEVER option disables file installation status output.
Installation of directories may be controlled with fine granularity using the PATTERN or REGEX options.
These “match” options specify a globbing pattern or regular expression to match directories or files
encountered within input directories. They may be used to apply certain options (see below) to a subset
of the files and directories encountered. The full path to each input file or directory (with forward
slashes) is matched against the expression. A PATTERN will match only complete file names: the portion
of the full path matching the pattern must occur at the end of the file name and be preceded by a slash.
A REGEX will match any portion of the full path but it may use / and $ to simulate the PATTERN behavior.
By default all files and directories are installed whether or not they are matched. The FILES_MATCHING
option may be given before the first match option to disable installation of files (but not directories)
not matched by any expression. For example, the code
install(DIRECTORY src/ DESTINATION include/myproj
FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.h")
will extract and install header files from a source tree.
Some options may follow a PATTERN or REGEX expression and are applied only to files or directories
matching them. The EXCLUDE option will skip the matched file or directory. The PERMISSIONS option
overrides the permissions setting for the matched file or directory. For example the code
install(DIRECTORY icons scripts/ DESTINATION share/myproj
PATTERN "CVS" EXCLUDE
PATTERN "scripts/*"
PERMISSIONS OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ
GROUP_EXECUTE GROUP_READ)
will install the icons directory to share/myproj/icons and the scripts directory to share/myproj. The
icons will get default file permissions, the scripts will be given specific permissions, and any CVS
directories will be excluded.
The list of dirs... given to DIRECTORY and the install destination given to the directory install
DESTINATION may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.
Custom Installation Logic
install([[SCRIPT <file>] [CODE <code>]]
[COMPONENT <component>] [EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL] [...])
The SCRIPT form will invoke the given CMake script files during installation. If the script file name is
a relative path it will be interpreted with respect to the current source directory. The CODE form will
invoke the given CMake code during installation. Code is specified as a single argument inside a
double-quoted string. For example, the code
install(CODE "MESSAGE(\"Sample install message.\")")
will print a message during installation.
Installing Exports
install(EXPORT <export-name> DESTINATION <dir>
[NAMESPACE <namespace>] [[FILE <name>.cmake]|
[EXPORT_ANDROID_MK <name>.mk]]
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[EXPORT_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL])
The EXPORT form generates and installs a CMake file containing code to import targets from the
installation tree into another project. Target installations are associated with the export
<export-name> using the EXPORT option of the install(TARGETS) signature documented above. The NAMESPACE
option will prepend <namespace> to the target names as they are written to the import file. By default
the generated file will be called <export-name>.cmake but the FILE option may be used to specify a
different name. The value given to the FILE option must be a file name with the .cmake extension. If a
CONFIGURATIONS option is given then the file will only be installed when one of the named configurations
is installed. Additionally, the generated import file will reference only the matching target
configurations. The EXPORT_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES keyword, if present, causes the contents of the
properties matching (IMPORTED_)?LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES(_<CONFIG>)? to be exported, when policy CMP0022
is NEW. If a COMPONENT option is specified that does not match that given to the targets associated with
<export-name> the behavior is undefined. If a library target is included in the export but a target to
which it links is not included the behavior is unspecified.
In additon to cmake language files, the EXPORT_ANDROID_MK option maybe used to specifiy an export to the
android ndk build system. The Android NDK supports the use of prebuilt libraries, both static and
shared. This allows cmake to build the libraries of a project and make them available to an ndk build
system complete with transitive dependencies, include flags and defines required to use the libraries.
The EXPORT form is useful to help outside projects use targets built and installed by the current
project. For example, the code
install(TARGETS myexe EXPORT myproj DESTINATION bin)
install(EXPORT myproj NAMESPACE mp_ DESTINATION lib/myproj)
install(EXPORT_ANDROID_MK myexp DESTINATION share/ndk-modules)
will install the executable myexe to <prefix>/bin and code to import it in the file
<prefix>/lib/myproj/myproj.cmake and <prefix>/lib/share/ndk-modules/Android.mk. An outside project may
load this file with the include command and reference the myexe executable from the installation tree
using the imported target name mp_myexe as if the target were built in its own tree.
NOTE:
This command supercedes the install_targets() command and the PRE_INSTALL_SCRIPT and
POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT target properties. It also replaces the FILES forms of the install_files() and
install_programs() commands. The processing order of these install rules relative to those generated
by install_targets(), install_files(), and install_programs() commands is not defined.
link_directories
Specify directories in which the linker will look for libraries.
link_directories(directory1 directory2 ...)
Specify the paths in which the linker should search for libraries. The command will apply only to
targets created after it is called. Relative paths given to this command are interpreted as relative to
the current source directory, see CMP0015.
Note that this command is rarely necessary. Library locations returned by find_package() and
find_library() are absolute paths. Pass these absolute library file paths directly to the
target_link_libraries() command. CMake will ensure the linker finds them.
link_libraries
Link libraries to all targets added later.
link_libraries([item1 [item2 [...]]]
[[debug|optimized|general] <item>] ...)
Specify libraries or flags to use when linking any targets created later in the current directory or
below by commands such as add_executable() or add_library(). See the target_link_libraries() command for
meaning of arguments.
NOTE:
The target_link_libraries() command should be preferred whenever possible. Library dependencies are
chained automatically, so directory-wide specification of link libraries is rarely needed.
load_cache
Load in the values from another project’s CMake cache.
load_cache(pathToCacheFile READ_WITH_PREFIX
prefix entry1...)
Read the cache and store the requested entries in variables with their name prefixed with the given
prefix. This only reads the values, and does not create entries in the local project’s cache.
load_cache(pathToCacheFile [EXCLUDE entry1...]
[INCLUDE_INTERNALS entry1...])
Load in the values from another cache and store them in the local project’s cache as internal entries.
This is useful for a project that depends on another project built in a different tree. EXCLUDE option
can be used to provide a list of entries to be excluded. INCLUDE_INTERNALS can be used to provide a list
of internal entries to be included. Normally, no internal entries are brought in. Use of this form of
the command is strongly discouraged, but it is provided for backward compatibility.
project
Set a name, version, and enable languages for the entire project.
project(<PROJECT-NAME> [LANGUAGES] [<language-name>...])
project(<PROJECT-NAME>
[VERSION <major>[.<minor>[.<patch>[.<tweak>]]]]
[DESCRIPTION <project-description-string>]
[LANGUAGES <language-name>...])
Sets the name of the project and stores the name in the PROJECT_NAME variable. Additionally this sets
variables
• PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR, <PROJECT-NAME>_SOURCE_DIR
• PROJECT_BINARY_DIR, <PROJECT-NAME>_BINARY_DIR
If VERSION is specified, given components must be non-negative integers. If VERSION is not specified,
the default version is the empty string. The VERSION option may not be used unless policy CMP0048 is set
to NEW.
