Ubuntu Manpage: cmake-properties - CMake Properties Reference

Provided by: cmake-data_3.28.3-1build7_all

NAME

       cmake-properties - CMake Properties Reference

PROPERTIES OF GLOBAL SCOPE

ALLOW_DUPLICATE_CUSTOM_TARGETS
Allow duplicate custom targets to be created.

Normally CMake requires that all targets built in a project have globally unique logical
names (see policy CMP0002). This is necessary to generate meaningful project file names
in Xcode and Visual Studio Generators IDE generators. It also allows the target names to
be referenced unambiguously.

Makefile generators are capable of supporting duplicate add_custom_target() names. For
projects that care only about Makefile Generators and do not wish to support Xcode or
Visual Studio Generators IDE generators, one may set this property to True to allow
duplicate custom targets. The property allows multiple add_custom_target() command calls
in different directories to specify the same target name. However, setting this property
will cause non-Makefile generators to produce an error and refuse to generate the project.

AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP
New in version 3.9.

Name of the source_group() for AUTOMOC, AUTORCC and AUTOUIC generated files.

Files generated by AUTOMOC, AUTORCC and AUTOUIC are not always known at configure time and
therefore can't be passed to source_group(). AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP can be used instead to
generate or select a source group for AUTOMOC, AUTORCC and AUTOUIC generated files.

For AUTOMOC, AUTORCC and AUTOUIC specific overrides see AUTOMOC_SOURCE_GROUP,
AUTORCC_SOURCE_GROUP and AUTOUIC_SOURCE_GROUP respectively.

AUTOGEN_TARGETS_FOLDER
Name of FOLDER for *_autogen targets that are added automatically by CMake for targets for
which AUTOMOC is enabled.

If not set, CMake uses the FOLDER property of the parent target as a default value for
this property. See also the documentation for the FOLDER target property and the AUTOMOC
target property.

AUTOMOC_SOURCE_GROUP
New in version 3.9.

Name of the source_group() for AUTOMOC generated files.

When set this is used instead of AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP for files generated by AUTOMOC.

AUTOMOC_TARGETS_FOLDER
Name of FOLDER for *_autogen targets that are added automatically by CMake for targets for
which AUTOMOC is enabled.

This property is obsolete. Use AUTOGEN_TARGETS_FOLDER instead.

If not set, CMake uses the FOLDER property of the parent target as a default value for
this property. See also the documentation for the FOLDER target property and the AUTOMOC
target property.

AUTORCC_SOURCE_GROUP
New in version 3.9.

Name of the source_group() for AUTORCC generated files.

When set this is used instead of AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP for files generated by AUTORCC.

AUTOUIC_SOURCE_GROUP
New in version 3.21.

Name of the source_group() for AUTOUIC generated files.

When set this is used instead of AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP for files generated by AUTOUIC.

CMAKE_C_KNOWN_FEATURES
New in version 3.1.

List of C features known to this version of CMake.

The features listed in this global property may be known to be available to the C
compiler. If the feature is available with the C compiler, it will be listed in the
CMAKE_C_COMPILE_FEATURES variable.

The features listed here may be used with the target_compile_features() command. See the
cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

The features known to this version of CMake are listed below.

High level meta features indicating C standard support
New in version 3.8.

c_std_90
Compiler mode is at least C 90.

c_std_99
Compiler mode is at least C 99.

c_std_11
Compiler mode is at least C 11.

c_std_17
New in version 3.21.

Compiler mode is at least C 17.

c_std_23
New in version 3.21.

Compiler mode is at least C 23.

NOTE:
If the compiler's default standard level is at least that of the requested feature,
CMake may omit the -std= flag. The flag may still be added if the compiler's default
extensions mode does not match the <LANG>_EXTENSIONS target property, or if the
<LANG>_STANDARD target property is set.

Low level individual compile features
c_function_prototypes
Function prototypes, as defined in ISO/IEC 9899:1990.

c_restrict
restrict keyword, as defined in ISO/IEC 9899:1999.

c_static_assert
Static assert, as defined in ISO/IEC 9899:2011.

c_variadic_macros
Variadic macros, as defined in ISO/IEC 9899:1999.

CMAKE_CUDA_KNOWN_FEATURES
New in version 3.17.

List of CUDA features known to this version of CMake.

The features listed in this global property may be known to be available to the CUDA
compiler. If the feature is available with the C++ compiler, it will be listed in the
CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILE_FEATURES variable.

The features listed here may be used with the target_compile_features() command. See the
cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

The features known to this version of CMake are:

cuda_std_03
Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 03.

cuda_std_11
Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 11.

cuda_std_14
Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 14.

cuda_std_17
Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 17.

cuda_std_20
Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 20.

cuda_std_23
New in version 3.20.

Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 23.

cuda_std_26
New in version 3.25.

Compiler mode is at least CUDA/C++ 26.

CMAKE_CXX_KNOWN_FEATURES
New in version 3.1.

List of C++ features known to this version of CMake.

The features listed in this global property may be known to be available to the C++
compiler. If the feature is available with the C++ compiler, it will be listed in the
CMAKE_CXX_COMPILE_FEATURES variable.

The features listed here may be used with the target_compile_features() command. See the
cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

The features known to this version of CMake are listed below.

High level meta features indicating C++ standard support
New in version 3.8.

The following meta features indicate general support for the associated language standard.
It reflects the language support claimed by the compiler, but it does not necessarily
imply complete conformance to that standard.

cxx_std_98
Compiler mode is at least C++ 98.

cxx_std_11
Compiler mode is at least C++ 11.

cxx_std_14
Compiler mode is at least C++ 14.

cxx_std_17
Compiler mode is at least C++ 17.

cxx_std_20
New in version 3.12.

Compiler mode is at least C++ 20.

cxx_std_23
New in version 3.20.

Compiler mode is at least C++ 23.

cxx_std_26
New in version 3.25.

Compiler mode is at least C++ 26.

Low level individual compile features
For C++ 11 and C++ 14, compilers were sometimes slow to implement certain language
features. CMake provided some individual compile features to help projects determine
whether specific features were available. These individual features are now less relevant
and projects should generally prefer to use the high level meta features instead.
Individual compile features are not provided for C++ 17 or later.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for further discussion of the use of individual
compile features.

Individual features from C++ 98
cxx_template_template_parameters
Template template parameters, as defined in ISO/IEC 14882:1998.

Individual features from C++ 11
cxx_alias_templates
Template aliases, as defined in N2258.

cxx_alignas
Alignment control alignas, as defined in N2341.

cxx_alignof
Alignment control alignof, as defined in N2341.

cxx_attributes
Generic attributes, as defined in N2761.

cxx_auto_type
Automatic type deduction, as defined in N1984.

cxx_constexpr
Constant expressions, as defined in N2235.

cxx_decltype_incomplete_return_types
Decltype on incomplete return types, as defined in N3276.

cxx_decltype
Decltype, as defined in N2343.

cxx_default_function_template_args
Default template arguments for function templates, as defined in DR226

cxx_defaulted_functions
Defaulted functions, as defined in N2346.

cxx_defaulted_move_initializers
Defaulted move initializers, as defined in N3053.

cxx_delegating_constructors
Delegating constructors, as defined in N1986.

cxx_deleted_functions
Deleted functions, as defined in N2346.

cxx_enum_forward_declarations
Enum forward declarations, as defined in N2764.

cxx_explicit_conversions
Explicit conversion operators, as defined in N2437.

cxx_extended_friend_declarations
Extended friend declarations, as defined in N1791.

cxx_extern_templates
Extern templates, as defined in N1987.

cxx_final
Override control final keyword, as defined in N2928, N3206 and N3272.

cxx_func_identifier
Predefined __func__ identifier, as defined in N2340.

cxx_generalized_initializers
Initializer lists, as defined in N2672.

cxx_inheriting_constructors
Inheriting constructors, as defined in N2540.

cxx_inline_namespaces
Inline namespaces, as defined in N2535.

cxx_lambdas
Lambda functions, as defined in N2927.

cxx_local_type_template_args
Local and unnamed types as template arguments, as defined in N2657.

cxx_long_long_type
long long type, as defined in N1811.

cxx_noexcept
Exception specifications, as defined in N3050.

cxx_nonstatic_member_init
Non-static data member initialization, as defined in N2756.

cxx_nullptr
Null pointer, as defined in N2431.

cxx_override
Override control override keyword, as defined in N2928, N3206 and N3272.

cxx_range_for
Range-based for, as defined in N2930.

cxx_raw_string_literals
Raw string literals, as defined in N2442.

cxx_reference_qualified_functions
Reference qualified functions, as defined in N2439.

cxx_right_angle_brackets
Right angle bracket parsing, as defined in N1757.

cxx_rvalue_references
R-value references, as defined in N2118.

cxx_sizeof_member
Size of non-static data members, as defined in N2253.

cxx_static_assert
Static assert, as defined in N1720.

cxx_strong_enums
Strongly typed enums, as defined in N2347.

cxx_thread_local
Thread-local variables, as defined in N2659.

cxx_trailing_return_types
Automatic function return type, as defined in N2541.

cxx_unicode_literals
Unicode string literals, as defined in N2442.

cxx_uniform_initialization
Uniform initialization, as defined in N2640.

cxx_unrestricted_unions
Unrestricted unions, as defined in N2544.

cxx_user_literals
User-defined literals, as defined in N2765.

cxx_variadic_macros
Variadic macros, as defined in N1653.

cxx_variadic_templates
Variadic templates, as defined in N2242.

Individual features from C++ 14
cxx_aggregate_default_initializers
Aggregate default initializers, as defined in N3605.

cxx_attribute_deprecated
[[deprecated]] attribute, as defined in N3760.

cxx_binary_literals
Binary literals, as defined in N3472.

cxx_contextual_conversions
Contextual conversions, as defined in N3323.

cxx_decltype_auto
decltype(auto) semantics, as defined in N3638.

cxx_digit_separators
Digit separators, as defined in N3781.

cxx_generic_lambdas
Generic lambdas, as defined in N3649.

cxx_lambda_init_captures
Initialized lambda captures, as defined in N3648.

cxx_relaxed_constexpr
Relaxed constexpr, as defined in N3652.

cxx_return_type_deduction
Return type deduction on normal functions, as defined in N3386.

cxx_variable_templates
Variable templates, as defined in N3651.

CMAKE_ROLE
New in version 3.14.

Tells what mode the current running script is in. Could be one of several values:

PROJECT
Running in project mode (processing a CMakeLists.txt file).

SCRIPT Running in -P script mode.

FIND_PACKAGE
Running in --find-package mode.

CTEST Running in CTest script mode.

CPACK Running in CPack.

DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS
Specify which configurations are for debugging.

The value must be a semi-colon separated list of configuration names. Currently this
property is used only by the target_link_libraries() command. Additional uses may be
defined in the future.

This property must be set at the top level of the project and before the first
target_link_libraries() command invocation. If any entry in the list does not match a
valid configuration for the project the behavior is undefined.

DISABLED_FEATURES
List of features which are disabled during the CMake run.

List of features which are disabled during the CMake run. By default it contains the
names of all packages which were not found. This is determined using the <NAME>_FOUND
variables. Packages which are searched QUIET are not listed. A project can add its own
features to this list. This property is used by the macros in FeatureSummary.cmake.

ECLIPSE_EXTRA_CPROJECT_CONTENTS
New in version 3.12.

Additional contents to be inserted into the generated Eclipse cproject file.

The cproject file defines the CDT specific information. Some third party IDE's are based
on Eclipse with the addition of other information specific to that IDE. Through this
property, it is possible to add this additional contents to the generated project. It is
expected to contain valid XML.

Also see the ECLIPSE_EXTRA_NATURES property.

ECLIPSE_EXTRA_NATURES
List of natures to add to the generated Eclipse project file.

Eclipse projects specify language plugins by using natures. This property should be set to
the unique identifier for a nature (which looks like a Java package name).

Also see the ECLIPSE_EXTRA_CPROJECT_CONTENTS property.

ENABLED_FEATURES
List of features which are enabled during the CMake run.

List of features which are enabled during the CMake run. By default it contains the names
of all packages which were found. This is determined using the <NAME>_FOUND variables.
Packages which are searched QUIET are not listed. A project can add its own features to
this list. This property is used by the macros in FeatureSummary.cmake.

ENABLED_LANGUAGES
Read-only property that contains the list of currently enabled languages

Set to list of currently enabled languages.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB32_PATHS
New in version 3.7.

Whether the find_library() command should automatically search lib32 directories.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB32_PATHS is a boolean specifying whether the find_library() command
should automatically search the lib32 variant of directories called lib in the search path
when building 32-bit binaries.

See also the CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_CUSTOM_LIB_SUFFIX variable.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS
Whether find_library() should automatically search lib64 directories.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIB64_PATHS is a boolean specifying whether the find_library() command
should automatically search the lib64 variant of directories called lib in the search path
when building 64-bit binaries.

See also the CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_CUSTOM_LIB_SUFFIX variable.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIBX32_PATHS
New in version 3.9.

Whether the find_library() command should automatically search libx32 directories.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_LIBX32_PATHS is a boolean specifying whether the find_library() command
should automatically search the libx32 variant of directories called lib in the search
path when building x32-abi binaries.

See also the CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_CUSTOM_LIB_SUFFIX variable.

FIND_LIBRARY_USE_OPENBSD_VERSIONING
Whether find_library() should find OpenBSD-style shared libraries.

This property is a boolean specifying whether the find_library() command should find
shared libraries with OpenBSD-style versioned extension: ".so.<major>.<minor>". The
property is set to true on OpenBSD and false on other platforms.

GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG
New in version 3.9.

Read-only property that is true on multi-configuration generators.

True when using a multi-configuration generator such as:

• Ninja Multi-Config

• Visual Studio Generators

• Xcode

Multi-config generators use CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES as the set of configurations and
ignore CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE.

GLOBAL_DEPENDS_DEBUG_MODE
Enable global target dependency graph debug mode.

CMake automatically analyzes the global inter-target dependency graph at the beginning of
native build system generation. This property causes it to display details of its
analysis to stderr.

GLOBAL_DEPENDS_NO_CYCLES
Disallow global target dependency graph cycles.

CMake automatically analyzes the global inter-target dependency graph at the beginning of
native build system generation. It reports an error if the dependency graph contains a
cycle that does not consist of all STATIC library targets. This property tells CMake to
disallow all cycles completely, even among static libraries.

IN_TRY_COMPILE
Read-only property that is true during a try-compile configuration.

True when building a project inside a try_compile() or try_run() command.

JOB_POOLS
Ninja only: List of available pools.

A pool is a named integer property and defines the maximum number of concurrent jobs which
can be started by a rule assigned to the pool. The JOB_POOLS property is a
semicolon-separated list of pairs using the syntax NAME=integer (without a space after the
equality sign).

For instance:

set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY JOB_POOLS two_jobs=2 ten_jobs=10)

Defined pools could be used globally by setting CMAKE_JOB_POOL_COMPILE and
CMAKE_JOB_POOL_LINK or per target by setting the target properties JOB_POOL_COMPILE and
JOB_POOL_LINK. Custom commands and custom targets can specify pools using the option
JOB_POOL. Using a pool that is not defined by JOB_POOLS causes an error by ninja at build
time.

If not set, this property uses the value of the CMAKE_JOB_POOLS variable.

Build targets provided by CMake that are meant for individual interactive use, such as
install, are placed in the console pool automatically.

PACKAGES_FOUND
List of packages which were found during the CMake run.

List of packages which were found during the CMake run. Whether a package has been found
is determined using the <NAME>_FOUND variables.

PACKAGES_NOT_FOUND
List of packages which were not found during the CMake run.

List of packages which were not found during the CMake run. Whether a package has been
found is determined using the <NAME>_FOUND variables.

PREDEFINED_TARGETS_FOLDER
Name of FOLDER for targets that are added automatically by CMake.

If not set, CMake uses "CMakePredefinedTargets" as a default value for this property.
Targets such as INSTALL, PACKAGE and RUN_TESTS will be organized into this FOLDER. See
also the documentation for the FOLDER target property.

REPORT_UNDEFINED_PROPERTIES
If set, report any undefined properties to this file.

If this property is set to a filename then when CMake runs it will report any properties
or variables that were accessed but not defined into the filename specified in this
property.

RULE_LAUNCH_COMPILE
Specify a launcher for compile rules.

NOTE:
This property is intended for internal use by ctest(1). Projects and developers should
use the <LANG>_COMPILER_LAUNCHER target properties or the associated
CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LAUNCHER variables instead.

Makefile Generators and the Ninja generator prefix compiler commands with the given
launcher command line. This is intended to allow launchers to intercept build problems
with high granularity. Other generators ignore this property because their underlying
build systems provide no hook to wrap individual commands with a launcher.

RULE_LAUNCH_CUSTOM
Specify a launcher for custom rules.

Makefile Generators and the Ninja generator prefix custom commands with the given launcher
command line. This is intended to allow launchers to intercept build problems with high
granularity. Other generators ignore this property because their underlying build systems
provide no hook to wrap individual commands with a launcher.

RULE_LAUNCH_LINK
Specify a launcher for link rules.

NOTE:
This property is intended for internal use by ctest(1). Projects and developers should
use the <LANG>_LINKER_LAUNCHER target properties or the associated
CMAKE_<LANG>_LINKER_LAUNCHER variables instead.

Makefile Generators and the Ninja generator prefix link and archive commands with the
given launcher command line. This is intended to allow launchers to intercept build
problems with high granularity. Other generators ignore this property because their
underlying build systems provide no hook to wrap individual commands with a launcher.

RULE_MESSAGES
Specify whether to report a message for each make rule.

This property specifies whether Makefile generators should add a progress message
describing what each build rule does. If the property is not set the default is ON. Set
the property to OFF to disable granular messages and report only as each target completes.
This is intended to allow scripted builds to avoid the build time cost of detailed
reports. If a CMAKE_RULE_MESSAGES cache entry exists its value initializes the value of
this property. Non-Makefile generators currently ignore this property.

TARGET_ARCHIVES_MAY_BE_SHARED_LIBS
Set if shared libraries may be named like archives.

On AIX shared libraries may be named "lib<name>.a". This property is set to true on such
platforms.

TARGET_MESSAGES
New in version 3.4.

Specify whether to report the completion of each target.

This property specifies whether Makefile Generators should add a progress message
describing that each target has been completed. If the property is not set the default is
ON. Set the property to OFF to disable target completion messages.

