Provided by: cmake-data_3.16.3-1ubuntu1.20.04.1_all 
NAME
cmake-qt - CMake Qt Features Reference
INTRODUCTION
CMake can find and use Qt 4 and Qt 5 libraries. The Qt 4 libraries are found by the FindQt4 find-module
shipped with CMake, whereas the Qt 5 libraries are found using “Config-file Packages” shipped with Qt 5.
See cmake-packages(7) for more information about CMake packages, and see the Qt cmake manual for your Qt
version.
Qt 4 and Qt 5 may be used together in the same CMake buildsystem:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.8.0 FATAL_ERROR)
project(Qt4And5)
set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)
find_package(Qt5 COMPONENTS Widgets DBus REQUIRED)
add_executable(publisher publisher.cpp)
target_link_libraries(publisher Qt5::Widgets Qt5::DBus)
find_package(Qt4 REQUIRED)
add_executable(subscriber subscriber.cpp)
target_link_libraries(subscriber Qt4::QtGui Qt4::QtDBus)
A CMake target may not link to both Qt 4 and Qt 5. A diagnostic is issued if this is attempted or
results from transitive target dependency evaluation.
QT BUILD TOOLS
Qt relies on some bundled tools for code generation, such as moc for meta-object code generation, uic for
widget layout and population, and rcc for virtual file system content generation. These tools may be
automatically invoked by cmake(1) if the appropriate conditions are met. The automatic tool invocation
may be used with both Qt 4 and Qt 5.
AUTOMOC
The AUTOMOC target property controls whether cmake(1) inspects the C++ files in the target to determine
if they require moc to be run, and to create rules to execute moc at the appropriate time.
If a macro from AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES is found in a header file, moc will be run on the file. The result
will be put into a file named according to moc_<basename>.cpp. If the macro is found in a C++
implementation file, the moc output will be put into a file named according to <basename>.moc, following
the Qt conventions. The <basename>.moc must be included by the user in the C++ implementation file with
a preprocessor #include.
Included moc_*.cpp and *.moc files will be generated in the <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include directory which
is automatically added to the target’s INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.
• This differs from CMake 3.7 and below; see their documentation for details.
• For multi configuration generators, the include directory is <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include_<CONFIG>.
• See AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR.
Not included moc_<basename>.cpp files will be generated in custom folders to avoid name collisions and
included in a separate <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/mocs_compilation.cpp file which is compiled into the target.
• See AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR.
The moc command line will consume the COMPILE_DEFINITIONS and INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target properties from
the target it is being invoked for, and for the appropriate build configuration.
The AUTOMOC target property may be pre-set for all following targets by setting the CMAKE_AUTOMOC
variable. The AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS target property may be populated to set options to pass to moc. The
CMAKE_AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS variable may be populated to pre-set the options for all following targets.
Additional macro names to search for can be added to AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES.
Additional moc dependency file names can be extracted from source code by using AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS.
Source C++ files can be excluded from AUTOMOC processing by enabling SKIP_AUTOMOC or the broader
SKIP_AUTOGEN.
AUTOUIC
The AUTOUIC target property controls whether cmake(1) inspects the C++ files in the target to determine
if they require uic to be run, and to create rules to execute uic at the appropriate time.
If a preprocessor #include directive is found which matches <path>ui_<basename>.h, and a <basename>.ui
file exists, then uic will be executed to generate the appropriate file. The <basename>.ui file is
searched for in the following places
1. <source_dir>/<basename>.ui
2. <source_dir>/<path><basename>.ui
3. <AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS>/<basename>.ui
4. <AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS>/<path><basename>.ui
where <source_dir> is the directory of the C++ file and AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS is a list of additional
search paths.
The generated generated ui_*.h files are placed in the <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include directory which is
automatically added to the target’s INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.
• This differs from CMake 3.7 and below; see their documentation for details.
• For multi configuration generators, the include directory is <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include_<CONFIG>.
• See AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR.