The project() command stores the version number and its components in variables
• PROJECT_VERSION, <PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION
• PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR, <PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_MAJOR
• PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR, <PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_MINOR
• PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH, <PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_PATCH
• PROJECT_VERSION_TWEAK, <PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_TWEAK
Variables corresponding to unspecified versions are set to the empty string (if policy CMP0048 is set to
NEW).
If optional DESCRIPTION is given, then additional PROJECT_DESCRIPTION variable will be set to its
argument. The argument must be a string with short description of the project (only a few words).
Optionally you can specify which languages your project supports. Example languages are C, CXX (i.e.
C++), Fortran, etc. By default C and CXX are enabled if no language options are given. Specify language
NONE, or use the LANGUAGES keyword and list no languages, to skip enabling any languages.
If a variable exists called CMAKE_PROJECT_<PROJECT-NAME>_INCLUDE, the file pointed to by that variable
will be included as the last step of the project command.
The top-level CMakeLists.txt file for a project must contain a literal, direct call to the project()
command; loading one through the include() command is not sufficient. If no such call exists CMake will
implicitly add one to the top that enables the default languages (C and CXX).
NOTE:
Call the cmake_minimum_required() command at the beginning of the top-level CMakeLists.txt file even
before calling the project() command. It is important to establish version and policy settings before
invoking other commands whose behavior they may affect. See also policy CMP0000.
qt_wrap_cpp
Create Qt Wrappers.
qt_wrap_cpp(resultingLibraryName DestName
SourceLists ...)
Produce moc files for all the .h files listed in the SourceLists. The moc files will be added to the
library using the DestName source list.
qt_wrap_ui
Create Qt user interfaces Wrappers.
qt_wrap_ui(resultingLibraryName HeadersDestName
SourcesDestName SourceLists ...)
Produce .h and .cxx files for all the .ui files listed in the SourceLists. The .h files will be added to
the library using the HeadersDestNamesource list. The .cxx files will be added to the library using the
SourcesDestNamesource list.
remove_definitions
Removes -D define flags added by add_definitions().
remove_definitions(-DFOO -DBAR ...)
Removes flags (added by add_definitions()) from the compiler command line for sources in the current
directory and below.
set_source_files_properties
Source files can have properties that affect how they are built.
set_source_files_properties([file1 [file2 [...]]]
PROPERTIES prop1 value1
[prop2 value2 [...]])
Set properties associated with source files using a key/value paired list. See Source File Properties
for the list of properties known to CMake. Source file properties are visible only to targets added in
the same directory (CMakeLists.txt).
set_target_properties
Targets can have properties that affect how they are built.
set_target_properties(target1 target2 ...
PROPERTIES prop1 value1
prop2 value2 ...)
Set properties on a target. The syntax for the command is to list all the files you want to change, and
then provide the values you want to set next. You can use any prop value pair you want and extract it
later with the get_property() or get_target_property() command.
See Target Properties for the list of properties known to CMake.
set_tests_properties
Set a property of the tests.
set_tests_properties(test1 [test2...] PROPERTIES prop1 value1 prop2 value2)
Set a property for the tests. If the test is not found, CMake will report an error. Generator
expressions will be expanded the same as supported by the test’s add_test() call. See Test Properties
for the list of properties known to CMake.
source_group
Define a grouping for source files in IDE project generation. There are two different signatures to
create source groups.
source_group(<name> [FILES <src>...] [REGULAR_EXPRESSION <regex>])
source_group(TREE <root> [PREFIX <prefix>] [FILES <src>...])
Defines a group into which sources will be placed in project files. This is intended to set up file tabs
in Visual Studio. The options are:
TREE CMake will automatically detect, from <src> files paths, source groups it needs to create, to keep
structure of source groups analogically to the actual files and directories structure in the
project. Paths of <src> files will be cut to be relative to <root>.
PREFIX Source group and files located directly in <root> path, will be placed in <prefix> source groups.
FILES Any source file specified explicitly will be placed in group <name>. Relative paths are
interpreted with respect to the current source directory.
REGULAR_EXPRESSION
Any source file whose name matches the regular expression will be placed in group <name>.
If a source file matches multiple groups, the last group that explicitly lists the file with FILES will
be favored, if any. If no group explicitly lists the file, the last group whose regular expression
matches the file will be favored.
The <name> of the group and <prefix> argument may contain backslashes to specify subgroups:
source_group(outer\\inner ...)
source_group(TREE <root> PREFIX sources\\inc ...)
For backwards compatibility, the short-hand signature
source_group(<name> <regex>)
is equivalent to
source_group(<name> REGULAR_EXPRESSION <regex>)
target_compile_definitions
Add compile definitions to a target.
target_compile_definitions(<target>
<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items1...]
[<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items2...] ...])
Specify compile definitions to use when compiling a given <target>. The named <target> must have been
created by a command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must not be an Imported Target.
The INTERFACE, PUBLIC and PRIVATE keywords are required to specify the scope of the following arguments.
PRIVATE and PUBLIC items will populate the COMPILE_DEFINITIONS property of <target>. PUBLIC and INTERFACE
items will populate the INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS property of <target>. The following arguments
specify compile definitions. Repeated calls for the same <target> append items in the order called.
Arguments to target_compile_definitions may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
target_compile_features
Add expected compiler features to a target.
target_compile_features(<target> <PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> <feature> [...])
Specify compiler features required when compiling a given target. If the feature is not listed in the
CMAKE_C_COMPILE_FEATURES variable or CMAKE_CXX_COMPILE_FEATURES variable, then an error will be reported
by CMake. If the use of the feature requires an additional compiler flag, such as -std=gnu++11, the flag
will be added automatically.
The INTERFACE, PUBLIC and PRIVATE keywords are required to specify the scope of the features. PRIVATE
and PUBLIC items will populate the COMPILE_FEATURES property of <target>. PUBLIC and INTERFACE items
will populate the INTERFACE_COMPILE_FEATURES property of <target>. Repeated calls for the same <target>
append items.
The named <target> must have been created by a command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must
not be an IMPORTED target.
Arguments to target_compile_features may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-compile-features(7)
manual for information on compile features and a list of supported compilers.
target_compile_options
Add compile options to a target.
target_compile_options(<target> [BEFORE]
<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items1...]
[<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items2...] ...])
Specify compile options to use when compiling a given target. The named <target> must have been created
by a command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must not be an IMPORTED Target. If BEFORE is
specified, the content will be prepended to the property instead of being appended.