This option is intended to reduce build output when little or no work needs to be done to
bring the build tree up to date.

If a CMAKE_TARGET_MESSAGES cache entry exists its value initializes the value of this
property.

Non-Makefile generators currently ignore this property.

See the counterpart property RULE_MESSAGES to disable everything except for target
completion messages.

TARGET_SUPPORTS_SHARED_LIBS
Does the target platform support shared libraries.

TARGET_SUPPORTS_SHARED_LIBS is a boolean specifying whether the target platform supports
shared libraries. Basically all current general general purpose OS do so, the exception
are usually embedded systems with no or special OSs.

USE_FOLDERS
Controls whether to use the FOLDER target property to organize targets into folders. The
value of USE_FOLDERS at the end of the top level CMakeLists.txt file is what determines
the behavior.

Changed in version 3.26: CMake treats this property as ON by default. See policy CMP0143.

Not all CMake generators support recording folder details for targets. The Xcode and
Visual Studio generators are examples of generators that do. Similarly, not all IDEs
support presenting targets using folder hierarchies, even if the CMake generator used
provides the necessary information.

XCODE_EMIT_EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME
New in version 3.8.

Control emission of EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME by the Xcode generator.

It is required for building the same target with multiple SDKs. A common use case is the
parallel use of iphoneos and iphonesimulator SDKs.

Three different states possible that control when the Xcode generator emits the
EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME variable:

• If set to ON it will always be emitted

• If set to OFF it will never be emitted

• If unset (the default) it will only be emitted when the project was configured for an
embedded Xcode SDK like iOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS or any of the simulators.

NOTE:
When this behavior is enable for generated Xcode projects, the EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME
variable will leak into Generator expressions like TARGET_FILE and will render those
mostly unusable.

PROPERTIES ON DIRECTORIES

ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES
New in version 3.15.

A ;-list of files or directories that will be removed as a part of the global clean
target. It is useful for specifying generated files or directories that are used by
multiple targets or by CMake itself, or that are generated in ways which cannot be
captured as outputs or byproducts of custom commands.

If an additional clean file is specific to a single target only, then the
ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES target property would usually be a better choice than this
directory property.

Relative paths are allowed and are interpreted relative to the current binary directory.

Contents of ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES may use generator expressions.

This property only works for the Ninja and the Makefile generators. It is ignored by
other generators.

BINARY_DIR
New in version 3.7.

This read-only directory property reports absolute path to the binary directory
corresponding to the source on which it is read.

BUILDSYSTEM_TARGETS
New in version 3.7.

This read-only directory property contains a semicolon-separated list of buildsystem
targets added in the directory by calls to the add_library(), add_executable(), and
add_custom_target() commands. The list does not include any Imported Targets or Alias
Targets, but does include Interface Libraries. Each entry in the list is the logical name
of a target, suitable to pass to the get_property() command TARGET option.

See also the IMPORTED_TARGETS directory property.

CACHE_VARIABLES
List of cache variables available in the current directory.

This read-only property specifies the list of CMake cache variables currently defined. It
is intended for debugging purposes.

CLEAN_NO_CUSTOM
Set to true to tell Makefile Generators not to remove the outputs of custom commands for
this directory during the make clean operation. This is ignored on other generators
because it is not possible to implement.

CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
Tell CMake about additional input files to the configuration process. If any named file
is modified the build system will re-run CMake to re-configure the file and generate the
build system again.

Specify files as a semicolon-separated list of paths. Relative paths are interpreted as
relative to the current source directory.

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
Preprocessor definitions for compiling a directory's sources.

This property specifies the list of options given so far to the add_compile_definitions()
(or add_definitions()) command.

This property will be initialized in each directory by its value in the directory's
parent.

CMake will automatically drop some definitions that are not supported by the native build
tool.

New in version 3.26: Any leading -D on an item will be removed.

Disclaimer: Most native build tools have poor support for escaping certain values. CMake
has work-arounds for many cases but some values may just not be possible to pass
correctly. If a value does not seem to be escaped correctly, do not attempt to
work-around the problem by adding escape sequences to the value. Your work-around may
break in a future version of CMake that has improved escape support. Instead consider
defining the macro in a (configured) header file. Then report the limitation. Known
limitations include:

# - broken almost everywhere
; - broken in VS IDE 7.0 and Borland Makefiles
, - broken in VS IDE
% - broken in some cases in NMake
& | - broken in some cases on MinGW
^ < > \" - broken in most Make tools on Windows

CMake does not reject these values outright because they do work in some cases. Use with
caution.

Contents of 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.

The corresponding COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG> property may be set to specify
per-configuration definitions. Generator expressions should be preferred instead of
setting the alternative property.

COMPILE_OPTIONS
List of options to pass to the compiler.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of options given so far to the
add_compile_options() command.

This property is used to initialize the COMPILE_OPTIONS target property when a target is
created, which is used by the generators to set the options for the compiler.

Contents of 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.

DEFINITIONS
For CMake 2.4 compatibility only. Use COMPILE_DEFINITIONS instead.

This read-only property specifies the list of flags given so far to the add_definitions()
command. It is intended for debugging purposes. Use the COMPILE_DEFINITIONS directory
property instead.

This built-in read-only property does not exist if policy CMP0059 is set to NEW.

EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
Set this directory property to a true value on a subdirectory to exclude its targets from
the "all" target of its ancestors. If excluded, running e.g. make in the parent directory
will not build targets the subdirectory by default. This does not affect the "all" target
of the subdirectory itself. Running e.g. make inside the subdirectory will still build
its targets.

If the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property is set on a target then its value determines
whether the target is included in the "all" target of this directory and its ancestors.

IMPLICIT_DEPENDS_INCLUDE_TRANSFORM
Specify #include line transforms for dependencies in a directory.

This property specifies rules to transform macro-like #include lines during implicit
dependency scanning of C and C++ source files. The list of rules must be
semicolon-separated with each entry of the form A_MACRO(%)=value-with-% (the % must be
literal). During dependency scanning occurrences of A_MACRO(...) on #include lines will
be replaced by the value given with the macro argument substituted for %. For example,
the entry

MYDIR(%)=<mydir/%>

will convert lines of the form

#include MYDIR(myheader.h)

#include <mydir/myheader.h>

allowing the dependency to be followed.

This property applies to sources in all targets within a directory. The property value is
initialized in each directory by its value in the directory's parent.

IMPORTED_TARGETS
New in version 3.21.

This read-only directory property contains a semicolon-separated list of Imported Targets
added in the directory by calls to the add_library() and add_executable() commands. Each
entry in the list is the logical name of a target, suitable to pass to the get_property()
command TARGET option when called in the same directory.

See also the BUILDSYSTEM_TARGETS directory property.

INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
List of preprocessor include file search directories.

This property specifies the list of directories given so far to the include_directories()
command.

This property is used to populate the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property, which is used
by the generators to set the include directories for the compiler.

In addition to accepting values from that command, values may be set directly on any
directory using the set_property() command, and can be set on the current directory using
the set_directory_properties() command. A directory gets its initial value from its
parent directory if it has one. The initial value of the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target
property comes from the value of this property. Both directory and target property values
are adjusted by calls to the include_directories() command. Calls to set_property() or
set_directory_properties(), however, will update the directory property value without
updating target property values. Therefore direct property updates must be made before
calls to add_executable() or add_library() for targets they are meant to affect.

The target property values are used by the generators to set the include paths for the
compiler.

Contents of 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_REGULAR_EXPRESSION
Include file scanning regular expression.

This property specifies the regular expression used during dependency scanning to match
include files that should be followed. See the include_regular_expression() command for a
high-level interface to set this property.

LABELS
New in version 3.10.

Specify a list of text labels associated with a directory and all of its subdirectories.
This is equivalent to setting the LABELS target property and the LABELS test property on
all targets and tests in the current directory and subdirectories. Note: Launchers must
enabled to propagate labels to targets.

The CMAKE_DIRECTORY_LABELS variable can be used to initialize this property.

The list is reported in dashboard submissions.

LINK_DIRECTORIES
List of linker search directories.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of directories and is typically populated
using the link_directories() command. It gets its initial value from its parent
directory, if it has one.

The directory property is used to initialize the LINK_DIRECTORIES target property when a
target is created. That target property is used by the generators to set the library
search directories for the linker.

Contents of LINK_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.

LINK_OPTIONS
New in version 3.13.

List of options to use for the link step of shared library, module and executable targets
as well as the device link step.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of options given so far to the
add_link_options() command.

This property is used to initialize the LINK_OPTIONS target property when a target is
created, which is used by the generators to set the options for the compiler.

Contents of LINK_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.

LISTFILE_STACK
The current stack of listfiles being processed.

This property is mainly useful when trying to debug errors in your CMake scripts. It
returns a list of what list files are currently being processed, in order. So if one
listfile does an include() command then that is effectively pushing the included listfile
onto the stack.

MACROS
List of macro commands available in the current directory.

This read-only property specifies the list of CMake macros currently defined. It is
intended for debugging purposes. See the macro() command.

PARENT_DIRECTORY
Source directory that added current subdirectory.

This read-only property specifies the source directory that added the current source
directory as a subdirectory of the build. In the top-level directory the value is the
empty-string.

RULE_LAUNCH_COMPILE
Specify a launcher for compile rules.

See the global property of the same name for details. This overrides the global property
for a directory.

RULE_LAUNCH_CUSTOM
Specify a launcher for custom rules.

See the global property of the same name for details. This overrides the global property
for a directory.

RULE_LAUNCH_LINK
Specify a launcher for link rules.

See the global property of the same name for details. This overrides the global property
for a directory.

SOURCE_DIR
New in version 3.7.

This read-only directory property reports absolute path to the source directory on which
it is read.

SUBDIRECTORIES
New in version 3.7.

This read-only directory property contains a semicolon-separated list of subdirectories
processed so far by the add_subdirectory() or subdirs() commands. Each entry is the
absolute path to the source directory (containing the CMakeLists.txt file). This is
suitable to pass to the get_property() command DIRECTORY option.

NOTE:
The subdirs() command does not process its arguments until after the calling directory
is fully processed. Therefore looking up this property in the current directory will
not see them.

SYSTEM
New in version 3.25.

This directory property is used to initialize the SYSTEM target property for non-imported
targets created in that directory. It is set to true by add_subdirectory() and
FetchContent_Declare() when the SYSTEM option is given as an argument to those commands.

TESTS
New in version 3.12.

List of tests.

This read-only property holds a semicolon-separated list of tests defined so far, in the
current directory, by the add_test() command.

TEST_INCLUDE_FILES
New in version 3.10.

A list of cmake files that will be included when ctest is run.

If you specify TEST_INCLUDE_FILES, those files will be included and processed when ctest
is run on the directory.

VARIABLES
List of variables defined in the current directory.

This read-only property specifies the list of CMake variables currently defined. It is
intended for debugging purposes.

VS_GLOBAL_SECTION_POST_<section>
Specify a postSolution global section in Visual Studio.

Setting a property like this generates an entry of the following form in the solution
file:

GlobalSection(<section>) = postSolution
<contents based on property value>
EndGlobalSection

The property must be set to a semicolon-separated list of key=value pairs. Each such pair
will be transformed into an entry in the solution global section. Whitespace around key
and value is ignored. List elements which do not contain an equal sign are skipped.

This property only works for Visual Studio 9 and above; it is ignored on other generators.
The property only applies when set on a directory whose CMakeLists.txt contains a
project() command.

Note that CMake generates postSolution sections ExtensibilityGlobals and
ExtensibilityAddIns by default. If you set the corresponding property, it will override
the default section. For example, setting VS_GLOBAL_SECTION_POST_ExtensibilityGlobals
will override the default contents of the ExtensibilityGlobals section, while keeping
ExtensibilityAddIns on its default. However, CMake will always add a SolutionGuid to the
ExtensibilityGlobals section if it is not specified explicitly.

VS_GLOBAL_SECTION_PRE_<section>
Specify a preSolution global section in Visual Studio.

Setting a property like this generates an entry of the following form in the solution
file:

GlobalSection(<section>) = preSolution
<contents based on property value>
EndGlobalSection

This property only works for Visual Studio 9 and above; it is ignored on other generators.
The property only applies when set on a directory whose CMakeLists.txt contains a
project() command.

VS_STARTUP_PROJECT
New in version 3.6.

Specify the default startup project in a Visual Studio solution.

The Visual Studio Generators create a .sln file for each directory whose CMakeLists.txt
file calls the project() command. Set this property in the same directory as a project()
command call (e.g. in the top-level CMakeLists.txt file) to specify the default startup
project for the corresponding solution file.

The property must be set to the name of an existing target. This will cause that project
to be listed first in the generated solution file causing Visual Studio to make it the
startup project if the solution has never been opened before.

If this property is not specified, then the ALL_BUILD project will be the default.

PROPERTIES ON TARGETS

ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES
New in version 3.15.

A ;-list of files or directories that will be removed as a part of the global clean
target. It can be used to specify files and directories that are generated as part of
building the target or that are directly associated with the target in some way (e.g.
created as a result of running the target).

For custom targets, if such files can be captured as outputs or byproducts instead, then
that should be preferred over adding them to this property. If an additional clean file
is used by multiple targets or isn't target-specific, then the ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES
directory property may be the more appropriate property to use.

Relative paths are allowed and are interpreted relative to the current binary directory.

Contents of ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES may use generator expressions.

This property only works for the Ninja and the Makefile generators. It is ignored by
other generators.

AIX_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS
New in version 3.17.

On AIX, CMake automatically exports all symbols from shared libraries, and from
executables with the ENABLE_EXPORTS target property set. Explicitly disable this boolean
property to suppress the behavior and export no symbols by default. In this case it is
expected that the project will use other means to export some symbols.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AIX_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS variable if
it is set when a target is created.

ALIAS_GLOBAL
New in version 3.18.

Read-only property indicating of whether an ALIAS target is globally visible.

The boolean value of this property is TRUE for aliases to IMPORTED targets created with
the GLOBAL options to add_executable() or add_library(), FALSE otherwise. It is undefined
for targets built within the project.

NOTE:
Promoting an IMPORTED target from LOCAL to GLOBAL scope by changing the value or
IMPORTED_GLOBAL target property do not change the scope of local aliases.

ALIASED_TARGET
Name of target aliased by this target.

If this is an Alias Target, this property contains the name of the target aliased.

ANDROID_ANT_ADDITIONAL_OPTIONS
New in version 3.4.

Set the additional options for Android Ant build system. This is a string value containing
all command line options for the Ant build. This property is initialized by the value of
the CMAKE_ANDROID_ANT_ADDITIONAL_OPTIONS variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_API
New in version 3.1.

When Cross Compiling for Android with NVIDIA Nsight Tegra Visual Studio Edition, this
property sets the Android target API version (e.g. 15). The version number must be a
positive decimal integer. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ANDROID_API variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_API_MIN
New in version 3.2.

Set the Android MIN API version (e.g. 9). The version number must be a positive decimal
integer. This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_API_MIN variable
if it is set when a target is created. Native code builds using this API version.

ANDROID_ARCH
New in version 3.4.

When Cross Compiling for Android with NVIDIA Nsight Tegra Visual Studio Edition, this
property sets the Android target architecture.

This is a string property that could be set to the one of the following values:

• armv7-a: "ARMv7-A (armv7-a)"

• armv7-a-hard: "ARMv7-A, hard-float ABI (armv7-a)"

• arm64-v8a: "ARMv8-A, 64bit (arm64-v8a)"

• x86: "x86 (x86)"

• x86_64: "x86_64 (x86_64)"

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_ARCH variable if it is set
when a target is created.

ANDROID_ASSETS_DIRECTORIES
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android assets directories to copy into the main assets folder before build. This
a string property that contains the directory paths separated by semicolon. This property
is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_ASSETS_DIRECTORIES variable if it is set
when a target is created.

ANDROID_GUI
New in version 3.1.

When Cross Compiling for Android with NVIDIA Nsight Tegra Visual Studio Edition, this
property specifies whether to build an executable as an application package on Android.

When this property is set to true the executable when built for Android will be created as
an application package. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ANDROID_GUI variable if it is set when a target is created.

Add the AndroidManifest.xml source file explicitly to the target add_executable() command
invocation to specify the root directory of the application package source.

ANDROID_JAR_DEPENDENCIES
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that specifies JAR dependencies. This is a string value
property. This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_JAR_DEPENDENCIES
variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_JAR_DIRECTORIES
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that specifies directories to search for the JAR libraries.

This a string property that contains the directory paths separated by semicolons. This
property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_JAR_DIRECTORIES variable if it
is set when a target is created.

Contents of ANDROID_JAR_DIRECTORIES may use "generator expressions" with the syntax
$<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.

ANDROID_JAVA_SOURCE_DIR
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that defines the Java source code root directories. This a
string property that contains the directory paths separated by semicolon. This property
is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_JAVA_SOURCE_DIR variable if it is set
when a target is created.

ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DEPENDENCIES
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that specifies the .so dependencies. This is a string property.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DEPENDENCIES
variable if it is set when a target is created.

Contents of ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DEPENDENCIES may use "generator expressions" with the
syntax $<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.

ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DIRECTORIES
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that specifies directories to search for the .so libraries.

This a string property that contains the directory paths separated by semicolons.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DIRECTORIES
variable if it is set when a target is created.

Contents of ANDROID_NATIVE_LIB_DIRECTORIES may use "generator expressions" with the syntax
$<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.

ANDROID_PROCESS_MAX
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that defines the maximum number of a parallel Android NDK
compiler processes (e.g. 4). This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ANDROID_PROCESS_MAX variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_PROGUARD
New in version 3.4.

When this property is set to true that enables the ProGuard tool to shrink, optimize, and
obfuscate the code by removing unused code and renaming classes, fields, and methods with
semantically obscure names. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ANDROID_PROGUARD variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_PROGUARD_CONFIG_PATH
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that specifies the location of the ProGuard config file. Leave
empty to use the default one. This a string property that contains the path to ProGuard
config file. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ANDROID_PROGUARD_CONFIG_PATH variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_SECURE_PROPS_PATH
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that states the location of the secure properties file. This is
a string property that contains the file path. This property is initialized by the value
of the CMAKE_ANDROID_SECURE_PROPS_PATH variable if it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_SKIP_ANT_STEP
New in version 3.4.

Set the Android property that defines whether or not to skip the Ant build step. This is
a boolean property initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_SKIP_ANT_STEP variable if
it is set when a target is created.

ANDROID_STL_TYPE
New in version 3.4.