The AUTOUIC target property may be pre-set for all following targets by setting the CMAKE_AUTOUIC
variable. The AUTOUIC_OPTIONS target property may be populated to set options to pass to uic. The
CMAKE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS variable may be populated to pre-set the options for all following targets. The
AUTOUIC_OPTIONS source file property may be set on the <basename>.ui file to set particular options for
the file. This overrides options from the AUTOUIC_OPTIONS target property.
A target may populate the INTERFACE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS target property with options that should be used when
invoking uic. This must be consistent with the AUTOUIC_OPTIONS target property content of the depender
target. The CMAKE_DEBUG_TARGET_PROPERTIES variable may be used to track the origin target of such
INTERFACE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS. This means that a library which provides an alternative translation system
for Qt may specify options which should be used when running uic:
add_library(KI18n klocalizedstring.cpp)
target_link_libraries(KI18n Qt5::Core)
# KI18n uses the tr2i18n() function instead of tr(). That function is
# declared in the klocalizedstring.h header.
set(autouic_options
-tr tr2i18n
-include klocalizedstring.h
)
set_property(TARGET KI18n APPEND PROPERTY
INTERFACE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS ${autouic_options}
)
A consuming project linking to the target exported from upstream automatically uses appropriate options
when uic is run by AUTOUIC, as a result of linking with the IMPORTED target:
set(CMAKE_AUTOUIC ON)
# Uses a libwidget.ui file:
add_library(LibWidget libwidget.cpp)
target_link_libraries(LibWidget
KF5::KI18n
Qt5::Widgets
)
Source files can be excluded from AUTOUIC processing by enabling SKIP_AUTOUIC or the broader
SKIP_AUTOGEN.
AUTORCC
The AUTORCC target property controls whether cmake(1) creates rules to execute rcc at the appropriate
time on source files which have the suffix .qrc.
add_executable(myexe main.cpp resource_file.qrc)
The AUTORCC target property may be pre-set for all following targets by setting the CMAKE_AUTORCC
variable. The AUTORCC_OPTIONS target property may be populated to set options to pass to rcc. The
CMAKE_AUTORCC_OPTIONS variable may be populated to pre-set the options for all following targets. The
AUTORCC_OPTIONS source file property may be set on the <name>.qrc file to set particular options for the
file. This overrides options from the AUTORCC_OPTIONS target property.
Source files can be excluded from AUTORCC processing by enabling SKIP_AUTORCC or the broader
SKIP_AUTOGEN.
THE <ORIGIN>_AUTOGEN TARGET
The moc and uic tools are executed as part of a synthesized <ORIGIN>_autogen custom target generated by
CMake. By default that <ORIGIN>_autogen target inherits the dependencies of the <ORIGIN> target (see
AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS). Target dependencies may be added to the <ORIGIN>_autogen target by adding them
to the AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS target property.
VISUAL STUDIO GENERATORS
When using the Visual Studio generators, CMake generates a PRE_BUILD custom command instead of the
<ORIGIN>_autogen custom target (for AUTOMOC and AUTOUIC). This isn’t always possible though and an
<ORIGIN>_autogen custom target is used, when either
• the <ORIGIN> target depends on GENERATED files which aren’t excluded from AUTOMOC and AUTOUIC by
SKIP_AUTOMOC, SKIP_AUTOUIC, SKIP_AUTOGEN or CMP0071
• AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS lists a source file
• CMAKE_GLOBAL_AUTOGEN_TARGET is enabled
QTMAIN.LIB ON WINDOWS
The Qt 4 and 5 IMPORTED targets for the QtGui libraries specify that the qtmain.lib static library
shipped with Qt will be linked by all dependent executables which have the WIN32_EXECUTABLE enabled.
To disable this behavior, enable the Qt5_NO_LINK_QTMAIN target property for Qt 5 based targets or
QT4_NO_LINK_QTMAIN target property for Qt 4 based targets.
add_executable(myexe WIN32 main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myexe Qt4::QtGui)
add_executable(myexe_no_qtmain WIN32 main_no_qtmain.cpp)
set_property(TARGET main_no_qtmain PROPERTY QT4_NO_LINK_QTMAIN ON)
target_link_libraries(main_no_qtmain Qt4::QtGui)
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