This command can be used to add any options, but alternative commands exist to add preprocessor
definitions (target_compile_definitions() and add_definitions()) or include directories
(target_include_directories() and include_directories()). See documentation of the directory and target
COMPILE_OPTIONS properties.
The INTERFACE, PUBLIC and PRIVATE keywords are required to specify the scope of the following arguments.
PRIVATE and PUBLIC items will populate the COMPILE_OPTIONS property of <target>. PUBLIC and INTERFACE
items will populate the INTERFACE_COMPILE_OPTIONS property of <target>. The following arguments specify
compile options. Repeated calls for the same <target> append items in the order called.
Arguments to target_compile_options may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
target_include_directories
Add include directories to a target.
target_include_directories(<target> [SYSTEM] [BEFORE]
<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items1...]
[<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items2...] ...])
Specify include directories to use when compiling a given target. The named <target> must have been
created by a command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must not be an IMPORTED target.
If BEFORE is specified, the content will be prepended to the property instead of being appended.
The INTERFACE, PUBLIC and PRIVATE keywords are required to specify the scope of the following arguments.
PRIVATE and PUBLIC items will populate the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES property of <target>. PUBLIC and
INTERFACE items will populate the INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES property of <target>. The following
arguments specify include directories.
Specified include directories may be absolute paths or relative paths. Repeated calls for the same
<target> append items in the order called. If SYSTEM is specified, the compiler will be told the
directories are meant as system include directories on some platforms (signalling this setting might
achieve effects such as the compiler skipping warnings, or these fixed-install system files not being
considered in dependency calculations - see compiler docs). If SYSTEM is used together with PUBLIC or
INTERFACE, the INTERFACE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property will be populated with the specified
directories.
Arguments to target_include_directories may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
Include directories usage requirements commonly differ between the build-tree and the install-tree. The
BUILD_INTERFACE and INSTALL_INTERFACE generator expressions can be used to describe separate usage
requirements based on the usage location. Relative paths are allowed within the INSTALL_INTERFACE
expression and are interpreted relative to the installation prefix. For example:
target_include_directories(mylib PUBLIC
$<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/mylib>
$<INSTALL_INTERFACE:include/mylib> # <prefix>/include/mylib
)
Creating Relocatable Packages
Note that it is not advisable to populate the INSTALL_INTERFACE of the INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES of a
target with absolute paths to the include directories of dependencies. That would hard-code into
installed packages the include directory paths for dependencies as found on the machine the package was
made on.
The INSTALL_INTERFACE of the INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES is only suitable for specifying the required
include directories for headers provided with the target itself, not those provided by the transitive
dependencies listed in its INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES target property. Those dependencies should
themselves be targets that specify their own header locations in INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.
See the Creating Relocatable Packages section of the cmake-packages(7) manual for discussion of
additional care that must be taken when specifying usage requirements while creating packages for
redistribution.
target_link_libraries
Specify libraries or flags to use when linking a given target and/or its dependents. Usage requirements
from linked library targets will be propagated. Usage requirements of a target’s dependencies affect
compilation of its own sources.
Overview
This command has several signatures as detailed in subsections below. All of them have the general form:
target_link_libraries(<target> ... <item>... ...)
The named <target> must have been created in the current directory by a command such as add_executable()
or add_library(). Repeated calls for the same <target> append items in the order called. Each <item>
may be:
• A library target name: The generated link line will have the full path to the linkable library file
associated with the target. The buildsystem will have a dependency to re-link <target> if the library
file changes.
The named target must be created by add_library() within the project or as an IMPORTED library. If it
is created within the project an ordering dependency will automatically be added in the build system to
make sure the named library target is up-to-date before the <target> links.
If an imported library has the IMPORTED_NO_SONAME target property set, CMake may ask the linker to
search for the library instead of using the full path (e.g. /usr/lib/libfoo.so becomes -lfoo).
• A full path to a library file: The generated link line will normally preserve the full path to the
file. The buildsystem will have a dependency to re-link <target> if the library file changes.
There are some cases where CMake may ask the linker to search for the library (e.g. /usr/lib/libfoo.so
becomes -lfoo), such as when a shared library is detected to have no SONAME field. See policy CMP0060
for discussion of another case.
If the library file is in a Mac OSX framework, the Headers directory of the framework will also be
processed as a usage requirement. This has the same effect as passing the framework directory as an
include directory.
On Visual Studio Generators for VS 2010 and above, library files ending in .targets will be treated as
MSBuild targets files and imported into generated project files. This is not supported by other
generators.
• A plain library name: The generated link line will ask the linker to search for the library (e.g. foo
becomes -lfoo or foo.lib).
• A link flag: Item names starting with -, but not -l or -framework, are treated as linker flags. Note
that such flags will be treated like any other library link item for purposes of transitive
dependencies, so they are generally safe to specify only as private link items that will not propagate
to dependents.
Link flags specified here are inserted into the link command in the same place as the link libraries.
This might not be correct, depending on the linker. Use the LINK_FLAGS target property to add link
flags explicitly. The flags will then be placed at the toolchain-defined flag position in the link
command.
• A debug, optimized, or general keyword immediately followed by another <item>. The item following such
a keyword will be used only for the corresponding build configuration. The debug keyword corresponds
to the Debug configuration (or to configurations named in the DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS global property if
it is set). The optimized keyword corresponds to all other configurations. The general keyword
corresponds to all configurations, and is purely optional. Higher granularity may be achieved for
per-configuration rules by creating and linking to IMPORTED library targets.
Items containing ::, such as Foo::Bar, are assumed to be IMPORTED or ALIAS library target names and will
cause an error if no such target exists. See policy CMP0028.
Arguments to target_link_libraries may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. Note however,
that generator expressions will not be used in OLD handling of CMP0003 or CMP0004. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
Libraries for a Target and/or its Dependents
target_link_libraries(<target>
<PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> <item>...
[<PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> <item>...]...)
The PUBLIC, PRIVATE and INTERFACE keywords can be used to specify both the link dependencies and the link
interface in one command. Libraries and targets following PUBLIC are linked to, and are made part of the
link interface. Libraries and targets following PRIVATE are linked to, but are not made part of the link
interface. Libraries following INTERFACE are appended to the link interface and are not used for linking
<target>.
Libraries for both a Target and its Dependents
target_link_libraries(<target> <item>...)
Library dependencies are transitive by default with this signature. When this target is linked into
another target then the libraries linked to this target will appear on the link line for the other target
too. This transitive “link interface” is stored in the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES target property and may
be overridden by setting the property directly. When CMP0022 is not set to NEW, transitive linking is
built in but may be overridden by the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES property. Calls to other signatures of
this command may set the property making any libraries linked exclusively by this signature private.