When Cross Compiling for Android with NVIDIA Nsight Tegra Visual Studio Edition, this
property specifies the type of STL support for the project. This is a string property
that could set to the one of the following values:

none No C++ Support

system Minimal C++ without STL

gabi++_static
GAbi++ Static

gabi++_shared
GAbi++ Shared

gnustl_static
GNU libstdc++ Static

gnustl_shared
GNU libstdc++ Shared

stlport_static
STLport Static

stlport_shared
STLport Shared

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ANDROID_STL_TYPE variable if it is
set when a target is created.

ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
Output directory in which to build ARCHIVE target files.

This property specifies the directory into which archive target files should be built.
The property value may use generator expressions. Multi-configuration generators (Visual
Studio, Xcode, Ninja Multi-Config) append a per-configuration subdirectory to the
specified directory unless a generator expression is used.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY variable
if it is set when a target is created.

NOTE:
On macOS, this property will be ignored for the linker import files (e.g. .tbd files,
see ENABLE_EXPORTS property for details) when:

• The FRAMEWORK is set, because the framework layout cannot be changed.

• The Xcode generator is used, due to the limitations and constraints of the Xcode
tool.

In both cases, the linker import files will be generated in the same directory as the
shared library.

See also the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG> target property.

ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG>
Per-configuration output directory for ARCHIVE target files.

This is a per-configuration version of the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY target property, but
multi-configuration generators (VS, Xcode) do NOT append a per-configuration subdirectory
to the specified directory. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG> variable if it is set when a target is created.

Contents of ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG> may use generator expressions.

ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME
Output name for ARCHIVE target files.

This property specifies the base name for archive target files. It overrides OUTPUT_NAME
and OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG> properties.

NOTE:
On macOS, this property will be ignored for the linker import files (e.g. .tbd files,
see ENABLE_EXPORTS property for details) when:

• The FRAMEWORK is set, because the framework layout cannot be changed.

• The Xcode generator is used, due to the limitations and constraints of the Xcode
tool.

In both cases, the linker import files will be generated with the same name as the
shared library.

See also the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG> target property.

ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>
Per-configuration output name for ARCHIVE target files.

This is the configuration-specific version of the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME target property.

AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR
New in version 3.9.

Directory where AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and AUTORCC generate files for the target.

The directory is created on demand and automatically added to the ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES
target property.

When unset or empty the directory <dir>/<target-name>_autogen is used where <dir> is
CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR and <target-name> is NAME.

By default AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR is unset.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS
New in version 3.14.

Switch for forwarding origin target dependencies to the corresponding _autogen target.

Targets which have their AUTOMOC or AUTOUIC property ON have a corresponding _autogen
target which generates moc and uic files. As this _autogen target is created at
generate-time, it is not possible to define dependencies of it using e.g.
add_dependencies(). Instead the AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS target property decides whether
the origin target dependencies should be forwarded to the _autogen target or not.

By default AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS is initialized from CMAKE_AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS which
is ON by default.

In total the dependencies of the _autogen target are composed from

• forwarded origin target dependencies (enabled by default via AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS)

• additional user defined dependencies from AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Note
Disabling AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS is useful to avoid building of origin target dependencies
when building the _autogen target only. This is especially interesting when a global
autogen target is enabled.

When the _autogen target doesn't require all the origin target's dependencies, and
AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS is disabled, it might be necessary to extend AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS
to add missing dependencies.

AUTOGEN_PARALLEL
New in version 3.11.

Number of parallel moc or uic processes to start when using AUTOMOC and AUTOUIC.

The custom <origin>_autogen target starts a number of threads of which each one parses a
source file and on demand starts a moc or uic process. AUTOGEN_PARALLEL controls how many
parallel threads (and therefore moc or uic processes) are started.

• An empty (or unset) value or the string AUTO sets the number of threads/processes to the
number of physical CPUs on the host system.

• A positive non zero integer value sets the exact thread/process count.

• Otherwise a single thread/process is started.

By default AUTOGEN_PARALLEL is initialized from CMAKE_AUTOGEN_PARALLEL.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS
Additional target dependencies of the corresponding _autogen target.

Targets which have their AUTOMOC or AUTOUIC property ON have a corresponding _autogen
target which generates moc and uic files. As this _autogen target is created at
generate-time, it is not possible to define dependencies of it using e.g.
add_dependencies(). Instead the AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS target property can be set to a
;-list of additional dependencies for the _autogen target. Dependencies can be target
names or file names.

In total the dependencies of the _autogen target are composed from

• forwarded origin target dependencies (enabled by default via AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS)

• additional user defined dependencies from AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Use cases
If AUTOMOC or AUTOUIC depends on a file that is either

• a GENERATED non C++ file (e.g. a GENERATED .json or .ui file) or

• a GENERATED C++ file that isn't recognized by AUTOMOC and AUTOUIC because it's skipped
by SKIP_AUTOMOC, SKIP_AUTOUIC, SKIP_AUTOGEN or CMP0071 or

• a file that isn't in the origin target's sources

it must be added to AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS.

AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE
New in version 3.27.

AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE is a boolean property that can be set on a target to indicate
that the autogen target include directory should be added as a system include directory or
normal include directory to the target.

If this property is not set, the autogen target include directory is added as a system
include directory by default. See policy CMP0151.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

This property is initialized by the CMAKE_AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE variable if it is set
when a target is created.

AUTOMOC
Should the target be processed with auto-moc (for Qt projects).

AUTOMOC is a boolean specifying whether CMake will handle the Qt moc preprocessor
automatically, i.e. without having to use commands like QT4_WRAP_CPP(), QT5_WRAP_CPP(),
etc. Currently, Qt versions 4 to 6 are supported.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTOMOC variable if it is set when
a target is created.

When this property is set ON, CMake will scan the header and source files at build time
and invoke moc accordingly.

Header file processing
At configuration time, a list of header files that should be scanned by AUTOMOC is
computed from the target's sources.

• All header files in the target's sources are added to the scan list.

• For all C++ source files <source_base>.<source_extension> in the target's sources, CMake
searches for

• a regular header with the same base name (<source_base>.<header_extention>) and

• a private header with the same base name and a _p suffix
(<source_base>_p.<header_extention>)

and adds these to the scan list.

At build time, CMake scans each unknown or modified header file from the list and searches
for

• a Qt macro from AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES,

• additional file dependencies from the FILE argument of a Q_PLUGIN_METADATA macro and

• additional file dependencies detected by filters defined in AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS.

If a Qt macro is found, then the header will be compiled by the moc to the output file
moc_<base_name>.cpp. The complete output file path is described in the section Output
file location.

The header will be moc compiled again if a file from the additional file dependencies
changes.

Header moc output files moc_<base_name>.cpp can be included in source files. In the
section Including header moc files in sources there is more information on that topic.

Source file processing
At build time, CMake scans each unknown or modified C++ source file from the target's
sources for

• a Qt macro from AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES,

• includes of header moc files (see Including header moc files in sources),

• additional file dependencies from the FILE argument of a Q_PLUGIN_METADATA macro and

• additional file dependencies detected by filters defined in AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS.

If a Qt macro is found, then the C++ source file <base>.<source_extension> is expected to
as well contain an include statement

#include <<base>.moc> // or
#include "<base>.moc"

The source file then will be compiled by the moc to the output file <base>.moc. A
description of the complete output file path is in section Output file location.

The source will be moc compiled again if a file from the additional file dependencies
changes.

Including header moc files in sources
A source file can include the moc output file of a header <header_base>.<header_extension>
by using an include statement of the form

#include <moc_<header_base>.cpp> // or
#include "moc_<header_base>.cpp"

If the moc output file of a header is included by a source, it will be generated in a
different location than if it was not included. This is described in the section Output
file location.

Output file location
Included moc output files
moc output files that are included by a source file will be generated in

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include for single configuration generators or in

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include_<CONFIG> for multi configuration generators.

Where <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR> is the value of the target property AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR.

The include directory is automatically added to the target's INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.

Not included moc output files
moc output files that are not included in a source file will be generated in

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/<SOURCE_DIR_CHECKSUM> for single configuration generators or in,

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include_<CONFIG>/<SOURCE_DIR_CHECKSUM> for multi configuration
generators.

Where <SOURCE_DIR_CHECKSUM> is a checksum computed from the relative parent directory path
of the moc input file. This scheme allows to have moc input files with the same name in
different directories.

All not included moc output files will be included automatically by the CMake generated
file

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/mocs_compilation.cpp, or

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/mocs_compilation_$<CONFIG>.cpp,

which is added to the target's sources.

Qt version detection
AUTOMOC enabled targets need to know the Qt major and minor version they're working with.
The major version usually is provided by the INTERFACE_QT_MAJOR_VERSION property of the
Qt[456]Core library, that the target links to. To find the minor version, CMake builds a
list of available Qt versions from

• Qt6Core_VERSION_MAJOR and Qt6Core_VERSION_MINOR variables (usually set by
find_package(Qt6...))

• Qt6Core_VERSION_MAJOR and Qt6Core_VERSION_MINOR directory properties

• Qt5Core_VERSION_MAJOR and Qt5Core_VERSION_MINOR variables (usually set by
find_package(Qt5...))

• Qt5Core_VERSION_MAJOR and Qt5Core_VERSION_MINOR directory properties

• QT_VERSION_MAJOR and QT_VERSION_MINOR variables (usually set by find_package(Qt4...))

• QT_VERSION_MAJOR and QT_VERSION_MINOR directory properties

in the context of the add_executable() or add_library() call.

Assumed INTERFACE_QT_MAJOR_VERSION is a valid number, the first entry in the list with a
matching major version is taken. If no matching major version was found, an error is
generated. If INTERFACE_QT_MAJOR_VERSION is not a valid number, the first entry in the
list is taken.

A find_package(Qt[456]...) call sets the QT/Qt[56]Core_VERSION_MAJOR/MINOR variables. If
the call is in a different context than the add_executable() or add_library() call, e.g.
in a function, then the version variables might not be available to the AUTOMOC enabled
target. In that case the version variables can be forwarded from the
find_package(Qt[456]...) calling context to the add_executable() or add_library() calling
context as directory properties. The following Qt5 example demonstrates the procedure.

function (add_qt5_client)
find_package(Qt5 REQUIRED QUIET COMPONENTS Core Widgets)
...
set_property(DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}"
PROPERTY Qt5Core_VERSION_MAJOR "${Qt5Core_VERSION_MAJOR}")
set_property(DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}"
PROPERTY Qt5Core_VERSION_MINOR "${Qt5Core_VERSION_MAJOR}")
...
endfunction ()
...
add_qt5_client()
add_executable(myTarget main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myTarget Qt5::QtWidgets)
set_property(TARGET myTarget PROPERTY AUTOMOC ON)

Modifiers
AUTOMOC_EXECUTABLE: The moc executable will be detected automatically, but can be forced
to a certain binary using this target property.

AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS: Additional command line options for moc can be set in this target
property.

AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES: This list of Qt macro names can be extended to search for additional
macros in headers and sources.

AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS: moc dependency file names can be extracted from headers or sources
by defining file name filters in this target property.

AUTOMOC_COMPILER_PREDEFINES: Compiler pre definitions for moc are written to the
moc_predefs.h file. The generation of this file can be enabled or disabled in this target
property.

SKIP_AUTOMOC: Sources and headers can be excluded from AUTOMOC processing by setting this
source file property.

SKIP_AUTOGEN: Source files can be excluded from AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and AUTORCC processing by
setting this source file property.

AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP: This global property can be used to group files generated by AUTOMOC
or AUTORCC together in an IDE, e.g. in MSVS.

AUTOGEN_TARGETS_FOLDER: This global property can be used to group AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and
AUTORCC targets together in an IDE, e.g. in MSVS.

CMAKE_GLOBAL_AUTOGEN_TARGET: A global autogen target, that depends on all AUTOMOC or
AUTOUIC generated <ORIGIN>_autogen targets in the project, will be generated when this
variable is ON.

AUTOGEN_PARALLEL: This target property controls the number of moc or uic processes to
start in parallel during builds.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOMOC_COMPILER_PREDEFINES
New in version 3.10.

Boolean value used by AUTOMOC to determine if the compiler pre definitions file
moc_predefs.h should be generated.

CMake generates a moc_predefs.h file with compiler pre definitions from the output of the
command defined in CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_PREDEFINES_COMMAND when

• AUTOMOC is enabled,

• AUTOMOC_COMPILER_PREDEFINES is enabled,

• CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_PREDEFINES_COMMAND isn't empty and

• the Qt version is greater or equal 5.8.

The moc_predefs.h file, which is generated in AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR, is passed to moc as the
argument to the --include option.

By default AUTOMOC_COMPILER_PREDEFINES is initialized from
CMAKE_AUTOMOC_COMPILER_PREDEFINES, which is ON by default.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS
New in version 3.9.

Filter definitions used by AUTOMOC to extract file names from a source file that are
registered as additional dependencies for the moc file of the source file.

Filters are defined as KEYWORD;REGULAR_EXPRESSION pairs. First the file content is
searched for KEYWORD. If it is found at least once, then file names are extracted by
successively searching for REGULAR_EXPRESSION and taking the first match group.

The file name found in the first match group is searched for

• first in the vicinity of the source file

• and afterwards in the target's INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.

If any of the extracted files changes, then the moc file for the source file gets rebuilt
even when the source file itself doesn't change.

If any of the extracted files is GENERATED or if it is not in the target's sources, then
it might be necessary to add it to the _autogen target dependencies. See
AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS for reference.

By default AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS is initialized from CMAKE_AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS, which
is empty by default.

From Qt 5.15.0 on this variable is ignored as moc is able to output the correct
dependencies.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Example 1
A header file my_class.hpp uses a custom macro JSON_FILE_MACRO which is defined in an
other header macros.hpp. We want the moc file of my_class.hpp to depend on the file name
argument of JSON_FILE_MACRO:

// my_class.hpp
class My_Class : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
JSON_FILE_MACRO ( "info.json" )
...
};

In CMakeLists.txt we add a filter to CMAKE_AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS like this:

list( APPEND CMAKE_AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS
"JSON_FILE_MACRO"
"[\n][ \t]*JSON_FILE_MACRO[ \t]*\\([ \t]*\"([^\"]+)\""
)

We assume info.json is a plain (not GENERATED) file that is listed in the target's source.
Therefore we do not need to add it to AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS.

Example 2
In the target my_target a header file complex_class.hpp uses a custom macro
JSON_BASED_CLASS which is defined in an other header macros.hpp:

// macros.hpp
...
#define JSON_BASED_CLASS(name, json) \
class name : public QObject \
{ \
Q_OBJECT \
Q_PLUGIN_METADATA(IID "demo" FILE json) \
name() {} \
};
...

// complex_class.hpp
#pragma once
JSON_BASED_CLASS(Complex_Class, "meta.json")
// end of file

Since complex_class.hpp doesn't contain a Q_OBJECT macro it would be ignored by AUTOMOC.
We change this by adding JSON_BASED_CLASS to CMAKE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES:

list(APPEND CMAKE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "JSON_BASED_CLASS")

We want the moc file of complex_class.hpp to depend on meta.json. So we add a filter to
CMAKE_AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS:

list(APPEND CMAKE_AUTOMOC_DEPEND_FILTERS
"JSON_BASED_CLASS"
"[\n^][ \t]*JSON_BASED_CLASS[ \t]*\\([^,]*,[ \t]*\"([^\"]+)\""
)

Additionally we assume meta.json is GENERATED which is why we have to add it to
AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS:

set_property(TARGET my_target APPEND PROPERTY AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS "meta.json")

AUTOMOC_EXECUTABLE
New in version 3.14.

AUTOMOC_EXECUTABLE is file path pointing to the moc executable to use for AUTOMOC enabled
files. Setting this property will make CMake skip the automatic detection of the moc
binary as well as the sanity-tests normally run to ensure that the binary is available and
working as expected.

Usually this property does not need to be set. Only consider this property if
auto-detection of moc can not work -- e.g. because you are building the moc binary as part
of your project.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES
New in version 3.10.

A semicolon-separated list of macro names used by AUTOMOC to determine if a C++ file needs
to be processed by moc.

This property is only used if the AUTOMOC property is ON for this target.

When running AUTOMOC, CMake searches for the strings listed in AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES in C++
source and header files. If any of the strings is found

• as the first non space string on a new line or

• as the first non space string after a { on a new line,

then the file will be processed by moc.

By default AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES is initialized from CMAKE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES.

See also the INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES target property.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Example
In this case the Q_OBJECT macro is hidden inside another macro called CUSTOM_MACRO. To
let CMake know that source files that contain CUSTOM_MACRO need to be moc processed, we
call:

set_property(TARGET tgt APPEND PROPERTY AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "CUSTOM_MACRO")

AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS
Additional options for moc when using AUTOMOC

This property is only used if the AUTOMOC property is ON for this target. In this case,
it holds additional command line options which will be used when moc is executed during
the build, i.e. it is equivalent to the optional OPTIONS argument of the qt4_wrap_cpp()
macro.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS variable if it
is set when a target is created, or an empty string otherwise.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

EXAMPLE
In this example, the moc tool is invoked with the -D_EXTRA_DEFINE option when generating
the moc file for object.cpp.

CMakeLists.txt

add_executable(mocOptions object.cpp main.cpp)
set_property(TARGET mocOptions PROPERTY AUTOMOC ON)
target_compile_options(mocOptions PRIVATE "-D_EXTRA_DEFINE")
set_property(TARGET mocOptions PROPERTY AUTOMOC_MOC_OPTIONS "-D_EXTRA_DEFINE")
target_link_libraries(mocOptions Qt6::Core)

object.hpp

#ifndef Object_HPP
#define Object_HPP

#include <QObject>

#ifdef _EXTRA_DEFINE
class Object : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:

Object();

};
#endif

#endif

AUTOMOC_PATH_PREFIX
New in version 3.16.

When this property is ON, CMake will generate the -p path prefix option for moc on AUTOMOC
enabled Qt targets.

To generate the path prefix, CMake tests if the header compiled by moc is in any of the
target include directories. If so, CMake will compute the relative path accordingly. If
the header is not in the include directories, CMake will omit the -p path prefix option.
moc usually generates a relative include path in that case.