Libraries for a Target and/or its Dependents (Legacy)
target_link_libraries(<target>
<LINK_PRIVATE|LINK_PUBLIC> <lib>...
[<LINK_PRIVATE|LINK_PUBLIC> <lib>...]...)
The LINK_PUBLIC and LINK_PRIVATE modes can be used to specify both the link dependencies and the link
interface in one command.
This signature is for compatibility only. Prefer the PUBLIC or PRIVATE keywords instead.
Libraries and targets following LINK_PUBLIC are linked to, and are made part of the
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES. If policy CMP0022 is not NEW, they are also made part of the
LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES. Libraries and targets following LINK_PRIVATE are linked to, but are not made
part of the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES (or LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES).
Libraries for Dependents Only (Legacy)
target_link_libraries(<target> LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES <item>...)
The LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES mode appends the libraries to the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES target property
instead of using them for linking. If policy CMP0022 is not NEW, then this mode also appends libraries
to the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES and its per-configuration equivalent.
This signature is for compatibility only. Prefer the INTERFACE mode instead.
Libraries specified as debug are wrapped in a generator expression to correspond to debug builds. If
policy CMP0022 is not NEW, the libraries are also appended to the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES_DEBUG property
(or to the properties corresponding to configurations listed in the DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS global property
if it is set). Libraries specified as optimized are appended to the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES property.
If policy CMP0022 is not NEW, they are also appended to the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES property. Libraries
specified as general (or without any keyword) are treated as if specified for both debug and optimized.
Cyclic Dependencies of Static Libraries
The library dependency graph is normally acyclic (a DAG), but in the case of mutually-dependent STATIC
libraries CMake allows the graph to contain cycles (strongly connected components). When another target
links to one of the libraries, CMake repeats the entire connected component. For example, the code
add_library(A STATIC a.c)
add_library(B STATIC b.c)
target_link_libraries(A B)
target_link_libraries(B A)
add_executable(main main.c)
target_link_libraries(main A)
links main to A B A B. While one repetition is usually sufficient, pathological object file and symbol
arrangements can require more. One may handle such cases by using the LINK_INTERFACE_MULTIPLICITY target
property or by manually repeating the component in the last target_link_libraries call. However, if two
archives are really so interdependent they should probably be combined into a single archive, perhaps by
using Object Libraries.
Creating Relocatable Packages
Note that it is not advisable to populate the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES of a target with absolute paths to
dependencies. That would hard-code into installed packages the library file paths for dependencies as
found on the machine the package was made on.
See the Creating Relocatable Packages section of the cmake-packages(7) manual for discussion of
additional care that must be taken when specifying usage requirements while creating packages for
redistribution.
target_sources
Add sources to a target.
target_sources(<target>
<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items1...]
[<INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> [items2...] ...])
Specify sources to use when compiling a given target. The named <target> must have been created by a
command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must not be an IMPORTED Target.
The INTERFACE, PUBLIC and PRIVATE keywords are required to specify the scope of the following arguments.
PRIVATE and PUBLIC items will populate the SOURCES property of <target>. PUBLIC and INTERFACE items will
populate the INTERFACE_SOURCES property of <target>. The following arguments specify sources. Repeated
calls for the same <target> append items in the order called.
Arguments to target_sources may use “generator expressions” with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for
more on defining buildsystem properties.
try_compile
Try building some code.
Try Compiling Whole Projects
try_compile(RESULT_VAR <bindir> <srcdir>
<projectName> [<targetName>] [CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>])
Try building a project. The success or failure of the try_compile, i.e. TRUE or FALSE respectively, is
returned in RESULT_VAR.
In this form, <srcdir> should contain a complete CMake project with a CMakeLists.txt file and all
sources. The <bindir> and <srcdir> will not be deleted after this command is run. Specify <targetName>
to build a specific target instead of the all or ALL_BUILD target. See below for the meaning of other
options.
Try Compiling Source Files
try_compile(RESULT_VAR <bindir> <srcfile|SOURCES srcfile...>
[CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...]
[COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <defs>...]
[LINK_LIBRARIES <libs>...]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[COPY_FILE <fileName> [COPY_FILE_ERROR <var>]]
[<LANG>_STANDARD <std>]
[<LANG>_STANDARD_REQUIRED <bool>]
[<LANG>_EXTENSIONS <bool>]
)
Try building an executable from one or more source files. The success or failure of the try_compile,
i.e. TRUE or FALSE respectively, is returned in RESULT_VAR.
In this form the user need only supply one or more source files that include a definition for main.
CMake will create a CMakeLists.txt file to build the source(s) as an executable that looks something like
this:
add_definitions(<expanded COMPILE_DEFINITIONS from caller>)
include_directories(${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})
link_directories(${LINK_DIRECTORIES})
add_executable(cmTryCompileExec <srcfile>...)
target_link_libraries(cmTryCompileExec ${LINK_LIBRARIES})
The options are:
CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...
Specify flags of the form -DVAR:TYPE=VALUE to be passed to the cmake command-line used to drive
the test build. The above example shows how values for variables INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES,
LINK_DIRECTORIES, and LINK_LIBRARIES are used.
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <defs>...
Specify -Ddefinition arguments to pass to add_definitions in the generated test project.
COPY_FILE <fileName>
Copy the linked executable to the given <fileName>.
COPY_FILE_ERROR <var>
Use after COPY_FILE to capture into variable <var> any error message encountered while trying to
copy the file.
LINK_LIBRARIES <libs>...
Specify libraries to be linked in the generated project. The list of libraries may refer to
system libraries and to Imported Targets from the calling project.
If this option is specified, any -DLINK_LIBRARIES=... value given to the CMAKE_FLAGS option will
be ignored.
OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>
Store the output from the build process the given variable.
<LANG>_STANDARD <std>
Specify the C_STANDARD, CXX_STANDARD, or CUDA_STANDARD target property of the generated project.
<LANG>_STANDARD_REQUIRED <bool>
Specify the C_STANDARD_REQUIRED, CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED, or CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIRED target property
of the generated project.
<LANG>_EXTENSIONS <bool>
Specify the C_EXTENSIONS, CXX_EXTENSIONS, or CUDA_EXTENSIONS target property of the generated
project.
In this version all files in <bindir>/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp will be cleaned automatically. For debugging,
--debug-trycompile can be passed to cmake to avoid this clean. However, multiple sequential try_compile
operations reuse this single output directory. If you use --debug-trycompile, you can only debug one
try_compile call at a time. The recommended procedure is to protect all try_compile calls in your
project by if(NOT DEFINED RESULT_VAR) logic, configure with cmake all the way through once, then delete
the cache entry associated with the try_compile call of interest, and then re-run cmake again with
--debug-trycompile.