AUTOMOC_PATH_PREFIX is initialized from the variable CMAKE_AUTOMOC_PATH_PREFIX, which is
OFF by default.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Reproducible builds
For reproducible builds it is recommended to keep headers that are moc compiled in one of
the target include directories and set AUTOMOC_PATH_PREFIX to ON. This ensures that:

• moc output files are identical on different build setups,

• moc output files will compile correctly when the source and/or build directory is a
symbolic link.

AUTORCC
Should the target be processed with auto-rcc (for Qt projects).

AUTORCC is a boolean specifying whether CMake will handle the Qt rcc code generator
automatically, i.e. without having to use commands like QT4_ADD_RESOURCES(),
QT5_ADD_RESOURCES(), etc. Currently, Qt versions 4 to 6 are supported.

When this property is ON, CMake will handle .qrc files added as target sources at build
time and invoke rcc accordingly. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_AUTORCC variable if it is set when a target is created.

By default AUTORCC is processed by a custom command. If the .qrc file is GENERATED, a
custom target is used instead.

When there are multiple .qrc files with the same name, CMake will generate unspecified
unique output file names for rcc. Therefore, if Q_INIT_RESOURCE() or Q_CLEANUP_RESOURCE()
need to be used, the .qrc file name must be unique.

Modifiers
AUTORCC_EXECUTABLE: The rcc executable will be detected automatically, but can be forced
to a certain binary by setting this target property.

AUTORCC_OPTIONS: Additional command line options for rcc can be set via this target
property. The corresponding AUTORCC_OPTIONS source file property can be used to specify
options to be applied only to a specific .qrc file.

SKIP_AUTORCC: .qrc files can be excluded from AUTORCC processing by setting this source
file property.

SKIP_AUTOGEN: Source files can be excluded from AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and AUTORCC processing by
setting this source file property.

AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP: This global property can be used to group files generated by AUTOMOC
or AUTORCC together in an IDE, e.g. in MSVS.

AUTOGEN_TARGETS_FOLDER: This global property can be used to group AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and
AUTORCC targets together in an IDE, e.g. in MSVS.

CMAKE_GLOBAL_AUTORCC_TARGET: A global autorcc target that depends on all AUTORCC targets
in the project will be generated when this variable is ON.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTORCC_EXECUTABLE
New in version 3.14.

AUTORCC_EXECUTABLE is file path pointing to the rcc executable to use for AUTORCC enabled
files. Setting this property will make CMake skip the automatic detection of the rcc
binary as well as the sanity-tests normally run to ensure that the binary is available and
working as expected.

Usually this property does not need to be set. Only consider this property if
auto-detection of rcc can not work -- e.g. because you are building the rcc binary as part
of your project.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTORCC_OPTIONS
Additional options for rcc when using AUTORCC

This property holds additional command line options which will be used when rcc is
executed during the build via AUTORCC, i.e. it is equivalent to the optional OPTIONS
argument of the qt4_add_resources() macro.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTORCC_OPTIONS variable if it is
set when a target is created, or an empty string otherwise.

The options set on the target may be overridden by AUTORCC_OPTIONS set on the .qrc source
file.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY AUTORCC_OPTIONS "--compress;9")
# ...

AUTOUIC
Should the target be processed with auto-uic (for Qt projects).

AUTOUIC is a boolean specifying whether CMake will handle the Qt uic code generator
automatically, i.e. without having to use commands like QT4_WRAP_UI(), QT5_WRAP_UI(), etc.
Currently, Qt versions 4 to 6 are supported.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTOUIC variable if it is set when
a target is created.

When this property is ON, CMake will scan the header and source files at build time and
invoke uic accordingly.

Header and source file processing
At build time, CMake scans each header and source file from the target's sources for
include statements of the form

#include "ui_<ui_base>.h"

Once such an include statement is found in a file, CMake searches for the uic input file
<ui_base>.ui

• in the vicinity of the file and

• in the AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS of the target.

If the <ui_base>.ui file was found, uic is called on it to generate ui_<ui_base>.h in the
directory

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include for single configuration generators or in

• <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR>/include_<CONFIG> for multi configuration generators.

Where <AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR> is the value of the target property AUTOGEN_BUILD_DIR.

The include directory is automatically added to the target's INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES.

Modifiers
AUTOUIC_EXECUTABLE: The uic executable will be detected automatically, but can be forced
to a certain binary using this target property.

AUTOUIC_OPTIONS: Additional command line options for uic can be set via this target
property. The corresponding AUTOUIC_OPTIONS source file property can be used to specify
options to be applied only to a specific <base_name>.ui file.

SKIP_AUTOUIC: Source files can be excluded from AUTOUIC processing by setting this source
file property.

SKIP_AUTOGEN: Source files can be excluded from AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and AUTORCC processing by
setting this source file property.

AUTOGEN_TARGETS_FOLDER: This global property can be used to group AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and
AUTORCC targets together in an IDE, e.g. in MSVS.

CMAKE_GLOBAL_AUTOGEN_TARGET: A global autogen target, that depends on all AUTOMOC or
AUTOUIC generated <ORIGIN>_autogen targets in the project, will be generated when this
variable is ON.

AUTOGEN_PARALLEL: This target property controls the number of moc or uic processes to
start in parallel during builds.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOUIC_EXECUTABLE
New in version 3.14.

AUTOUIC_EXECUTABLE is file path pointing to the uic executable to use for AUTOUIC enabled
files. Setting this property will make CMake skip the automatic detection of the uic
binary as well as the sanity-tests normally run to ensure that the binary is available and
working as expected.

Usually this property does not need to be set. Only consider this property if
auto-detection of uic can not work -- e.g. because you are building the uic binary as part
of your project.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

AUTOUIC_OPTIONS
Additional options for uic when using AUTOUIC

This property holds additional command line options which will be used when uic is
executed during the build via AUTOUIC, i.e. it is equivalent to the optional OPTIONS
argument of the qt4_wrap_ui() macro.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS variable if it is
set when a target is created, or an empty string otherwise.

The options set on the target may be overridden by AUTOUIC_OPTIONS set on the .ui source
file.

This property may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY AUTOUIC_OPTIONS "--no-protection")
# ...

AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS
New in version 3.9.

Search path list used by AUTOUIC to find included .ui files.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS variable if it
is set when a target is created. Otherwise it is empty.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

BINARY_DIR
New in version 3.4.

This read-only property reports the value of the CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR variable in the
directory in which the target was defined.

BUILD_RPATH
New in version 3.8.

A semicolon-separated list specifying runtime path (RPATH) entries to add to binaries
linked in the build tree (for platforms that support it). By default, CMake sets the
runtime path of binaries in the build tree to contain search paths it knows are needed to
find the shared libraries they link. Projects may set BUILD_RPATH to specify additional
search paths.

The build-tree runtime path will not be used for binaries in the install tree. It will be
replaced with the install-tree runtime path during the installation step. See also the
INSTALL_RPATH target property.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_BUILD_RPATH if it is set
when a target is created.

This property supports generator expressions.

Other settings that affect the build-tree runtime path include:

• The CMAKE_SKIP_RPATH variable completely disables runtime paths in both the build tree
and install tree.

• The SKIP_BUILD_RPATH target property disables setting any runtime path in the build
tree.

• The BUILD_RPATH_USE_ORIGIN target property causes the automatically-generated runtime
path to use entries relative to $ORIGIN.

• The BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH target property causes binaries in the build tree to be
built with the install-tree runtime path.

BUILD_RPATH_USE_ORIGIN
New in version 3.14.

Whether to use relative paths for the build RPATH.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_BUILD_RPATH_USE_ORIGIN.

On platforms that support runtime paths (RPATH) with the $ORIGIN token, setting this
property to TRUE enables relative paths in the build RPATH for executables and shared
libraries that point to shared libraries in the same build tree.

Normally the build RPATH of a binary contains absolute paths to the directory of each
shared library it links to. The RPATH entries for directories contained within the build
tree can be made relative to enable relocatable builds and to help achieve reproducible
builds by omitting the build directory from the build environment.

This property has no effect on platforms that do not support the $ORIGIN token in RPATH,
or when the CMAKE_SKIP_RPATH variable is set. The runtime path set through the BUILD_RPATH
target property is also unaffected by this property.

BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_NAME_DIR
New in version 3.9.

BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_NAME_DIR is a boolean specifying whether the macOS install_name of a
target in the build tree uses the directory given by INSTALL_NAME_DIR. This setting only
applies to targets on macOS.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable
CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_NAME_DIR if it is set when a target is created.

If this property is not set and policy CMP0068 is not NEW, the value of
BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH is used in its place.

BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH
BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH is a boolean specifying whether to link the target in the build
tree with the INSTALL_RPATH. This takes precedence over SKIP_BUILD_RPATH and avoids the
need for relinking before installation.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH variable
if it is set when a target is created.

If policy CMP0068 is not NEW, this property also controls use of INSTALL_NAME_DIR in the
build tree on macOS. Either way, the BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_NAME_DIR target property takes
precedence.

BUNDLE
This target is a CFBundle on the macOS.

If a module library target has this property set to true it will be built as a CFBundle
when built on the mac. It will have the directory structure required for a CFBundle and
will be suitable to be used for creating Browser Plugins or other application resources.

BUNDLE_EXTENSION
The file extension used to name a BUNDLE, a FRAMEWORK, or a MACOSX_BUNDLE target on the
macOS and iOS.

The default value is bundle, framework, or app for the respective target types.

C_EXTENSIONS
New in version 3.1.

Boolean specifying whether compiler specific extensions are requested.

This property specifies whether compiler specific extensions should be used. For some
compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu11 instead of -std=c11 to the
compile line. This property is ON by default. The basic C standard level is controlled by
the C_STANDARD target property.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_C_EXTENSIONS variable if set when a
target is created and otherwise by the value of CMAKE_C_EXTENSIONS_DEFAULT (see CMP0128).

C_STANDARD
New in version 3.1.

The C standard whose features are requested to build this target.

This property specifies the C standard whose features are requested to build this target.
For some compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu11 to the compile line.
For compilers that have no notion of a C standard level, such as Microsoft Visual C++
before VS 16.7, this property has no effect.

Supported values are:

90 C89/C90

99 C99

11 C11

17 New in version 3.21.

C17

23 New in version 3.21.

C23

If the value requested does not result in a compile flag being added for the compiler in
use, a previous standard flag will be added instead. This means that using:

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY C_STANDARD 11)

with a compiler which does not support -std=gnu11 or an equivalent flag will not result in
an error or warning, but will instead add the -std=gnu99 or -std=gnu90 flag if supported.
This "decay" behavior may be controlled with the C_STANDARD_REQUIRED target property.
Additionally, the C_EXTENSIONS target property may be used to control whether
compiler-specific extensions are enabled on a per-target basis.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_C_STANDARD variable if it is set
when a target is created.

C_STANDARD_REQUIRED
New in version 3.1.

Boolean describing whether the value of C_STANDARD is a requirement.

If this property is set to ON, then the value of the C_STANDARD target property is treated
as a requirement. If this property is OFF or unset, the C_STANDARD target property is
treated as optional and may "decay" to a previous standard if the requested is not
available. For compilers that have no notion of a C standard level, such as Microsoft
Visual C++ before VS 16.7, this property has no effect.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_C_STANDARD_REQUIRED variable if it
is set when a target is created.

COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME
New in version 3.12.

By setting this target property, the target is configured to build with C++/CLI support.

The Visual Studio generator defines the clr parameter depending on the value of the
COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME target property:

Not Set (default)
Native C++.

"" (set but empty)
Mixed unmanaged/managed C++ using .NET Framework.

netcore
New in version 3.26.

Mixed unmanaged/managed C++ using .NET Core.

This required VS 2019's v142 toolset or higher.

pure
Managed C++.

safe
Managed C++.

This property is only evaluated Visual Studio Generators for VS 2010 and above.

To be able to build managed C++ targets with VS 2017 and above the component C++/CLI
support must be installed, which may not be done by default.

See also IMPORTED_COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME

COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_BOOL
Properties which must be compatible with their link interface

The COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_BOOL property may contain a list of properties for this target
which must be consistent when evaluated as a boolean with the INTERFACE variant of the
property in all linked dependees. For example, if a property FOO appears in the list,
then for each dependee, the INTERFACE_FOO property content in all of its dependencies must
be consistent with each other, and with the FOO property in the depender.

Consistency in this sense has the meaning that if the property is set, then it must have
the same boolean value as all others, and if the property is not set, then it is ignored.

Note that for each dependee, the set of properties specified in this property must not
intersect with the set specified in any of the other Compatible Interface Properties.

COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_NUMBER_MAX
Properties whose maximum value from the link interface will be used.

The COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_NUMBER_MAX property may contain a list of properties for this
target whose maximum value may be read at generate time when evaluated in the INTERFACE
variant of the property in all linked dependees. For example, if a property FOO appears
in the list, then for each dependee, the INTERFACE_FOO property content in all of its
dependencies will be compared with each other and with the FOO property in the depender.
When reading the FOO property at generate time, the maximum value will be returned. If the
property is not set, then it is ignored.

Note that for each dependee, the set of properties specified in this property must not
intersect with the set specified in any of the other Compatible Interface Properties.

COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_NUMBER_MIN
Properties whose minimum value from the link interface will be used.

The COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_NUMBER_MIN property may contain a list of properties for this
target whose minimum value may be read at generate time when evaluated in the INTERFACE
variant of the property of all linked dependees. For example, if a property FOO appears
in the list, then for each dependee, the INTERFACE_FOO property content in all of its
dependencies will be compared with each other and with the FOO property in the depender.
When reading the FOO property at generate time, the minimum value will be returned. If
the property is not set, then it is ignored.

Note that for each dependee, the set of properties specified in this property must not
intersect with the set specified in any of the other Compatible Interface Properties.

COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_STRING
Properties which must be string-compatible with their link interface

The COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_STRING property may contain a list of properties for this target
which must be the same when evaluated as a string in the INTERFACE variant of the property
all linked dependees. For example, if a property FOO appears in the list, then for each
dependee, the INTERFACE_FOO property content in all of its dependencies must be equal with
each other, and with the FOO property in the depender. If the property is not set, then
it is ignored.

Note that for each dependee, the set of properties specified in this property must not
intersect with the set specified in any of the other Compatible Interface Properties.

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
Preprocessor definitions for compiling a target's sources.

CMake will automatically drop some definitions that are not supported by the native build
tool.

New in version 3.26: Any leading -D on an item will be removed.

CMake does not reject these values outright because they do work in some cases. Use with
caution.

The corresponding COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG> property may be set to specify
per-configuration definitions. Generator expressions should be preferred instead of
setting the alternative property.

COMPILE_FEATURES
New in version 3.1.

Compiler features enabled for this target.

The list of features in this property are a subset of the features listed in the
CMAKE_C_COMPILE_FEATURES, CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILE_FEATURES, and CMAKE_CXX_COMPILE_FEATURES
variables.

Contents of 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.

COMPILE_FLAGS
Additional flags to use when compiling this target's sources.

The COMPILE_FLAGS property sets additional compiler flags used to build sources within the
target. Use COMPILE_DEFINITIONS to pass additional preprocessor definitions.

This property is deprecated. Use the COMPILE_OPTIONS property or the
target_compile_options() command instead.

COMPILE_OPTIONS
List of options to pass to the compiler.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of options specified so far for its target.
Use the target_compile_options() command to append more options. The options will be
added after flags in the CMAKE_<LANG>_FLAGS and CMAKE_<LANG>_FLAGS_<CONFIG> variables, but
before those propagated from dependencies by the INTERFACE_COMPILE_OPTIONS property.

This property adds compile options for all languages in a target. Use the
COMPILE_LANGUAGE generator expression to specify per-language compile options.

This property is initialized by the COMPILE_OPTIONS directory property when a target is
created, and is used by the generators to set the options for the compiler.

Option De-duplication
The final set of options used for a target is constructed by accumulating options from the
current target and the usage requirements of its dependencies. The set of options is
de-duplicated to avoid repetition.

New in version 3.12: While beneficial for individual options, the de-duplication step can
break up option groups. For example, -option A -option B becomes -option A B. One may
specify a group of options using shell-like quoting along with a SHELL: prefix. The
SHELL: prefix is dropped, and the rest of the option string is parsed using the
separate_arguments() UNIX_COMMAND mode. For example, "SHELL:-option A" "SHELL:-option B"
becomes -option A -option B.

COMPILE_PDB_NAME
New in version 3.1.

Output name for the MS debug symbol .pdb file generated by the compiler while building
source files.

This property specifies the base name for the debug symbols file. If not set, the default
is unspecified.

NOTE:
The compiler-generated program database files are specified by the /Fd compiler flag
and are not the same as linker-generated program database files specified by the /pdb
linker flag. Use the PDB_NAME property to specify the latter.

COMPILE_PDB_NAME_<CONFIG>
New in version 3.1.

Per-configuration output name for the MS debug symbol .pdb file generated by the compiler
while building source files.

This is the configuration-specific version of COMPILE_PDB_NAME.

COMPILE_PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
New in version 3.1.

Output directory for the MS debug symbol .pdb file generated by the compiler while
building source files.

This property specifies the directory into which the MS debug symbols will be placed by
the compiler. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_COMPILE_PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY variable if it is set when a target is created.

COMPILE_PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG>
New in version 3.1.

Per-configuration output directory for the MS debug symbol .pdb file generated by the
compiler while building source files.

This is a per-configuration version of COMPILE_PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, but
multi-configuration generators (Visual Studio, Xcode) do NOT append a per-configuration
subdirectory to the specified directory. This property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_COMPILE_PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG> variable if it is set when a target is
created.

COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR
New in version 3.24.

Specify whether to treat warnings on compile as errors. If enabled, adds a flag to treat
warnings on compile as errors. If the cmake --compile-no-warning-as-error option is given
on the cmake(1) command line, this property is ignored.

This property is not implemented for all compilers. It is silently ignored if there is no
implementation for the compiler being used. The currently implemented compiler IDs are:

• GNU

• Clang

• AppleClang

• Fujitsu

• FujitsuClang

• IBMClang

• Intel

• IntelLLVM

• LCC

• MSVC

• NVHPC

• NVIDIA (CUDA)

• QCC

• SunPro

• Tasking

• TI

• VisualAge

• XL

• XLClang

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR
if it is set when a target is created.

<CONFIG>_OUTPUT_NAME
Old per-configuration target file base name. Use OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG> instead.

This is a configuration-specific version of the OUTPUT_NAME target property.

<CONFIG>_POSTFIX
Postfix to append to the target file name for configuration <CONFIG>.

When building with configuration <CONFIG> the value of this property is appended to the
target file name built on disk. For non-executable targets, this property is initialized
by the value of the CMAKE_<CONFIG>_POSTFIX variable if it is set when a target is created.
This property is ignored on macOS for Frameworks and App Bundles.

For macOS see also the FRAMEWORK_MULTI_CONFIG_POSTFIX_<CONFIG> target property.

CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR
New in version 3.3.

Use the given emulator to run executables created when crosscompiling. This command will
be added as a prefix to add_test(), add_custom_command(), and add_custom_target() commands
for built target system executables.

New in version 3.15: If this property contains a semicolon-separated list, then the first
value is the command and remaining values are its arguments.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR variable if
it is set when a target is created.

CUDA_ARCHITECTURES
New in version 3.18.

List of architectures to generate device code for.

An architecture can be suffixed by either -real or -virtual to specify the kind of
architecture to generate code for. If no suffix is given then code is generated for both
real and virtual architectures.

A non-empty false value (e.g. OFF) disables adding architectures. This is intended to
support packagers and rare cases where full control over the passed flags is required.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES variable if it
is set when a target is created.

The CUDA_ARCHITECTURES target property must be set to a non-empty value on targets that
compile CUDA sources, or it is an error. See policy CMP0104.

The CUDA_ARCHITECTURES may be set to one of the following special values:

all New in version 3.23.

Compile for all supported major and minor real architectures, and the highest major
virtual architecture.

all-major
New in version 3.23.

Compile for all supported major real architectures, and the highest major virtual
architecture.

native New in version 3.24.

Compile for the architecture(s) of the host's GPU(s).

Examples
set_target_properties(tgt PROPERTIES CUDA_ARCHITECTURES "35;50;72")

Generates code for real and virtual architectures 30, 50 and 72.

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY CUDA_ARCHITECTURES 70-real 72-virtual)

Generates code for real architecture 70 and virtual architecture 72.

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY CUDA_ARCHITECTURES OFF)

CMake will not pass any architecture flags to the compiler.

CUDA_CUBIN_COMPILATION
New in version 3.27.

Compile CUDA sources to .cubin files instead of .obj files within Object Libraries.

For example:

add_library(mycubin OBJECT a.cu b.cu)
set_property(TARGET mycubin PROPERTY CUDA_CUBIN_COMPILATION ON)

CUDA_EXTENSIONS
New in version 3.8.

Boolean specifying whether compiler specific extensions are requested.

This property specifies whether compiler specific extensions should be used. For some
compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu++11 instead of -std=c++11 to the
compile line. This property is ON by default. The basic CUDA/C++ standard level is
controlled by the CUDA_STANDARD target property.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CUDA_EXTENSIONS variable if set
when a target is created and otherwise by the value of CMAKE_CUDA_EXTENSIONS_DEFAULT (see
CMP0128).

CUDA_FATBIN_COMPILATION
New in version 3.27.

Compile CUDA sources to .fatbin files instead of .obj files within Object Libraries.

For example:

add_library(myfbins OBJECT a.cu b.cu)
set_property(TARGET myfbins PROPERTY CUDA_FATBIN_COMPILATION ON)

CUDA_OPTIX_COMPILATION
New in version 3.27.

Compile CUDA sources to .optixir files instead of .obj files within Object Libraries.

For example:

add_library(myoptix OBJECT a.cu b.cu)
set_property(TARGET myoptix PROPERTY CUDA_OPTIX_COMPILATION ON)

CUDA_PTX_COMPILATION
New in version 3.9.

Compile CUDA sources to .ptx files instead of .obj files within Object Libraries.

For example:

add_library(myptx OBJECT a.cu b.cu)
set_property(TARGET myptx PROPERTY CUDA_PTX_COMPILATION ON)

CUDA_RESOLVE_DEVICE_SYMBOLS
New in version 3.9.

CUDA only: Enables device linking for the specific library target where required.

If set, this will tell the required compilers to enable device linking on the library
target. Device linking is an additional link step required by some CUDA compilers when
CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION is enabled. Normally device linking is deferred until a shared
library or executable is generated, allowing for multiple static libraries to resolve
device symbols at the same time when they are used by a shared library or executable.

If this property or CMAKE_CUDA_RESOLVE_DEVICE_SYMBOLS is unset, static libraries are
treated as if it is disabled while shared, module, and executable targets behave as if it
is on.

If CMAKE_CUDA_RESOLVE_DEVICE_SYMBOLS has been defined, this property is initialized to the
value the variable and overriding the default behavior.

Note that device linking is not supported for Object Libraries.

For instance:

set_property(TARGET mystaticlib PROPERTY CUDA_RESOLVE_DEVICE_SYMBOLS ON)

CUDA_RUNTIME_LIBRARY
New in version 3.17.

Select the CUDA runtime library for use by compilers targeting the CUDA language.

The allowed case insensitive values are:

None Link with -cudart=none or equivalent flag(s) to use no CUDA runtime library.

Shared Link with -cudart=shared or equivalent flag(s) to use a dynamically-linked CUDA
runtime library.

Static Link with -cudart=static or equivalent flag(s) to use a statically-linked CUDA
runtime library.

Contents of CUDA_RUNTIME_LIBRARY may use generator expressions.

If that property is not set then CMake uses an appropriate default value based on the
compiler to select the CUDA runtime library.

NOTE:
This property has effect only when the CUDA language is enabled. To control the CUDA
runtime linking when only using the CUDA SDK with the C or C++ language we recommend
using the FindCUDAToolkit module.

CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION
New in version 3.8.

CUDA only: Enables separate compilation of device code

If set this will enable separable compilation for all CUDA files for the given target.

For instance:

set_property(TARGET myexe PROPERTY CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION ON)

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION variable
if it is set when a target is created.

CUDA_STANDARD
New in version 3.8.

The CUDA/C++ standard whose features are requested to build this target.

This property specifies the CUDA/C++ standard whose features are requested to build this
target. For some compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu++11 to the
compile line.

Supported values are:

98 CUDA C++98. Note that this maps to the same as 03 internally.

03 CUDA C++03

11 CUDA C++11

14 CUDA C++14. While CMake 3.8 and later recognize 14 as a valid value, CMake 3.9 was
the first version to include support for any compiler.

17 CUDA C++17. While CMake 3.8 and later recognize 17 as a valid value, CMake 3.18 was
the first version to include support for any compiler.

20 New in version 3.12.

CUDA C++20. While CMake 3.12 and later recognize 20 as a valid value, CMake 3.18
was the first version to include support for any compiler.

23 New in version 3.20.

CUDA C++23

26 New in version 3.25.

CUDA C++26. CMake 3.25 and later recognize 26 as a valid value, no version has
support for any compiler.

If the value requested does not result in a compile flag being added for the compiler in
use, a previous standard flag will be added instead. This means that using:

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY CUDA_STANDARD 11)

with a compiler which does not support -std=gnu++11 or an equivalent flag will not result
in an error or warning, but will instead add the -std=gnu++03 flag if supported. This
"decay" behavior may be controlled with the CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIRED target property.
Additionally, the CUDA_EXTENSIONS target property may be used to control whether
compiler-specific extensions are enabled on a per-target basis.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CUDA_STANDARD variable if it is set
when a target is created.

CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIRED
New in version 3.8.

Boolean describing whether the value of CUDA_STANDARD is a requirement.

If this property is set to ON, then the value of the CUDA_STANDARD target property is
treated as a requirement. If this property is OFF or unset, the CUDA_STANDARD target
property is treated as optional and may "decay" to a previous standard if the requested is
not available. For compilers that have no notion of a standard level, such as MSVC 1800
(Visual Studio 2013) and lower, this has no effect.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIRED variable if
it is set when a target is created.

CXX_EXTENSIONS
New in version 3.1.

Boolean specifying whether compiler specific extensions are requested.

This property specifies whether compiler specific extensions should be used. For some
compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu++11 instead of -std=c++11 to the
compile line. This property is ON by default. The basic C++ standard level is controlled
by the CXX_STANDARD target property.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS variable if set when
a target is created and otherwise by the value of CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS_DEFAULT (see
CMP0128).

CXX_MODULE_DIRS
New in version 3.28.

Semicolon-separated list of base directories of the target's default C++ module set (i.e.
the file set with name and type CXX_MODULES). The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See CXX_MODULE_DIRS_<NAME> for the list of base directories in other C++ module sets.

CXX_MODULE_DIRS_<NAME>
New in version 3.28.

Semicolon-separated list of base directories of the target's <NAME> C++ module set, which
has the set type CXX_MODULES. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See CXX_MODULE_DIRS for the list of base directories in the default C++ module set. See
CXX_MODULE_SETS for the file set names of all C++ module sets.

CXX_MODULE_SET
New in version 3.28.

Semicolon-separated list of files in the target's default C++ module set, (i.e. the file
set with name and type CXX_MODULES). If any of the paths are relative, they are computed
relative to the target's source directory. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See CXX_MODULE_SET_<NAME> for the list of files in other C++ module sets.

CXX_MODULE_SET_<NAME>
New in version 3.28.

Semicolon-separated list of files in the target's <NAME> C++ module set, which has the set
type CXX_MODULES. If any of the paths are relative, they are computed relative to the
target's source directory. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See CXX_MODULE_SET for the list of files in the default C++ module set. See
CXX_MODULE_SETS for the file set names of all C++ module sets.

CXX_MODULE_SETS
New in version 3.28.

Read-only list of the target's PRIVATE and PUBLIC C++ module sets (i.e. all file sets
with the type CXX_MODULES). Files listed in these file sets are treated as source files
for the purpose of IDE integration.

C++ module sets may be defined using the target_sources() command FILE_SET option with
type CXX_MODULES.

See also CXX_MODULE_SET_<NAME>, CXX_MODULE_SET and INTERFACE_CXX_MODULE_SETS.

CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES
New in version 3.28.

CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES is a boolean specifying whether CMake will scan C++ sources in the
target for module dependencies. See also the CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES for per-source settings
which, if set, overrides the target-wide settings.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES variable if it
is set when a target is created.

When this property is set ON or unset, CMake will scan the target's CXX sources at build
time and add module dependency information to the compile line as necessary. When this
property is set OFF, CMake will not scan the target's CXX sources at build time.

Note that scanning is only performed if C++20 or higher is enabled for the target.
Scanning for modules in the target's sources belonging to file sets of type CXX_MODULES is
always performed.

CXX_STANDARD
New in version 3.1.

The C++ standard whose features are requested to build this target.

This property specifies the C++ standard whose features are requested to build this
target. For some compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu++11 to the
compile line. For compilers that have no notion of a standard level, such as Microsoft
Visual C++ before 2015 Update 3, this has no effect.

Supported values are:

98 C++98

11 C++11

14 C++14

17 New in version 3.8.

C++17

20 New in version 3.12.

C++20

23 New in version 3.20.

C++23

26 New in version 3.25.

C++26. CMake 3.25 and later recognize 26 as a valid value, no version has support
for any compiler.

If the value requested does not result in a compile flag being added for the compiler in
use, a previous standard flag will be added instead. This means that using:

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 11)

with a compiler which does not support -std=gnu++11 or an equivalent flag will not result
in an error or warning, but will instead add the -std=gnu++98 flag if supported. This
"decay" behavior may be controlled with the CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED target property.
Additionally, the CXX_EXTENSIONS target property may be used to control whether
compiler-specific extensions are enabled on a per-target basis.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD variable if it is set
when a target is created.

CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED
New in version 3.1.

Boolean describing whether the value of CXX_STANDARD is a requirement.

If this property is set to ON, then the value of the CXX_STANDARD target property is
treated as a requirement. If this property is OFF or unset, the CXX_STANDARD target
property is treated as optional and may "decay" to a previous standard if the requested is
not available. For compilers that have no notion of a standard level, such as MSVC 1800
(Visual Studio 2013) and lower, this has no effect.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED variable if
it is set when a target is created.

DEBUG_POSTFIX
See target property <CONFIG>_POSTFIX.

This property is a special case of the more-general <CONFIG>_POSTFIX property for the
DEBUG configuration.

DEFINE_SYMBOL
Define a symbol when compiling this target's sources.

DEFINE_SYMBOL sets the name of the preprocessor symbol defined when compiling sources in a
shared library. If not set here then it is set to target_EXPORTS by default (with some
substitutions if the target is not a valid C identifier). This is useful for headers to
know whether they are being included from inside their library or outside to properly
setup dllexport/dllimport decorations on Windows.

On POSIX platforms, this can optionally be used to control the visibility of symbols.

CMake provides support for such decorations with the GenerateExportHeader module.

DEPLOYMENT_ADDITIONAL_FILES
New in version 3.13.

Set the WinCE project AdditionalFiles in DeploymentTool in .vcproj files generated by the
Visual Studio 9 2008 generator. This is useful when you want to debug on remote WinCE
device. Specify additional files that will be copied to the device. For example:

set_property(TARGET ${TARGET} PROPERTY
DEPLOYMENT_ADDITIONAL_FILES "english.lng|local_folder|remote_folder|0"
"german.lng|local_folder|remote_folder|0")

produces:

DEPLOYMENT_REMOTE_DIRECTORY
New in version 3.6.

Set the WinCE project RemoteDirectory in DeploymentTool and RemoteExecutable in
DebuggerTool in .vcproj files generated by the Visual Studio 9 2008 generator. This is
useful when you want to debug on remote WinCE device. For example:

set_property(TARGET ${TARGET} PROPERTY
DEPLOYMENT_REMOTE_DIRECTORY "\\FlashStorage")

produces:

DEPRECATION
New in version 3.17.

Deprecation message from imported target's developer.

DEPRECATION is the message regarding a deprecation status to be displayed to downstream
users of a target.

The message is formatted as follows:

• Lines that do not start in whitespace are wrapped as paragraph text.

• Lines that start in whitespace are preserved as preformatted text.

DISABLE_PRECOMPILE_HEADERS
New in version 3.16.

Disables the precompilation of header files specified by PRECOMPILE_HEADERS property.

If the property is not set, CMake will use the value provided by
CMAKE_DISABLE_PRECOMPILE_HEADERS.

DLL_NAME_WITH_SOVERSION
New in version 3.27.

This property controls whether the SOVERSION target property is added to the filename of
generated DLL filenames for the Windows platform, which is selected when the WIN32
variable is set.

The value of the listed property is appended to the basename of the runtime component of
the shared library target as -<SOVERSION>.

Please note that setting this property has no effect if versioned filenames are globally
disabled with the CMAKE_PLATFORM_NO_VERSIONED_SONAME variable.

DOTNET_SDK
New in version 3.23.

Specify the .NET SDK for C# projects. For example: Microsoft.NET.Sdk.

This property tells Visual Studio Generators for VS 2019 and above to generate a .NET
SDK-style project using the specified SDK. The property is meaningful only to these
generators, and only in C# targets. It is ignored for C++ projects, even if they are
managed (e.g. using COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME).

This property must be a non-empty string to generate .NET SDK-style projects. CMake does
not perform any validations for the value of the property.

This property may be initialized for all targets using the CMAKE_DOTNET_SDK variable.

NOTE:
The Visual Studio Generators in this version of CMake have not yet learned to support
add_custom_command() in .NET SDK-style projects. It is currently an error to attach a
custom command to a target with the DOTNET_SDK property set.

DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK
New in version 3.17.

Specify the .NET target framework.

Used to specify the .NET target framework for C++/CLI and C#. For example: netcoreapp2.1.

This property is only evaluated for Visual Studio Generators VS 2010 and above.

Can be initialized for all targets using the variable CMAKE_DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK.

DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK_VERSION
New in version 3.12.

Specify the .NET target framework version.

Used to specify the .NET target framework version for C++/CLI and C#. For example: v4.5.

This property is only evaluated for Visual Studio Generators VS 2010 and above.

To initialize this variable for all targets set CMAKE_DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK or
CMAKE_DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK_VERSION. If both are set, the latter is ignored.

EchoString
A message to be displayed when the target is built.

A message to display on some generators (such as Makefile Generators) when the target is
built.

ENABLE_EXPORTS
Specify whether an executable or a shared library exports symbols.

Normally an executable does not export any symbols because it is the final program. It is
possible for an executable to export symbols to be used by loadable modules. When this
property is set to true CMake will allow other targets to "link" to the executable with
the target_link_libraries() command. On all platforms a target-level dependency on the
executable is created for targets that link to it. Handling of the executable on the link
lines of the loadable modules varies by platform:

• On Windows-based systems (including Cygwin) an "import library" is created along with
the executable to list the exported symbols. Loadable modules link to the import
library to get the symbols.

• On macOS, loadable modules link to the executable itself using the -bundle_loader flag.

• On AIX, a linker "import file" is created along with the executable to list the exported
symbols for import when linking other targets. Loadable modules link to the import file
to get the symbols.

• On other platforms, loadable modules are simply linked without referencing the
executable since the dynamic loader will automatically bind symbols when the module is
loaded.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable,
if it is set when an executable target is created. If CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_ENABLE_EXPORTS is
not set, the CMAKE_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable is used to initialize the property instead for
backward compatibility reasons. See below for alternative initialization behavior for
shared library targets.

New in version 3.27: To link with a shared library on macOS, or to a shared framework on
any Apple platform, a linker import file can be used instead of the actual shared library.
These linker import files are also known as text-based stubs, and they have a .tbd file
extension.

The generation of these linker import files, as well as their consumption, is controlled
by this property. When this property is set to true on a shared library target, CMake will
generate a .tbd file for the library. Other targets that link to the shared library
target will then use this .tbd file when linking rather than linking to the shared library
binary.

NOTE:
For backward compatibility reasons, this property will be ignored if the
XCODE_ATTRIBUTE_GENERATE_TEXT_BASED_STUBS target property or the
CMAKE_XCODE_ATTRIBUTE_GENERATE_TEXT_BASED_STUBS variable is set to false.

For shared library targets, this property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_ENABLE_EXPORTS variable, if it is set when the target is created.

EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
Set this target property to a true (or false) value to exclude (or include) the target
from the "all" target of the containing directory and its ancestors. If excluded, running
e.g. make in the containing directory or its ancestors will not build the target by
default.

If this target property is not set then the target will be included in the "all" target of
the containing directory. Furthermore, it will be included in the "all" target of its
ancestor directories unless the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL directory property is set.

With EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL set to false or not set at all, the target will be brought up to
date as part of doing a make install or its equivalent for the CMake generator being used.