Other Behavior Settings
If set, the following variables are passed in to the generated try_compile CMakeLists.txt to initialize
compile target properties with default values:
• CMAKE_ENABLE_EXPORTS
• CMAKE_LINK_SEARCH_START_STATIC
• CMAKE_LINK_SEARCH_END_STATIC
• CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE
If CMP0056 is set to NEW, then CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS is passed in as well.
The current setting of CMP0065 is set in the generated project.
Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION variable to choose a build configuration.
Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE variable to specify the type of target used for the source file
signature.
Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_PLATFORM_VARIABLES variable to specify variables that must be propagated into
the test project. This variable is meant for use only in toolchain files.
If CMP0067 is set to NEW, or any of the <LANG>_STANDARD, <LANG>_STANDARD_REQUIRED, or <LANG>_EXTENSIONS
options are used, then the language standard variables are honored:
• CMAKE_C_STANDARD
• CMAKE_C_STANDARD_REQUIRED
• CMAKE_C_EXTENSIONS
• CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD
• CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED
• CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS
• CMAKE_CUDA_STANDARD
• CMAKE_CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIRED
• CMAKE_CUDA_EXTENSIONS
Their values are used to set the corresponding target properties in the generated project (unless
overridden by an explicit option).
try_run
Try compiling and then running some code.
Try Compiling and Running Source Files
try_run(RUN_RESULT_VAR COMPILE_RESULT_VAR
bindir srcfile [CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...]
[COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <defs>...]
[LINK_LIBRARIES <libs>...]
[COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[ARGS <args>...])
Try compiling a <srcfile>. Returns TRUE or FALSE for success or failure in COMPILE_RESULT_VAR. If the
compile succeeded, runs the executable and returns its exit code in RUN_RESULT_VAR. If the executable
was built, but failed to run, then RUN_RESULT_VAR will be set to FAILED_TO_RUN. See the try_compile()
command for information on how the test project is constructed to build the source file.
The options are:
CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...
Specify flags of the form -DVAR:TYPE=VALUE to be passed to the cmake command-line used to drive
the test build. The example in try_compile() shows how values for variables INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES,
LINK_DIRECTORIES, and LINK_LIBRARIES are used.
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <defs>...
Specify -Ddefinition arguments to pass to add_definitions in the generated test project.
COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>
Report the compile step build output in a given variable.
LINK_LIBRARIES <libs>...
Specify libraries to be linked in the generated project. The list of libraries may refer to
system libraries and to Imported Targets from the calling project.
If this option is specified, any -DLINK_LIBRARIES=... value given to the CMAKE_FLAGS option will
be ignored.
OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>
Report the compile build output and the output from running the executable in the given variable.
This option exists for legacy reasons. Prefer COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE and RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE
instead.
RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>
Report the output from running the executable in a given variable.
Other Behavior Settings
Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION variable to choose a build configuration.
Behavior when Cross Compiling
When cross compiling, the executable compiled in the first step usually cannot be run on the build host.
The try_run command checks the CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING variable to detect whether CMake is in
cross-compiling mode. If that is the case, it will still try to compile the executable, but it will not
try to run the executable unless the CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR variable is set. Instead it will
create cache variables which must be filled by the user or by presetting them in some CMake script file
to the values the executable would have produced if it had been run on its actual target platform. These
cache entries are:
<RUN_RESULT_VAR>
Exit code if the executable were to be run on the target platform.
<RUN_RESULT_VAR>__TRYRUN_OUTPUT
Output from stdout and stderr if the executable were to be run on the target platform. This is
created only if the RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE or OUTPUT_VARIABLE option was used.
In order to make cross compiling your project easier, use try_run only if really required. If you use
try_run, use the RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE or OUTPUT_VARIABLE options only if really required. Using them will
require that when cross-compiling, the cache variables will have to be set manually to the output of the
executable. You can also “guard” the calls to try_run with an if() block checking the
CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING variable and provide an easy-to-preset alternative for this case.
CTEST COMMANDS
These commands are available only in CTest scripts.
ctest_build
Perform the CTest Build Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_build([BUILD <build-dir>] [APPEND]
[CONFIGURATION <config>]
[FLAGS <flags>]
[PROJECT_NAME <project-name>]
[TARGET <target-name>]
[NUMBER_ERRORS <num-err-var>]
[NUMBER_WARNINGS <num-warn-var>]
[RETURN_VALUE <result-var>]
[CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>]
)
Build the project and store results in Build.xml for submission with the ctest_submit() command.
The CTEST_BUILD_COMMAND variable may be set to explicitly specify the build command line. Otherwise the
build command line is computed automatically based on the options given.
The options are:
BUILD <build-dir>
Specify the top-level build directory. If not given, the CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY variable is used.
APPEND Mark Build.xml for append to results previously submitted to a dashboard server since the last
ctest_start() call. Append semantics are defined by the dashboard server in use. This does not
cause results to be appended to a .xml file produced by a previous call to this command.
CONFIGURATION <config>
Specify the build configuration (e.g. Debug). If not specified the CTEST_BUILD_CONFIGURATION
variable will be checked. Otherwise the -C <cfg> option given to the ctest(1) command will be
used, if any.
FLAGS <flags>
Pass additional arguments to the underlying build command. If not specified the CTEST_BUILD_FLAGS
variable will be checked. This can, e.g., be used to trigger a parallel build using the -j option
of make. See the ProcessorCount module for an example.
PROJECT_NAME <project-name>
Set the name of the project to build. This should correspond to the top-level call to the
project() command. If not specified the CTEST_PROJECT_NAME variable will be checked.
TARGET <target-name>
Specify the name of a target to build. If not specified the CTEST_BUILD_TARGET variable will be
checked. Otherwise the default target will be built. This is the “all” target (called ALL_BUILD
in Visual Studio Generators).
NUMBER_ERRORS <num-err-var>
Store the number of build errors detected in the given variable.
NUMBER_WARNINGS <num-warn-var>
Store the number of build warnings detected in the given variable.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store the return value of the native build tool in the given variable.
CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable -1 if there are any errors running the command and prevent
ctest from returning non-zero if an error occurs.
QUIET Suppress any CTest-specific non-error output that would have been printed to the console
otherwise. The summary of warnings / errors, as well as the output from the native build tool is
unaffected by this option.
ctest_configure
Perform the CTest Configure Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_configure([BUILD <build-dir>] [SOURCE <source-dir>] [APPEND]
[OPTIONS <options>] [RETURN_VALUE <result-var>] [QUIET]
[CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>])
Configure the project build tree and record results in Configure.xml for submission with the
ctest_submit() command.