If a target has EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL set to true, it may still be listed in an
install(TARGETS) command, but the user is responsible for ensuring that the target's build
artifacts are not missing or outdated when an install is performed.

This property may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.

Only the "Ninja Multi-Config" generator supports a property value that varies by
configuration. For all other generators the value of this property must be the same for
all configurations.

EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD
Exclude target from Build Solution.

This property is only used by Visual Studio generators. When set to TRUE, the target will
not be built when you press Build Solution.

EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD_<CONFIG>
Per-configuration version of target exclusion from Build Solution.

This is the configuration-specific version of EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD. If the generic
EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD is also set on a target, EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD_<CONFIG>
takes precedence in configurations for which it has a value.

EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS
New in version 3.20.

Enable/Disable output of compile commands during generation for a target.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS if
it is set when a target is created.

EXPORT_NAME
Exported name for target files.

This sets the name for the IMPORTED target generated by the install(EXPORT) and export()
commands. If not set, the logical target name is used by default.

EXPORT_NO_SYSTEM
New in version 3.25.

This property affects the behavior of the install(EXPORT) and export() commands when they
install or export the target respectively. When EXPORT_NO_SYSTEM is set to true, those
commands generate an imported target with SYSTEM property set to false.

See the NO_SYSTEM_FROM_IMPORTED target property to set this behavior on the target
consuming the include directories rather than the one providing them.

EXPORT_PROPERTIES
New in version 3.12.

List additional properties to export for a target.

This property contains a list of property names that should be exported by the
install(EXPORT) and export() commands. By default only a limited number of properties are
exported. This property can be used to additionally export other properties as well.

Properties starting with INTERFACE_ or IMPORTED_ are not allowed as they are reserved for
internal CMake use.

Properties containing generator expressions are also not allowed.

NOTE:
Since CMake 3.19, Interface Libraries may have arbitrary target properties. If a
project exports an interface library with custom properties, the resulting package may
not work with dependents configured by older versions of CMake that reject the custom
properties.

FOLDER
For IDEs that present targets using a folder hierarchy, this property specifies the name
of the folder to place the target under. To nest folders, use FOLDER values such as
GUI/Dialogs with / characters separating folder levels. Targets with no FOLDER property
will appear as top level entities. Targets with the same FOLDER property value will
appear in the same folder as siblings.

Only some CMake generators honor the FOLDER property (e.g. Xcode or any of the Visual
Studio generators). Those generators that don't will simply ignore it.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_FOLDER if it is set when a
target is created.

The global property USE_FOLDERS must be set to true, otherwise the FOLDER property is
ignored.

Fortran_BUILDING_INSTRINSIC_MODULES
New in version 3.22.

Instructs the CMake Fortran preprocessor that the target is building Fortran intrinsics
for building a Fortran compiler.

This property is off by default and should be turned only on projects that build a Fortran
compiler. It should not be turned on for projects that use a Fortran compiler.

Turning this property on will correctly add dependencies for building Fortran intrinsic
modules whereas turning the property off will ignore Fortran intrinsic modules in the
dependency graph as they are supplied by the compiler itself.

Fortran_FORMAT
Set to FIXED or FREE to indicate the Fortran source layout.

This property tells CMake whether the Fortran source files in a target use fixed-format or
free-format. CMake will pass the corresponding format flag to the compiler. Use the
source-specific Fortran_FORMAT property to change the format of a specific source file.
If the variable CMAKE_Fortran_FORMAT is set when a target is created its value is used to
initialize this property.

Fortran_MODULE_DIRECTORY
Specify output directory for Fortran modules provided by the target.

If the target contains Fortran source files that provide modules and the compiler supports
a module output directory this specifies the directory in which the modules will be
placed. When this property is not set the modules will be placed in the build directory
corresponding to the target's source directory. If the variable
CMAKE_Fortran_MODULE_DIRECTORY is set when a target is created its value is used to
initialize this property.

When using one of the Visual Studio Generators with the Intel Fortran plugin installed in
Visual Studio, a subdirectory named after the configuration will be appended to the path
where modules are created. For example, if Fortran_MODULE_DIRECTORY is set to
C:/some/path, modules will end up in C:/some/path/Debug (or C:/some/path/Release etc.)
when an Intel Fortran .vfproj file is generated, and in C:/some/path when any other
generator is used.

Note that some compilers will automatically search the module output directory for modules
USEd during compilation but others will not. If your sources USE modules their location
must be specified by INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES regardless of this property.

Fortran_PREPROCESS
New in version 3.18.

Control whether the Fortran source file should be unconditionally preprocessed.

If unset or empty, rely on the compiler to determine whether the file should be
preprocessed. If explicitly set to OFF then the file does not need to be preprocessed. If
explicitly set to ON, then the file does need to be preprocessed as part of the
compilation step.

When using the Ninja generator, all source files are first preprocessed in order to
generate module dependency information. Setting this property to OFF will make Ninja skip
this step.

Use the source-specific Fortran_PREPROCESS property if a single file needs to be
preprocessed. If the variable CMAKE_Fortran_PREPROCESS is set when a target is created its
value is used to initialize this property.

NOTE:
For some compilers, NAG, PGI and Solaris Studio, setting this to OFF will have no
effect.

FRAMEWORK
Build SHARED or STATIC library as Framework Bundle on the macOS and iOS.

If such a library target has this property set to TRUE it will be built as a framework
when built on the macOS and iOS. It will have the directory structure required for a
framework and will be suitable to be used with the -framework option. This property is
initialized by the value of the CMAKE_FRAMEWORK variable if it is set when a target is
created.

To customize Info.plist file in the framework, use MACOSX_FRAMEWORK_INFO_PLIST target
property.

For macOS see also the FRAMEWORK_VERSION target property.

Example of creation dynamicFramework:

add_library(dynamicFramework SHARED
dynamicFramework.c
dynamicFramework.h
)
set_target_properties(dynamicFramework PROPERTIES
FRAMEWORK TRUE
FRAMEWORK_VERSION C
MACOSX_FRAMEWORK_IDENTIFIER com.cmake.dynamicFramework
MACOSX_FRAMEWORK_INFO_PLIST Info.plist
# "current version" in semantic format in Mach-O binary file
VERSION 16.4.0
# "compatibility version" in semantic format in Mach-O binary file
SOVERSION 1.0.0
PUBLIC_HEADER dynamicFramework.h
XCODE_ATTRIBUTE_CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY "iPhone Developer"
)

FRAMEWORK_MULTI_CONFIG_POSTFIX_<CONFIG>
New in version 3.18.

Postfix to append to the framework file name for configuration <CONFIG>, when using a
multi-config generator (like Xcode and Ninja Multi-Config).

When building with configuration <CONFIG> the value of this property is appended to the
framework file name built on disk.

For example, given a framework called my_fw, a value of _debug for the
FRAMEWORK_MULTI_CONFIG_POSTFIX_DEBUG property, and Debug;Release in
CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES, the following relevant files would be created for the Debug and
Release configurations:

• Release/my_fw.framework/my_fw

• Release/my_fw.framework/Versions/A/my_fw

• Debug/my_fw.framework/my_fw_debug

• Debug/my_fw.framework/Versions/A/my_fw_debug

For framework targets, this property is initialized by the value of the
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_MULTI_CONFIG_POSTFIX_<CONFIG> variable if it is set when a target is
created.

This property is ignored for non-framework targets, and when using single config
generators.

FRAMEWORK_VERSION
New in version 3.4.

Version of a framework created using the FRAMEWORK target property (e.g. A).

This property only affects macOS, as iOS doesn't have versioned directory structure.

GENERATOR_FILE_NAME
Generator's file for this target.

An internal property used by some generators to record the name of the project or dsp file
associated with this target. Note that at configure time, this property is only set for
targets created by include_external_msproject().

GHS_INTEGRITY_APP
New in version 3.14.

ON / OFF boolean to determine if an executable target should be treated as an Integrity
Application.

If no value is set and if a .int file is added as a source file to the executable target
it will be treated as an Integrity Application.

Supported on Green Hills MULTI.

GHS_NO_SOURCE_GROUP_FILE
New in version 3.14.

ON / OFF boolean to control if the project file for a target should be one single file or
multiple files.

The default behavior or when the property is OFF is to generate a project file for the
target and then a sub-project file for each source group.

When this property is ON or if CMAKE_GHS_NO_SOURCE_GROUP_FILE is ON then only a single
project file is generated for the target.

Supported on Green Hills MULTI.

GNUtoMS
Convert GNU import library (.dll.a) to MS format (.lib).

When linking a shared library or executable that exports symbols using GNU tools on
Windows (MinGW/MSYS) with Visual Studio installed convert the import library (.dll.a) from
GNU to MS format (.lib). Both import libraries will be installed by install(TARGETS) and
exported by install(EXPORT) and export() to be linked by applications with either GNU- or
MS-compatible tools.

If the variable CMAKE_GNUtoMS is set when a target is created its value is used to
initialize this property. The variable must be set prior to the first command that
enables a language such as project() or enable_language(). CMake provides the variable as
an option to the user automatically when configuring on Windows with GNU tools.

HAS_CXX
Link the target using the C++ linker tool (obsolete).

This is equivalent to setting the LINKER_LANGUAGE property to CXX.

HEADER_DIRS
New in version 3.23.

Semicolon-separated list of base directories of the target's default header set (i.e. the
file set with name and type HEADERS). The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See HEADER_DIRS_<NAME> for the list of base directories in other header sets.

HEADER_DIRS_<NAME>
New in version 3.23.

Semicolon-separated list of base directories of the target's <NAME> header set, which has
the set type HEADERS. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See HEADER_DIRS for the list of base directories in the default header set. See
HEADER_SETS for the file set names of all header sets.

HEADER_SET
New in version 3.23.

Semicolon-separated list of files in the target's default header set, (i.e. the file set
with name and type HEADERS). If any of the paths are relative, they are computed relative
to the target's source directory. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See HEADER_SET_<NAME> for the list of files in other header sets.

HEADER_SET_<NAME>
New in version 3.23.

Semicolon-separated list of files in the target's <NAME> header set, which has the set
type HEADERS. If any of the paths are relative, they are computed relative to the target's
source directory. The property supports generator expressions.

This property is normally only set by target_sources(FILE_SET) rather than being
manipulated directly.

See HEADER_SET for the list of files in the default header set. See HEADER_SETS for the
file set names of all header sets.

HEADER_SETS
New in version 3.23.

Read-only list of the target's PRIVATE and PUBLIC header sets (i.e. all file sets with
the type HEADERS). Files listed in these file sets are treated as source files for the
purpose of IDE integration. The files also have their HEADER_FILE_ONLY property set to
TRUE.

Header sets may be defined using the target_sources() command FILE_SET option with type
HEADERS.

See also HEADER_SET_<NAME>, HEADER_SET and INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS.

HIP_ARCHITECTURES
New in version 3.21.

List of GPU architectures to for which to generate device code. Architecture names are
interpreted based on CMAKE_HIP_PLATFORM.

A non-empty false value (e.g. OFF) disables adding architectures. This is intended to
support packagers and rare cases where full control over the passed flags is required.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_HIP_ARCHITECTURES variable if it is
set when a target is created.

The HIP compilation model has two modes: whole and separable. Whole compilation generates
device code at compile time. Separable compilation generates device code at link time.
Therefore the HIP_ARCHITECTURES target property should be set on targets that compile or
link with any HIP sources.

Examples
set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY HIP_ARCHITECTURES gfx801 gfx900)

Generates code for both gfx801 and gfx900.

HIP_EXTENSIONS
New in version 3.21.

Boolean specifying whether compiler specific extensions are requested.

This property specifies whether compiler specific extensions should be used. For some
compilers, this results in adding a flag such as -std=gnu++11 instead of -std=c++11 to the
compile line. This property is ON by default. The basic HIP/C++ standard level is
controlled by the HIP_STANDARD target property.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_HIP_EXTENSIONS variable if set when
a target is created and otherwise by the value of CMAKE_HIP_EXTENSIONS_DEFAULT (see
CMP0128).

HIP_STANDARD
New in version 3.21.

The HIP/C++ standard requested to build this target.

Supported values are:

98 HIP C++98

11 HIP C++11

14 HIP C++14

17 HIP C++17

20 HIP C++20

23 HIP C++23

26 New in version 3.25.

HIP C++26. CMake 3.25 and later recognize 26 as a valid value, no version has
support for any compiler.

If the value requested does not result in a compile flag being added for the compiler in
use, a previous standard flag will be added instead. This means that using:

set_property(TARGET tgt PROPERTY HIP_STANDARD 11)

with a compiler which does not support -std=gnu++11 or an equivalent flag will not result
in an error or warning, but will instead add the -std=gnu++98 flag if supported. This
"decay" behavior may be controlled with the HIP_STANDARD_REQUIRED target property.
Additionally, the HIP_EXTENSIONS target property may be used to control whether
compiler-specific extensions are enabled on a per-target basis.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_HIP_STANDARD variable if it is set
when a target is created.

HIP_STANDARD_REQUIRED
New in version 3.21.

Boolean describing whether the value of HIP_STANDARD is a requirement.

If this property is set to ON, then the value of the HIP_STANDARD target property is
treated as a requirement. If this property is OFF or unset, the HIP_STANDARD target
property is treated as optional and may "decay" to a previous standard if the requested is
not available.

See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

This property is initialized by the value of the CMAKE_HIP_STANDARD_REQUIRED variable if
it is set when a target is created.

IMPLICIT_DEPENDS_INCLUDE_TRANSFORM
Specify #include line transforms for dependencies in a target.

MYDIR(%)=<mydir/%>

will convert lines of the form

#include MYDIR(myheader.h)

#include <mydir/myheader.h>

allowing the dependency to be followed.

This property applies to sources in the target on which it is set.

IMPORTED
Read-only indication of whether a target is IMPORTED.

The boolean value of this property is True for targets created with the IMPORTED option to
add_executable() or add_library(). It is False for targets built within the project.

IMPORTED_COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME
New in version 3.12.

Property to define if the target uses C++/CLI.

Ignored for non-imported targets.

See also the COMMON_LANGUAGE_RUNTIME target property.

IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS
Configurations provided for an imported target.

Set this to the list of configuration names available for an imported target. For each
configuration named, the imported target's artifacts must be specified in other target
properties:

• IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>, or

• IMPORTED_IMPLIB_<CONFIG> (on DLL platforms, on AIX for Executables or on Apple for
Shared Libraries), or

• IMPORTED_OBJECTS_<CONFIG> (for Object Libraries), or

• IMPORTED_LIBNAME_<CONFIG> (for Interface Libraries).

The configuration names correspond to those defined in the project from which the target
is imported. If the importing project uses a different set of configurations, the names
may be mapped using the MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_<CONFIG> target property.

The IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS property is ignored for non-imported targets.

IMPORTED_CXX_MODULES_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
New in version 3.28.

Preprocessor definitions for compiling an IMPORTED target's C++ module sources.

CMake will automatically drop some definitions that are not supported by the native build
tool.

IMPORTED_CXX_MODULES_COMPILE_FEATURES
New in version 3.28.

Compiler features enabled for this IMPORTED target's C++ modules.

The value of this property is used by the generators to set the include paths for the
compiler.

IMPORTED_CXX_MODULES_COMPILE_OPTIONS
New in version 3.28.

List of options to pass to the compiler for this IMPORTED target's C++ modules.

IMPORTED_CXX_MODULES_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
New in version 3.28.

List of preprocessor include file search directories when compiling C++ modules for
IMPORTED targets.

The value of this property is used by the generators to set the include paths for the
compiler.

IMPORTED_CXX_MODULES_LINK_LIBRARIES
New in version 3.28.

List of direct dependencies to use for usage requirements for C++ modules in the target's
C++ modules.

IMPORTED_GLOBAL
New in version 3.11.

Indication of whether an IMPORTED target is globally visible.

The boolean value of this property is True for targets created with the IMPORTED GLOBAL
options to add_executable() or add_library(). It is always False for targets built within
the project.

For targets created with the IMPORTED option to add_executable() or add_library() but
without the additional option GLOBAL this is False, too. However, setting this property
for such a locally IMPORTED target to True promotes that target to global scope. This
promotion can only be done in the same directory where that IMPORTED target was created in
the first place.

NOTE:
Once an imported target has been made global, it cannot be changed back to non-global.
Therefore, if a project sets this property, it may only provide a value of True. CMake
will issue an error if the project tries to set the property to a non-True value, even
if the value was already False.

NOTE:
Local ALIAS targets created before promoting an IMPORTED target from LOCAL to GLOBAL,
keep their initial scope (see ALIAS_GLOBAL target property).

IMPORTED_IMPLIB
Full path to the import library for an IMPORTED target.

This property may be set:

• On DLL platforms, to the location of the .lib part of the DLL.

• New in version 3.16: On AIX, to an import file (e.g. .imp) created for executables that
export symbols (see the ENABLE_EXPORTS target property).

• New in version 3.27: On Apple platforms, to an import file (e.g. .tbd) created for
shared libraries or frameworks (see the ENABLE_EXPORTS target property). For
frameworks, this is the location of the .tbd file symlink just inside the framework
folder.

• New in version 3.28: On non-DLL platforms, to the location of a shared library. When
set without also specifying an IMPORTED_LOCATION, the library is considered to be a
stub, and its location will not be added as a runtime search path to dependents that
link it.

Changed in version 3.28: If an imported target is an Apple framework or XCFramework, the
preferred arrangement is to set IMPORTED_LOCATION to the .framework or .xcframework
directory. CMake will then find the relevant .tbd file inside that framework or
XCFramework automatically without requiring IMPORTED_IMPLIB to be set.

The IMPORTED_IMPLIB target property may be overridden for a given configuration <CONFIG>
by the configuration-specific IMPORTED_IMPLIB_<CONFIG> target property. Furthermore, the
MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_<CONFIG> target property may be used to map between a project's
configurations and those of an imported target. If none of these is set then the name of
any other configuration listed in the IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS target property may be
selected and its IMPORTED_IMPLIB_<CONFIG> value used.

This property is ignored for non-imported targets.

IMPORTED_IMPLIB_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_IMPLIB property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

IMPORTED_LIBNAME
New in version 3.8.

Specify the link library name for an imported Interface Library.

An interface library builds no library file itself but does specify usage requirements for
its consumers. The IMPORTED_LIBNAME property may be set to specify a single library name
to be placed on the link line in place of the interface library target name as a
requirement for using the interface.

This property is intended for use in naming libraries provided by a platform SDK for which
the full path to a library file may not be known. The value may be a plain library name
such as foo but may not be a path (e.g. /usr/lib/libfoo.so) or a flag (e.g. -Wl,...). The
name is never treated as a library target name even if it happens to name one.

The IMPORTED_LIBNAME property is allowed only on imported Interface Libraries and is
rejected on targets of other types (for which the IMPORTED_LOCATION target property may be
used).

IMPORTED_LIBNAME_<CONFIG>
New in version 3.8.

<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LIBNAME property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

IMPORTED_LINK_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES
Dependent shared libraries of an imported shared library.

Shared libraries may be linked to other shared libraries as part of their implementation.
On some platforms the linker searches for the dependent libraries of shared libraries they
are including in the link. Set this property to the list of dependent shared libraries of
an imported library. The list should be disjoint from the list of interface libraries in
the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES property. On platforms requiring dependent shared libraries
to be found at link time CMake uses this list to add appropriate files or paths to the
link command line. Ignored for non-imported targets.

IMPORTED_LINK_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LINK_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported. If set, this property completely overrides the generic property for the named
configuration.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LANGUAGES
Languages compiled into an IMPORTED static library.

Set this to the list of languages of source files compiled to produce a STATIC IMPORTED
library (such as C or CXX). CMake accounts for these languages when computing how to link
a target to the imported library. For example, when a C executable links to an imported
C++ static library CMake chooses the C++ linker to satisfy language runtime dependencies
of the static library.

This property is ignored for targets that are not STATIC libraries. This property is
ignored for non-imported targets.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LANGUAGES_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LANGUAGES.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported. If set, this property completely overrides the generic property for the named
configuration.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES
Transitive link interface of an IMPORTED target.

Set this to the list of libraries whose interface is included when an IMPORTED library
target is linked to another target. The libraries will be included on the link line for
the target. Unlike the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES property, this property applies to all
imported target types, including STATIC libraries. This property is ignored for
non-imported targets.

This property is ignored if the target also has a non-empty INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES
property.

This property is deprecated. Use INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES instead.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported. If set, this property completely overrides the generic property for the named
configuration.

This property is ignored if the target also has a non-empty INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES
property.

This property is deprecated. Use INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES instead.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_MULTIPLICITY
Repetition count for cycles of IMPORTED static libraries.

This is LINK_INTERFACE_MULTIPLICITY for IMPORTED targets.

IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_MULTIPLICITY_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_MULTIPLICITY.

If set, this property completely overrides the generic property for the named
configuration.

IMPORTED_LOCATION
Full path to the main file on disk for an IMPORTED target.

Set this to the location of an IMPORTED target file on disk. For executables this is the
location of the executable file. For STATIC libraries and modules this is the location of
the library or module. For SHARED libraries on non-DLL platforms this is the location of
the shared library. For application bundles on macOS this is the location of the
executable file inside Contents/MacOS within the bundle folder. For frameworks on macOS
this is the location of the library file symlink just inside the framework folder. For
DLLs this is the location of the .dll part of the library. For UNKNOWN libraries this is
the location of the file to be linked. Ignored for non-imported targets.

New in version 3.28: For ordinary frameworks on Apple platforms, this may be the location
of the .framework folder itself. For XCFrameworks, it may be the location of the
.xcframework folder, in which case any target that links against it will get the selected
library's Headers directory as a usage requirement.

The IMPORTED_LOCATION target property may be overridden for a given configuration <CONFIG>
by the configuration-specific IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG> target property. Furthermore,
the MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_<CONFIG> target property may be used to map between a project's
configurations and those of an imported target. If none of these is set then the name of
any other configuration listed in the IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS target property may be
selected and its IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG> value used.

To get the location of an imported target read one of the LOCATION or LOCATION_<CONFIG>
properties.

For platforms with import libraries (e.g. Windows, AIX or Apple) see also IMPORTED_IMPLIB.

IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_LOCATION property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

IMPORTED_NO_SONAME
Specifies that an IMPORTED shared library target has no soname.

Set this property to true for an imported shared library file that has no soname field.
CMake may adjust generated link commands for some platforms to prevent the linker from
using the path to the library in place of its missing soname. Ignored for non-imported
targets.

IMPORTED_NO_SONAME_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_NO_SONAME property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

IMPORTED_OBJECTS
New in version 3.9.

A semicolon-separated list of absolute paths to the object files on disk for an imported
object library.

Ignored for non-imported targets.

Projects may skip IMPORTED_OBJECTS if the configuration-specific property
IMPORTED_OBJECTS_<CONFIG> is set instead, except in situations as noted in the section
below.

Xcode Generator Considerations
New in version 3.20.

For Apple platforms, a project may be built for more than one architecture. This is
controlled by the CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES variable. For all but the Xcode generator,
CMake invokes compilers once per source file and passes multiple -arch flags, leading to a
single object file which will be a universal binary. Such object files work well when
listed in the IMPORTED_OBJECTS of a separate CMake build, even for the Xcode generator.
But producing such object files with the Xcode generator is more difficult, since it
invokes the compiler once per architecture for each source file. Unlike the other
generators, it does not generate universal object file binaries.

A further complication with the Xcode generator is that when targeting device platforms
(iOS, tvOS, visionOS or watchOS), the Xcode generator has the ability to use either the
device or simulator SDK without needing CMake to be re-run. The SDK can be selected at
build time. But since some architectures can be supported by both the device and the
simulator SDKs (e.g. arm64 with Xcode 12 or later), not all combinations can be
represented in a single universal binary. The only solution in this case is to have
multiple object files.

IMPORTED_OBJECTS doesn't support generator expressions, so every file it lists needs to be
valid for every architecture and SDK. If incorporating object files that are not
universal binaries, the path and/or file name of each object file has to somehow
encapsulate the different architectures and SDKs. With the Xcode generator, Xcode
variables of the form $(...) can be used to represent these aspects and Xcode will
substitute the appropriate values at build time. CMake doesn't interpret these variables
and embeds them unchanged in the Xcode project file. $(CURRENT_ARCH) can be used to
represent the architecture, while $(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME) can be used to differentiate
between SDKs.

The following shows one example of how these two variables can be used to refer to an
object file whose location depends on both the SDK and the architecture:

add_library(someObjs OBJECT IMPORTED)

set_property(TARGET someObjs PROPERTY IMPORTED_OBJECTS
# Quotes are required because of the ()
"/path/to/somewhere/objects$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME)/$(CURRENT_ARCH)/func.o"
)

# Example paths:
# /path/to/somewhere/objects-iphoneos/arm64/func.o
# /path/to/somewhere/objects-iphonesimulator/x86_64/func.o

In some cases, you may want to have configuration-specific object files as well. The
$(CONFIGURATION) Xcode variable is often used for this and can be used in conjunction with
the others mentioned above:

add_library(someObjs OBJECT IMPORTED)
set_property(TARGET someObjs PROPERTY IMPORTED_OBJECTS
"/path/to/somewhere/$(CONFIGURATION)$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME)/$(CURRENT_ARCH)/func.o"
)

# Example paths:
# /path/to/somewhere/Release-iphoneos/arm64/func.o
# /path/to/somewhere/Debug-iphonesimulator/x86_64/func.o

When any Xcode variable is used, CMake is not able to fully evaluate the path(s) at
configure time. One consequence of this is that the configuration-specific
IMPORTED_OBJECTS_<CONFIG> properties cannot be used, since CMake cannot determine whether
an object file exists at a particular <CONFIG> location. The IMPORTED_OBJECTS property
must be used for these situations and the configuration-specific aspects of the path
should be handled by the $(CONFIGURATION) Xcode variable.

IMPORTED_OBJECTS_<CONFIG>
New in version 3.9.

<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_OBJECTS property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

Xcode Generator Considerations
Do not use this <CONFIG>-specific property if you need to use Xcode variables like
$(CURRENT_ARCH) or $(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME) in the value. The <CONFIG>-specific
properties will be ignored in such cases because CMake cannot determine whether a file
exists at the configuration-specific path at configuration time. For such cases, use
IMPORTED_OBJECTS instead.

IMPORTED_SONAME
The soname of an IMPORTED target of shared library type.

Set this to the soname embedded in an imported shared library. This is meaningful only on
platforms supporting the feature. Ignored for non-imported targets.

IMPORTED_SONAME_<CONFIG>
<CONFIG>-specific version of IMPORTED_SONAME property.

Configuration names correspond to those provided by the project from which the target is
imported.

IMPORT_PREFIX
What comes before the import library name.

Similar to the target property PREFIX, but used for import libraries (typically
corresponding to a DLL) instead of regular libraries. A target property that can be set
to override the prefix (such as lib) on an import library name.

IMPORT_SUFFIX
What comes after the import library name.

Similar to the target property SUFFIX, but used for import libraries (typically
corresponding to a DLL) instead of regular libraries. A target property that can be set
to override the suffix (such as .lib) on an import library name.

INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
List of preprocessor include file search directories.

This property specifies the list of directories given so far to the
target_include_directories() command. In addition to accepting values from that command,
values may be set directly on any target using the set_property() command. A target gets
its initial value for this property from the value of the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES directory
property. Both directory and target property values are adjusted by calls to the
include_directories() command.

The value of this property is used by the generators to set the include paths for the
compiler.

Relative paths should not be added to this property directly. Use one of the commands
above instead to handle relative paths.

Contents of INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES may use cmake-generator-expressions(7) 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.

INSTALL_NAME_DIR
Directory name for installed targets on Apple platforms.

INSTALL_NAME_DIR is a string specifying the directory portion of the "install_name" field
of shared libraries on Apple platforms for installed targets. When not set, the default
directory used is determined by MACOSX_RPATH. If the BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_NAME_DIR property
is set, this will be used already in the build tree. Policies CMP0068 and CMP0042 are
also relevant.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR if it is
set when a target is created.

This property supports generator expressions. In particular, the $<INSTALL_PREFIX>
generator expression can be used to set the directory relative to the install-time prefix.

On platforms that support runtime paths (RPATH), refer to the INSTALL_RPATH target
property. Under Windows, the TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS generator expression is related.

INSTALL_REMOVE_ENVIRONMENT_RPATH
New in version 3.16.

Controls whether toolchain-defined rpaths should be removed during installation.

When a target is being installed, CMake may need to rewrite its rpath information. This
occurs when the install rpath (as specified by the INSTALL_RPATH target property) has
different contents to the rpath that the target was built with. Some toolchains insert
their own rpath contents into the binary as part of the build. By default, CMake will
preserve those extra inserted contents in the install rpath. For those scenarios where
such toolchain-inserted entries need to be discarded during install, set the
INSTALL_REMOVE_ENVIRONMENT_RPATH target property to true.

This property is initialized by the value of CMAKE_INSTALL_REMOVE_ENVIRONMENT_RPATH when
the target is created.

INSTALL_RPATH
The rpath to use for installed targets.

By default, the install rpath is empty. It can be set using this property, which is a
semicolon-separated list specifying the rpath to use in installed targets (for platforms
that support it). This property is initialized by the value of the variable
CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH if it is set when a target is created. Beside setting the install
rpath manually, using the INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH target property it can also be
generated automatically by CMake.

Normally CMake uses the build tree for the RPATH when building executables etc on systems
that use RPATH, see the BUILD_RPATH target property. When the software is installed the
targets are edited (or relinked) by CMake (see CMAKE_NO_BUILTIN_CHRPATH) to have the
install RPATH. This editing during installation can be avoided via the
BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH target property.

For handling toolchain-dependent RPATH entries the INSTALL_REMOVE_ENVIRONMENT_RPATH can be
used. Runtime paths can be disabled completely via the CMAKE_SKIP_RPATH variable.

Because the rpath may contain ${ORIGIN}, which coincides with CMake syntax, the contents
of INSTALL_RPATH are properly escaped in the cmake_install.cmake script (see policy
CMP0095.)

This property supports generator expressions.

On Apple platforms, refer to the INSTALL_NAME_DIR target property. Under Windows, the
TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS generator expression is related.

INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH
Add paths to linker search and installed rpath.

INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH is a boolean that if set to TRUE will append to the runtime
search path (rpath) of installed binaries any directories outside the project that are in
the linker search path or contain linked library files. The directories are appended
after the value of the INSTALL_RPATH target property.

This property is initialized by the value of the variable
CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH if it is set when a target is created.

INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES
New in version 3.27.

A semicolon-separated list of macro names for AUTOMOC to be propagated to consumers.

When a target with AUTOMOC enabled links to a library that sets
INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES, the target inherits the listed macro names and merges them
with those specified in its own AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES property. The target will then
automatically generate MOC files for source files that contain the inherited macro names
too, not just the macro names specified in its own AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES property.

By default INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES is empty.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Example 1
In this example, myapp inherits the macro names STATIC_LIB_1 and STATIC_LIB_2 from
static_lib. The moc tool will then automatically be run on any of the myapp sources which
contain STATIC_LIB_1 or STATIC_LIB_2.

set(AUTOMOC ON)
add_executable(myapp main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE static_lib)

add_library(static_lib STATIC static.cpp)
set_property(TARGET static_lib PROPERTY
INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "STATIC_LIB_1;STATIC_LIB_2"
)

Example 2
In this example, the INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES target property of the various
*_deep_lib libraries will propagate to shared_lib, static_lib and interface_lib. Because
the linking relationships are specified as PUBLIC and INTERFACE, those macro names will
also further propagate transitively up to app.

set(AUTOMOC ON)

add_library(shared_deep_lib SHARED deep_lib.cpp)
add_library(static_deep_lib STATIC deep_lib.cpp)
add_library(interface_deep_lib INTERFACE)

set_property(TARGET shared_deep_lib PROPERTY
INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "SHARED_LINK_LIB"
)
set_property(TARGET static_deep_lib PROPERTY
INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "STATIC_LINK_LIB"
)
set_property(TARGET interface_deep_lib PROPERTY
INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "INTERFACE_LINK_LIB"
)

add_library(shared_lib SHARED lib.cpp)
add_library(static_lib STATIC lib.cpp)
add_library(interface_lib INTERFACE)

# PUBLIC and INTERFACE here ensure the macro names propagate to any
# consumers of shared_lib, static_lib or interface_lib too
target_link_libraries(shared_lib PUBLIC shared_deep_lib)
target_link_libraries(static_lib PUBLIC static_deep_lib)
target_link_libraries(interface_lib INTERFACE interface_deep_lib)

# This consumer will receive all three of the above custom macro names as
# transitive usage requirements
add_executable(app main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(app PRIVATE shared_lib static_lib interface_lib)

In the above:

• shared_lib sources will be processed by moc if they contain SHARED_LINK_LIB.

• static_lib sources will be processed by moc if they contain STATIC_LINK_LIB.

• app sources will be processed by moc if they contain SHARED_LINK_LIB, STATIC_LINK_LIB or
INTERFACE_LINK_LIB.

INTERFACE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS
List of interface options to pass to uic.

Targets may populate this property to publish the options required to use when invoking
uic. Consuming targets can add entries to their own AUTOUIC_OPTIONS property such as
$<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,INTERFACE_AUTOUIC_OPTIONS> to use the uic options specified in the
interface of foo. This is done automatically by the target_link_libraries() command.

This property supports generator expressions. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7)
manual for available expressions.

INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
List of public compile definitions requirements for a library.

Targets may populate this property to publish the compile definitions required to compile
against the headers for the target. The target_compile_definitions() command populates
this property with values given to the PUBLIC and INTERFACE keywords. Projects may also
get and set the property directly.

When target dependencies are specified using target_link_libraries(), CMake will read this
property from all target dependencies to determine the build properties of the consumer.

Contents of INTERFACE_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.

INTERFACE_COMPILE_FEATURES
New in version 3.1.

List of public compile features requirements for a library.

Targets may populate this property to publish the compile features required to compile
against the headers for the target. The target_compile_features() command populates this
property with values given to the PUBLIC and INTERFACE keywords. Projects may also get
and set the property directly.

When target dependencies are specified using target_link_libraries(), CMake will read this
property from all target dependencies to determine the build properties of the consumer.

Contents of INTERFACE_COMPILE_FEATURES 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 the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of
supported compilers.

INTERFACE_COMPILE_OPTIONS
List of public compile options requirements for a library.

Targets may populate this property to publish the compile options required to compile
against the headers for the target. The target_compile_options() command populates this
property with values given to the PUBLIC and INTERFACE keywords. Projects may also get
and set the property directly.

When target dependencies are specified using target_link_libraries(), CMake will read this
property from all target dependencies to determine the build properties of the consumer.

Contents of INTERFACE_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.

INTERFACE_CXX_MODULE_SETS
New in version 3.28.

Read-only list of the target's PUBLIC C++ module sets (i.e. all file sets with the type
CXX_MODULES). Files listed in these C++ module sets can be installed with install(TARGETS)
and exported with install(EXPORT) and export().

C++ module sets may be defined using the target_sources() command FILE_SET option with
type CXX_MODULES.

PROPERTIES ON TESTS

ATTACHED_FILES
Attach a list of files to a dashboard submission.

Set this property to a list of files that will be encoded and submitted to the dashboard
as an addition to the test result.

ATTACHED_FILES_ON_FAIL
Attach a list of files to a dashboard submission if the test fails.

Same as ATTACHED_FILES, but these files will only be included if the test does not pass.

COST
This property describes the cost of a test. When parallel testing is enabled, tests in
the test set will be run in descending order of cost. Projects can explicitly define the
cost of a test by setting this property to a floating point value.

When the cost of a test is not defined by the project, ctest will initially use a default
cost of 0. It computes a weighted average of the cost each time a test is run and uses
that as an improved estimate of the cost for the next run. The more a test is re-run in
the same build directory, the more representative the cost should become.

DEPENDS
Specifies that this test should only be run after the specified list of tests.

Set this to a list of tests that must finish before this test is run. The results of those
tests are not considered, the dependency relationship is purely for order of execution
(i.e. it is really just a run after relationship). Consider using test fixtures with setup
tests if a dependency with successful completion is required (see FIXTURES_REQUIRED).

Examples
add_test(NAME baseTest1 ...)
add_test(NAME baseTest2 ...)
add_test(NAME dependsTest12 ...)

set_tests_properties(dependsTest12 PROPERTIES DEPENDS "baseTest1;baseTest2")
# dependsTest12 runs after baseTest1 and baseTest2, even if they fail

DISABLED
New in version 3.9.