The options are:
BUILD <build-dir>
Specify the top-level build directory. If not given, the CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY variable is used.
SOURCE <source-dir>
Specify the source directory. If not given, the CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY variable is used.
APPEND Mark Configure.xml for append to results previously submitted to a dashboard server since the last
ctest_start() call. Append semantics are defined by the dashboard server in use. This does not
cause results to be appended to a .xml file produced by a previous call to this command.
OPTIONS <options>
Specify command-line arguments to pass to the configuration tool.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable the return value of the native configuration tool.
CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable -1 if there are any errors running the command and prevent
ctest from returning non-zero if an error occurs.
QUIET Suppress any CTest-specific non-error messages that would have otherwise been printed to the
console. Output from the underlying configure command is not affected.
ctest_coverage
Perform the CTest Coverage Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_coverage([BUILD <build-dir>] [APPEND]
[LABELS <label>...]
[RETURN_VALUE <result-var>]
[CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var]
[QUIET]
)
Collect coverage tool results and stores them in Coverage.xml for submission with the ctest_submit()
command.
The options are:
BUILD <build-dir>
Specify the top-level build directory. If not given, the CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY variable is used.
APPEND Mark Coverage.xml for append to results previously submitted to a dashboard server since the last
ctest_start() call. Append semantics are defined by the dashboard server in use. This does not
cause results to be appended to a .xml file produced by a previous call to this command.
LABELS Filter the coverage report to include only source files labeled with at least one of the labels
specified.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable 0 if coverage tools ran without error and non-zero otherwise.
CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable -1 if there are any errors running the command and prevent
ctest from returning non-zero if an error occurs.
QUIET Suppress any CTest-specific non-error output that would have been printed to the console
otherwise. The summary indicating how many lines of code were covered is unaffected by this
option.
ctest_empty_binary_directory
empties the binary directory
ctest_empty_binary_directory( directory )
Removes a binary directory. This command will perform some checks prior to deleting the directory in an
attempt to avoid malicious or accidental directory deletion.
ctest_memcheck
Perform the CTest MemCheck Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_memcheck([BUILD <build-dir>] [APPEND]
[START <start-number>]
[END <end-number>]
[STRIDE <stride-number>]
[EXCLUDE <exclude-regex>]
[INCLUDE <include-regex>]
[EXCLUDE_LABEL <label-exclude-regex>]
[INCLUDE_LABEL <label-include-regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE <regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_SETUP <regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_CLEANUP <regex>]
[PARALLEL_LEVEL <level>]
[TEST_LOAD <threshold>]
[SCHEDULE_RANDOM <ON|OFF>]
[STOP_TIME <time-of-day>]
[RETURN_VALUE <result-var>]
[DEFECT_COUNT <defect-count-var>]
[QUIET]
)
Run tests with a dynamic analysis tool and store results in MemCheck.xml for submission with the
ctest_submit() command.
Most options are the same as those for the ctest_test() command.
The options unique to this command are:
DEFECT_COUNT <defect-count-var>
Store in the <defect-count-var> the number of defects found.
ctest_read_custom_files
read CTestCustom files.
ctest_read_custom_files( directory ... )
Read all the CTestCustom.ctest or CTestCustom.cmake files from the given directory.
By default, invoking ctest(1) without a script will read custom files from the binary directory.
ctest_run_script
runs a ctest -S script
ctest_run_script([NEW_PROCESS] script_file_name script_file_name1
script_file_name2 ... [RETURN_VALUE var])
Runs a script or scripts much like if it was run from ctest -S. If no argument is provided then the
current script is run using the current settings of the variables. If NEW_PROCESS is specified then each
script will be run in a separate process.If RETURN_VALUE is specified the return value of the last script
run will be put into var.
ctest_sleep
sleeps for some amount of time
ctest_sleep(<seconds>)
Sleep for given number of seconds.
ctest_sleep(<time1> <duration> <time2>)
Sleep for t=(time1 + duration - time2) seconds if t > 0.
ctest_start
Starts the testing for a given model
ctest_start(Model [TRACK <track>] [APPEND] [source [binary]] [QUIET])
Starts the testing for a given model. The command should be called after the binary directory is
initialized. If the ‘source’ and ‘binary’ directory are not specified, it reads the
CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY and CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY. If the track is specified, the submissions will go to
the specified track. If APPEND is used, the existing TAG is used rather than creating a new one based on
the current time stamp. If QUIET is used, CTest will suppress any non-error messages that it otherwise
would have printed to the console.
If the CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND variable (or the CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT variable) is set, its content is
treated as command-line. The command is invoked with the current working directory set to the parent of
the source directory, even if the source directory already exists. This can be used to create the source
tree from a version control repository.
ctest_submit
Perform the CTest Submit Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_submit([PARTS <part>...] [FILES <file>...]
[HTTPHEADER <header>]
[RETRY_COUNT <count>]
[RETRY_DELAY <delay>]
[RETURN_VALUE <result-var>]
[QUIET]
)
Submit results to a dashboard server. By default all available parts are submitted.
The options are:
PARTS <part>...
Specify a subset of parts to submit. Valid part names are:
Start = nothing
Update = ctest_update results, in Update.xml
Configure = ctest_configure results, in Configure.xml
Build = ctest_build results, in Build.xml
Test = ctest_test results, in Test.xml
Coverage = ctest_coverage results, in Coverage.xml
MemCheck = ctest_memcheck results, in DynamicAnalysis.xml
Notes = Files listed by CTEST_NOTES_FILES, in Notes.xml
ExtraFiles = Files listed by CTEST_EXTRA_SUBMIT_FILES
Upload = Files prepared for upload by ctest_upload(), in Upload.xml
Submit = nothing
FILES <file>...
Specify an explicit list of specific files to be submitted. Each individual file must exist at
the time of the call.
HTTPHEADER <HTTP-header>
Specify HTTP header to be included in the request to CDash during submission. This suboption can
be repeated several times.
RETRY_COUNT <count>
Specify how many times to retry a timed-out submission.
RETRY_DELAY <delay>
Specify how long (in seconds) to wait after a timed-out submission before attempting to re-submit.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable 0 for success and non-zero on failure.
QUIET Suppress all non-error messages that would have otherwise been printed to the console.
Submit to CDash Upload API
ctest_submit(CDASH_UPLOAD <file> [CDASH_UPLOAD_TYPE <type>]
[HTTPHEADER <header>]
[RETRY_COUNT <count>]
[RETRY_DELAY <delay>]
[QUIET])
This second signature is used to upload files to CDash via the CDash file upload API. The api first sends
a request to upload to CDash along with a content hash of the file. If CDash does not already have the
file, then it is uploaded. Along with the file, a CDash type string is specified to tell CDash which
handler to use to process the data.
This signature accepts the HTTPHEADER, RETRY_COUNT, RETRY_DELAY, and QUIET options as described above.
ctest_test
Perform the CTest Test Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_test([BUILD <build-dir>] [APPEND]
[START <start-number>]
[END <end-number>]
[STRIDE <stride-number>]
[EXCLUDE <exclude-regex>]
[INCLUDE <include-regex>]
[EXCLUDE_LABEL <label-exclude-regex>]
[INCLUDE_LABEL <label-include-regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE <regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_SETUP <regex>]
[EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_CLEANUP <regex>]
[PARALLEL_LEVEL <level>]
[TEST_LOAD <threshold>]
[SCHEDULE_RANDOM <ON|OFF>]
[STOP_TIME <time-of-day>]
[RETURN_VALUE <result-var>]
[CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>]
[QUIET]
)
Run tests in the project build tree and store results in Test.xml for submission with the ctest_submit()
command.
The options are:
BUILD <build-dir>
Specify the top-level build directory. If not given, the CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY variable is used.
APPEND Mark Test.xml for append to results previously submitted to a dashboard server since the last
ctest_start() call. Append semantics are defined by the dashboard server in use. This does not
cause results to be appended to a .xml file produced by a previous call to this command.
START <start-number>
Specify the beginning of a range of test numbers.
END <end-number>
Specify the end of a range of test numbers.
STRIDE <stride-number>
Specify the stride by which to step across a range of test numbers.
EXCLUDE <exclude-regex>
Specify a regular expression matching test names to exclude.
INCLUDE <include-regex>
Specify a regular expression matching test names to include. Tests not matching this expression
are excluded.
EXCLUDE_LABEL <label-exclude-regex>
Specify a regular expression matching test labels to exclude.
INCLUDE_LABEL <label-include-regex>
Specify a regular expression matching test labels to include. Tests not matching this expression
are excluded.
EXCLUDE_FIXTURE <regex>
If a test in the set of tests to be executed requires a particular fixture, that fixture’s setup
and cleanup tests would normally be added to the test set automatically. This option prevents
adding setup or cleanup tests for fixtures matching the <regex>. Note that all other fixture
behavior is retained, including test dependencies and skipping tests that have fixture setup tests
that fail.
EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_SETUP <regex>
Same as EXCLUDE_FIXTURE except only matching setup tests are excluded.
EXCLUDE_FIXTURE_CLEANUP <regex>
Same as EXCLUDE_FIXTURE except only matching cleanup tests are excluded.
PARALLEL_LEVEL <level>
Specify a positive number representing the number of tests to be run in parallel.
TEST_LOAD <threshold>
While running tests in parallel, try not to start tests when they may cause the CPU load to pass
above a given threshold. If not specified the CTEST_TEST_LOAD variable will be checked, and then
the --test-load command-line argument to ctest(1). See also the TestLoad setting in the CTest
Test Step.
SCHEDULE_RANDOM <ON|OFF>
Launch tests in a random order. This may be useful for detecting implicit test dependencies.
STOP_TIME <time-of-day>
Specify a time of day at which the tests should all stop running.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable 0 if all tests passed. Store non-zero if anything went wrong.
CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable -1 if there are any errors running the command and prevent
ctest from returning non-zero if an error occurs.
QUIET Suppress any CTest-specific non-error messages that would have otherwise been printed to the
console. Output from the underlying test command is not affected. Summary info detailing the
percentage of passing tests is also unaffected by the QUIET option.
See also the CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_PASSED_TEST_OUTPUT_SIZE and
CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_FAILED_TEST_OUTPUT_SIZE variables.
ctest_update
Perform the CTest Update Step as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_update([SOURCE <source-dir>] [RETURN_VALUE <result-var>] [QUIET])
Update the source tree from version control and record results in Update.xml for submission with the
ctest_submit() command.
The options are:
SOURCE <source-dir>
Specify the source directory. If not given, the CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY variable is used.
RETURN_VALUE <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable the number of files updated or -1 on error.
QUIET Tell CTest to suppress most non-error messages that it would have otherwise printed to the
console. CTest will still report the new revision of the repository and any conflicting files
that were found.
The update always follows the version control branch currently checked out in the source directory. See
the CTest Update Step documentation for more information.
ctest_upload
Upload files to a dashboard server as a Dashboard Client.
ctest_upload(FILES <file>... [QUIET] [CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>])
The options are:
FILES <file>...
Specify a list of files to be sent along with the build results to the dashboard server.
QUIET Suppress any CTest-specific non-error output that would have been printed to the console
otherwise.
CAPTURE_CMAKE_ERROR <result-var>
Store in the <result-var> variable -1 if there are any errors running the command and prevent
ctest from returning non-zero if an error occurs.
DEPRECATED COMMANDS
These commands are available only for compatibility with older versions of CMake. Do not use them in new
code.
build_name
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0036.
Use ${CMAKE_SYSTEM} and ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} instead.
build_name(variable)
Sets the specified variable to a string representing the platform and compiler settings. These values
are now available through the CMAKE_SYSTEM and CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER variables.
exec_program
Deprecated. Use the execute_process() command instead.
Run an executable program during the processing of the CMakeList.txt file.
exec_program(Executable [directory in which to run]
[ARGS <arguments to executable>]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[RETURN_VALUE <var>])
The executable is run in the optionally specified directory. The executable can include arguments if it
is double quoted, but it is better to use the optional ARGS argument to specify arguments to the program.
This is because cmake will then be able to escape spaces in the executable path. An optional argument
OUTPUT_VARIABLE specifies a variable in which to store the output. To capture the return value of the
execution, provide a RETURN_VALUE. If OUTPUT_VARIABLE is specified, then no output will go to the
stdout/stderr of the console running cmake.
export_library_dependencies
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0033.
Use install(EXPORT) or export() command.
This command generates an old-style library dependencies file. Projects requiring CMake 2.6 or later
should not use the command. Use instead the install(EXPORT) command to help export targets from an
installation tree and the export() command to export targets from a build tree.
The old-style library dependencies file does not take into account per-configuration names of libraries
or the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES target property.
export_library_dependencies(<file> [APPEND])
Create a file named <file> that can be included into a CMake listfile with the INCLUDE command. The file
will contain a number of SET commands that will set all the variables needed for library dependency
information. This should be the last command in the top level CMakeLists.txt file of the project. If
the APPEND option is specified, the SET commands will be appended to the given file instead of replacing
it.
install_files
Deprecated. Use the install(FILES) command instead.
This command has been superceded by the install() command. It is provided for compatibility with older
CMake code. The FILES form is directly replaced by the FILES form of the install() command. The regexp
form can be expressed more clearly using the GLOB form of the file() command.
install_files(<dir> extension file file ...)
Create rules to install the listed files with the given extension into the given directory. Only files
existing in the current source tree or its corresponding location in the binary tree may be listed. If a
file specified already has an extension, that extension will be removed first. This is useful for
providing lists of source files such as foo.cxx when you want the corresponding foo.h to be installed. A
typical extension is ‘.h’.
install_files(<dir> regexp)
Any files in the current source directory that match the regular expression will be installed.
install_files(<dir> FILES file file ...)
Any files listed after the FILES keyword will be installed explicitly from the names given. Full paths
are allowed in this form.
The directory <dir> is relative to the installation prefix, which is stored in the variable
CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.
install_programs
Deprecated. Use the install(PROGRAMS) command instead.
This command has been superceded by the install() command. It is provided for compatibility with older
CMake code. The FILES form is directly replaced by the PROGRAMS form of the install() command. The
regexp form can be expressed more clearly using the GLOB form of the file() command.
install_programs(<dir> file1 file2 [file3 ...])
install_programs(<dir> FILES file1 [file2 ...])
Create rules to install the listed programs into the given directory. Use the FILES argument to
guarantee that the file list version of the command will be used even when there is only one argument.
install_programs(<dir> regexp)
In the second form any program in the current source directory that matches the regular expression will
be installed.
This command is intended to install programs that are not built by cmake, such as shell scripts. See the
TARGETS form of the install() command to create installation rules for targets built by cmake.
The directory <dir> is relative to the installation prefix, which is stored in the variable
CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.
install_targets
Deprecated. Use the install(TARGETS) command instead.
This command has been superceded by the install() command. It is provided for compatibility with older
CMake code.
install_targets(<dir> [RUNTIME_DIRECTORY dir] target target)
Create rules to install the listed targets into the given directory. The directory <dir> is relative to
the installation prefix, which is stored in the variable CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. If RUNTIME_DIRECTORY is
specified, then on systems with special runtime files (Windows DLL), the files will be copied to that
directory.
load_command
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0031.
Load a command into a running CMake.
load_command(COMMAND_NAME <loc1> [loc2 ...])
The given locations are searched for a library whose name is cmCOMMAND_NAME. If found, it is loaded as a
module and the command is added to the set of available CMake commands. Usually, try_compile() is used
before this command to compile the module. If the command is successfully loaded a variable named
CMAKE_LOADED_COMMAND_<COMMAND_NAME>
will be set to the full path of the module that was loaded. Otherwise the variable will not be set.
make_directory
Deprecated. Use the file(MAKE_DIRECTORY) command instead.
make_directory(directory)
Creates the specified directory. Full paths should be given. Any parent directories that do not exist
will also be created. Use with care.
output_required_files
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0032.
Approximate C preprocessor dependency scanning.
This command exists only because ancient CMake versions provided it. CMake handles preprocessor
dependency scanning automatically using a more advanced scanner.
output_required_files(srcfile outputfile)
Outputs a list of all the source files that are required by the specified srcfile. This list is written
into outputfile. This is similar to writing out the dependencies for srcfile except that it jumps from
.h files into .cxx, .c and .cpp files if possible.
remove
Deprecated. Use the list(REMOVE_ITEM) command instead.
remove(VAR VALUE VALUE ...)
Removes VALUE from the variable VAR. This is typically used to remove entries from a vector (e.g.
semicolon separated list). VALUE is expanded.
subdir_depends
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0029.
Does nothing.
subdir_depends(subdir dep1 dep2 ...)
Does not do anything. This command used to help projects order parallel builds correctly. This
functionality is now automatic.
subdirs
Deprecated. Use the add_subdirectory() command instead.
Add a list of subdirectories to the build.
subdirs(dir1 dir2 ...[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL exclude_dir1 exclude_dir2 ...]
[PREORDER] )
Add a list of subdirectories to the build. The add_subdirectory() command should be used instead of
subdirs although subdirs will still work. This will cause any CMakeLists.txt files in the sub
directories to be processed by CMake. Any directories after the PREORDER flag are traversed first by
makefile builds, the PREORDER flag has no effect on IDE projects. Any directories after the
EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL marker will not be included in the top level makefile or project file. This is useful
for having CMake create makefiles or projects for a set of examples in a project. You would want CMake
to generate makefiles or project files for all the examples at the same time, but you would not want them
to show up in the top level project or be built each time make is run from the top.
use_mangled_mesa
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0030.
Copy mesa headers for use in combination with system GL.
use_mangled_mesa(PATH_TO_MESA OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)
The path to mesa includes, should contain gl_mangle.h. The mesa headers are copied to the specified
output directory. This allows mangled mesa headers to override other GL headers by being added to the
include directory path earlier.
utility_source
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0034.
Specify the source tree of a third-party utility.
utility_source(cache_entry executable_name
path_to_source [file1 file2 ...])
When a third-party utility’s source is included in the distribution, this command specifies its location
and name. The cache entry will not be set unless the path_to_source and all listed files exist. It is
assumed that the source tree of the utility will have been built before it is needed.
When cross compiling CMake will print a warning if a utility_source() command is executed, because in
many cases it is used to build an executable which is executed later on. This doesn’t work when cross
compiling, since the executable can run only on their target platform. So in this case the cache entry
has to be adjusted manually so it points to an executable which is runnable on the build host.
variable_requires
Disallowed. See CMake Policy CMP0035.
Use the if() command instead.
Assert satisfaction of an option’s required variables.
variable_requires(TEST_VARIABLE RESULT_VARIABLE
REQUIRED_VARIABLE1
REQUIRED_VARIABLE2 ...)
The first argument (TEST_VARIABLE) is the name of the variable to be tested, if that variable is false
nothing else is done. If TEST_VARIABLE is true, then the next argument (RESULT_VARIABLE) is a variable
that is set to true if all the required variables are set. The rest of the arguments are variables that
must be true or not set to NOTFOUND to avoid an error. If any are not true, an error is reported.
write_file
Deprecated. Use the file(WRITE) command instead.
write_file(filename "message to write"... [APPEND])
The first argument is the file name, the rest of the arguments are messages to write. If the argument
APPEND is specified, then the message will be appended.
NOTE 1: file(WRITE) and file(APPEND) do exactly the same as this one but add some more functionality.
NOTE 2: When using write_file the produced file cannot be used as an input to CMake (CONFIGURE_FILE,
source file …) because it will lead to an infinite loop. Use configure_file() if you want to generate
input files to CMake.
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