If set to True, the test will be skipped and its status will be 'Not Run'. A DISABLED test
will not be counted in the total number of tests and its completion status will be
reported to CDash as Disabled.

A DISABLED test does not participate in test fixture dependency resolution. If a DISABLED
test has fixture requirements defined in its FIXTURES_REQUIRED property, it will not cause
setup or cleanup tests for those fixtures to be added to the test set.

If a test with the FIXTURES_SETUP property set is DISABLED, the fixture behavior will be
as though that setup test was passing and any test case requiring that fixture will still
run.

ENVIRONMENT
Specify environment variables that should be defined for running a test.

Set to a semicolon-separated list list of environment variables and values of the form
MYVAR=value. Those environment variables will be defined while running the test. The
environment changes from this property do not affect other tests.

ENVIRONMENT_MODIFICATION
New in version 3.22.

Specify environment variables that should be modified for running a test. Note that the
operations performed by this property are performed after the ENVIRONMENT property is
already applied.

Set to a semicolon-separated list of environment variables and values of the form
MYVAR=OP:VALUE, where MYVAR is the case-sensitive name of an environment variable to be
modified. Entries are considered in the order specified in the property's value. The OP
may be one of:

• reset: Reset to the unmodified value, ignoring all modifications to MYVAR prior to
this entry. Note that this will reset the variable to the value set by ENVIRONMENT,
if it was set, and otherwise to its state from the rest of the CTest execution.

• set: Replaces the current value of MYVAR with VALUE.

• unset: Unsets the current value of MYVAR.

• string_append: Appends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR.

• string_prepend: Prepends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR.

• path_list_append: Appends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR using the host
platform's path list separator (; on Windows and : elsewhere).

• path_list_prepend: Prepends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR using the
host platform's path list separator (; on Windows and : elsewhere).

• cmake_list_append: Appends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR using ; as
the separator.

• cmake_list_prepend: Prepends singular VALUE to the current value of MYVAR using ; as
the separator.

Unrecognized OP values will result in the test failing before it is executed. This is so
that future operations may be added without changing valid behavior of existing tests.

The environment changes from this property do not affect other tests.

FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION
If the output matches this regular expression the test will fail, regardless of the
process exit code.

If set, if the output matches one of specified regular expressions, the test will fail.
Example:

set_tests_properties(mytest PROPERTIES
FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "[^a-z]Error;ERROR;Failed"
)

FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION expects a list of regular expressions.

See also the PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION and SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION test properties.

FIXTURES_CLEANUP
New in version 3.7.

Specifies a list of fixtures for which the test is to be treated as a cleanup test. These
fixture names are distinct from test case names and are not required to have any
similarity to the names of tests associated with them.

Fixture cleanup tests are ordinary tests with all of the usual test functionality. Setting
the FIXTURES_CLEANUP property for a test has two primary effects:

• CTest will ensure the test executes after all other tests which list any of the fixtures
in its FIXTURES_REQUIRED property.

• If CTest is asked to run only a subset of tests (e.g. using regular expressions or the
--rerun-failed option) and the cleanup test is not in the set of tests to run, it will
automatically be added if any tests in the set require any fixture listed in
FIXTURES_CLEANUP.

A cleanup test can have multiple fixtures listed in its FIXTURES_CLEANUP property. It will
execute only once for the whole CTest run, not once for each fixture. A fixture can also
have more than one cleanup test defined. If there are multiple cleanup tests for a
fixture, projects can control their order with the usual DEPENDS test property if
necessary.

A cleanup test is allowed to require other fixtures, but not any fixture listed in its
FIXTURES_CLEANUP property. For example:

# Ok: Dependent fixture is different to cleanup
set_tests_properties(cleanupFoo PROPERTIES
FIXTURES_CLEANUP Foo
FIXTURES_REQUIRED Bar
)

# Error: cannot require same fixture as cleanup
set_tests_properties(cleanupFoo PROPERTIES
FIXTURES_CLEANUP Foo
FIXTURES_REQUIRED Foo
)

Cleanup tests will execute even if setup or regular tests for that fixture fail or are
skipped.

See FIXTURES_REQUIRED for a more complete discussion of how to use test fixtures.

FIXTURES_REQUIRED
New in version 3.7.

Specifies a list of fixtures the test requires. Fixture names are case sensitive and they
are not required to have any similarity to test names.

Fixtures are a way to attach setup and cleanup tasks to a set of tests. If a test requires
a given fixture, then all tests marked as setup tasks for that fixture will be executed
first (once for the whole set of tests, not once per test requiring the fixture). After
all tests requiring a particular fixture have completed, CTest will ensure all tests
marked as cleanup tasks for that fixture are then executed. Tests are marked as setup
tasks with the FIXTURES_SETUP property and as cleanup tasks with the FIXTURES_CLEANUP
property. If any of a fixture's setup tests fail, all tests listing that fixture in their
FIXTURES_REQUIRED property will not be executed. The cleanup tests for the fixture will
always be executed, even if some setup tests fail.

When CTest is asked to execute only a subset of tests (e.g. by the use of regular
expressions or when run with the --rerun-failed command line option), it will
automatically add any setup or cleanup tests for fixtures required by any of the tests
that are in the execution set. This behavior can be overridden with the -FS, -FC and -FA
command line options to ctest(1) if desired.

Since setup and cleanup tasks are also tests, they can have an ordering specified by the
DEPENDS test property just like any other tests. This can be exploited to implement setup
or cleanup using multiple tests for a single fixture to modularise setup or cleanup logic.

The concept of a fixture is different to that of a resource specified by RESOURCE_LOCK,
but they may be used together. A fixture defines a set of tests which share setup and
cleanup requirements, whereas a resource lock has the effect of ensuring a particular set
of tests do not run in parallel. Some situations may need both, such as setting up a
database, serializing test access to that database and deleting the database again at the
end. For such cases, tests would populate both FIXTURES_REQUIRED and RESOURCE_LOCK to
combine the two behaviors. Names used for RESOURCE_LOCK have no relationship with names of
fixtures, so note that a resource lock does not imply a fixture and vice versa.

Consider the following example which represents a database test scenario similar to that
mentioned above:

add_test(NAME testsDone COMMAND emailResults)
add_test(NAME fooOnly COMMAND testFoo)
add_test(NAME dbOnly COMMAND testDb)
add_test(NAME dbWithFoo COMMAND testDbWithFoo)
add_test(NAME createDB COMMAND initDB)
add_test(NAME setupUsers COMMAND userCreation)
add_test(NAME cleanupDB COMMAND deleteDB)
add_test(NAME cleanupFoo COMMAND removeFoos)

set_tests_properties(setupUsers PROPERTIES DEPENDS createDB)

set_tests_properties(createDB PROPERTIES FIXTURES_SETUP DB)
set_tests_properties(setupUsers PROPERTIES FIXTURES_SETUP DB)
set_tests_properties(cleanupDB PROPERTIES FIXTURES_CLEANUP DB)
set_tests_properties(cleanupFoo PROPERTIES FIXTURES_CLEANUP Foo)
set_tests_properties(testsDone PROPERTIES FIXTURES_CLEANUP "DB;Foo")

set_tests_properties(fooOnly PROPERTIES FIXTURES_REQUIRED Foo)
set_tests_properties(dbOnly PROPERTIES FIXTURES_REQUIRED DB)
set_tests_properties(dbWithFoo PROPERTIES FIXTURES_REQUIRED "DB;Foo")

set_tests_properties(dbOnly dbWithFoo createDB setupUsers cleanupDB
PROPERTIES RESOURCE_LOCK DbAccess)

Key points from this example:

• Two fixtures are defined: DB and Foo. Tests can require a single fixture as fooOnly and
dbOnly do, or they can depend on multiple fixtures like dbWithFoo does.

• A DEPENDS relationship is set up to ensure setupUsers happens after createDB, both of
which are setup tests for the DB fixture and will therefore be executed before the
dbOnly and dbWithFoo tests automatically.

• No explicit DEPENDS relationships were needed to make the setup tests run before or the
cleanup tests run after the regular tests.

• The Foo fixture has no setup tests defined, only a single cleanup test.

• testsDone is a cleanup test for both the DB and Foo fixtures. Therefore, it will only
execute once regular tests for both fixtures have finished (i.e. after fooOnly, dbOnly
and dbWithFoo). No DEPENDS relationship was specified for testsDone, so it is free to
run before, after or concurrently with other cleanup tests for either fixture.

• The setup and cleanup tests never list the fixtures they are for in their own
FIXTURES_REQUIRED property, as that would result in a dependency on themselves and be
considered an error.

FIXTURES_SETUP
New in version 3.7.

Specifies a list of fixtures for which the test is to be treated as a setup test. These
fixture names are distinct from test case names and are not required to have any
similarity to the names of tests associated with them.

Fixture setup tests are ordinary tests with all of the usual test functionality. Setting
the FIXTURES_SETUP property for a test has two primary effects:

• CTest will ensure the test executes before any other test which lists the fixture
name(s) in its FIXTURES_REQUIRED property.

• If CTest is asked to run only a subset of tests (e.g. using regular expressions or the
--rerun-failed option) and the setup test is not in the set of tests to run, it will
automatically be added if any tests in the set require any fixture listed in
FIXTURES_SETUP.

A setup test can have multiple fixtures listed in its FIXTURES_SETUP property. It will
execute only once for the whole CTest run, not once for each fixture. A fixture can also
have more than one setup test defined. If there are multiple setup tests for a fixture,
projects can control their order with the usual DEPENDS test property if necessary.

A setup test is allowed to require other fixtures, but not any fixture listed in its
FIXTURES_SETUP property. For example:

# Ok: dependent fixture is different to setup
set_tests_properties(setupFoo PROPERTIES
FIXTURES_SETUP Foo
FIXTURES_REQUIRED Bar
)

# Error: cannot require same fixture as setup
set_tests_properties(setupFoo PROPERTIES
FIXTURES_SETUP Foo
FIXTURES_REQUIRED Foo
)

If any of a fixture's setup tests fail, none of the tests listing that fixture in its
FIXTURES_REQUIRED property will be run. Cleanup tests will, however, still be executed.

See FIXTURES_REQUIRED for a more complete discussion of how to use test fixtures.

GENERATED_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE
New in version 3.28.

Path to the dynamically-generated resource spec file generated by this test.

LABELS
Specify a list of text labels associated with a test. The labels are reported in both the
ctest output summary and in dashboard submissions. They can also be used to filter the
set of tests to be executed (see the ctest -L and ctest -LE options).

See Additional Labels for adding labels to a test dynamically during test execution.

MEASUREMENT
Specify a CDASH measurement and value to be reported for a test.

If set to a name then that name will be reported to CDASH as a named measurement with a
value of 1. You may also specify a value by setting MEASUREMENT to measurement=value.

PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION
The output must match this regular expression for the test to pass. The process exit code
is ignored.

If set, the test output will be checked against the specified regular expressions and at
least one of the regular expressions has to match, otherwise the test will fail. Example:

set_tests_properties(mytest PROPERTIES
PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "TestPassed;All ok"
)

PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION expects a list of regular expressions.

See also the FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION and SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION test properties.

PROCESSOR_AFFINITY
New in version 3.12.

Set to a true value to ask CTest to launch the test process with CPU affinity for a fixed
set of processors. If enabled and supported for the current platform, CTest will choose a
set of processors to place in the CPU affinity mask when launching the test process. The
number of processors in the set is determined by the PROCESSORS test property or the
number of processors available to CTest, whichever is smaller. The set of processors
chosen will be disjoint from the processors assigned to other concurrently running tests
that also have the PROCESSOR_AFFINITY property enabled.

PROCESSORS
Set to specify how many process slots this test requires. If not set, the default is 1
processor.

Denotes the number of processors that this test will require. This is typically used for
MPI tests, and should be used in conjunction with the ctest_test() PARALLEL_LEVEL option.

This will also be used to display a weighted test timing result in label and subproject
summaries in the command line output of ctest(1). The wall clock time for the test run
will be multiplied by this property to give a better idea of how much cpu resource CTest
allocated for the test.

See also the PROCESSOR_AFFINITY test property.

REQUIRED_FILES
List of files required to run the test. The filenames are relative to the test
WORKING_DIRECTORY unless an absolute path is specified.

If set to a list of files, the test will not be run unless all of the files exist.

Examples
Suppose that test.txt is created by test baseTest and none.txt does not exist:

add_test(NAME baseTest ...) # Assumed to create test.txt
add_test(NAME fileTest ...)

# The following ensures that if baseTest is successful, test.txt will
# have been created before fileTest is run
set_tests_properties(fileTest PROPERTIES
DEPENDS baseTest
REQUIRED_FILES test.txt
)

add_test(NAME notRunTest ...)

# The following makes notRunTest depend on two files. Nothing creates
# the none.txt file, so notRunTest will fail with status "Not Run".
set_tests_properties(notRunTest PROPERTIES
REQUIRED_FILES "test.txt;none.txt"
)

The above example demonstrates how REQUIRED_FILES works, but it is not the most robust way
to implement test ordering with failure detection. For that, test fixtures are a better
alternative (see FIXTURES_REQUIRED).

RESOURCE_GROUPS
New in version 3.16.

Specify resources required by a test, grouped in a way that is meaningful to the test.
See resource allocation for more information on how this property integrates into the
CTest resource allocation feature.

The RESOURCE_GROUPS property is a semicolon-separated list of group descriptions. Each
entry consists of an optional number of groups using the description followed by a series
of resource requirements for those groups. These requirements (and the number of groups)
are separated by commas. The resource requirements consist of the name of a resource type,
followed by a colon, followed by an unsigned integer specifying the number of slots
required on one resource of the given type.

The RESOURCE_GROUPS property tells CTest what resources a test expects to use grouped in a
way meaningful to the test. The test itself must read the environment variables to
determine which resources have been allocated to each group. For example, each group may
correspond to a process the test will spawn when executed.

Consider the following example:

add_test(NAME MyTest COMMAND MyExe)
set_property(TEST MyTest PROPERTY RESOURCE_GROUPS
"2,gpus:2"
"gpus:4,crypto_chips:2")

In this example, there are two group descriptions (implicitly separated by a semicolon.)
The content of the first description is 2,gpus:2. This description specifies 2 groups,
each of which requires 2 slots from a single GPU. The content of the second description is
gpus:4,crypto_chips:2. This description does not specify a group count, so a default of 1
is assumed. This single group requires 4 slots from a single GPU and 2 slots from a
single cryptography chip. In total, 3 resource groups are specified for this test, each
with its own unique requirements.

Note that the number of slots following the resource type specifies slots from a single
instance of the resource. If the resource group can tolerate receiving slots from
different instances of the same resource, it can indicate this by splitting the
specification into multiple requirements of one slot. For example:

add_test(NAME MyTest COMMAND MyExe)
set_property(TEST MyTest PROPERTY RESOURCE_GROUPS
"gpus:1,gpus:1,gpus:1,gpus:1")

In this case, the single resource group indicates that it needs four GPU slots, all of
which may come from separate GPUs (though they don't have to; CTest may still assign slots
from the same GPU.)

When CTest sets the environment variables for a test, it assigns a group number based on
the group description, starting at 0 on the left and the number of groups minus 1 on the
right. For example, in the example above, the two groups in the first description would
have IDs of 0 and 1, and the single group in the second description would have an ID of 2.

Both the RESOURCE_GROUPS and RESOURCE_LOCK properties serve similar purposes, but they are
distinct and orthogonal. Resources specified by RESOURCE_GROUPS do not affect
RESOURCE_LOCK, and vice versa. Whereas RESOURCE_LOCK is a simpler property that is used
for locking one global resource, RESOURCE_GROUPS is a more advanced property that allows
multiple tests to simultaneously use multiple resources of the same type, specifying their
requirements in a fine-grained manner.

RESOURCE_LOCK
Specify a list of resources that are locked by this test.

If multiple tests specify the same resource lock, they are guaranteed not to run
concurrently.

See also FIXTURES_REQUIRED if the resource requires any setup or cleanup steps.

RUN_SERIAL
Do not run this test in parallel with any other test.

Use this option in conjunction with the ctest_test PARALLEL_LEVEL option to specify that
this test should not be run in parallel with any other tests.

SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION
New in version 3.16.

If the output matches this regular expression the test will be marked as skipped.

If set, if the output matches one of specified regular expressions, the test will be
marked as skipped. Example:

set_property(TEST mytest PROPERTY
SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "[^a-z]Skip" "SKIP" "Skipped"
)

SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION expects a list of regular expressions.

See also the SKIP_RETURN_CODE, PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION, and FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION test
properties.

SKIP_RETURN_CODE
Return code to mark a test as skipped.

Sometimes only a test itself can determine if all requirements for the test are met. If
such a situation should not be considered a hard failure a return code of the process can
be specified that will mark the test as Not Run if it is encountered. Valid values are in
the range of 0 to 255, inclusive.

See also the SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION property.

TIMEOUT
How many seconds to allow for this test.

This property if set will limit a test to not take more than the specified number of
seconds to run. If it exceeds that the test process will be killed and ctest will move to
the next test. This setting takes precedence over CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT.

An explicit 0 value means the test has no timeout, except as necessary to honor ctest
--stop-time.

See also TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH and TIMEOUT_SIGNAL_NAME.

TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH
New in version 3.6.

Change a test's timeout duration after a matching line is encountered in its output.

Usage
add_test(mytest ...)
set_property(TEST mytest PROPERTY TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH "${seconds}" "${regex}")

Description
Allow a test seconds to complete after regex is encountered in its output.

When the test outputs a line that matches regex its start time is reset to the current
time and its timeout duration is changed to seconds. Prior to this, the timeout duration
is determined by the TIMEOUT property or the CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT variable if either of
these are set. Because the test's start time is reset, its execution time will not
include any time that was spent waiting for the matching output.

TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH is useful for avoiding spurious timeouts when your test must wait for
some system resource to become available before it can execute. Set TIMEOUT to a longer
duration that accounts for resource acquisition and use TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH to control how
long the actual test is allowed to run.

If the required resource can be controlled by CTest you should use RESOURCE_LOCK instead
of TIMEOUT_AFTER_MATCH. This property should be used when only the test itself can
determine when its required resources are available.

PROPERTIES ON SOURCE FILES

ABSTRACT
Is this source file an abstract class.

A property on a source file that indicates if the source file represents a class that is
abstract. This only makes sense for languages that have a notion of an abstract class and
it is only used by some tools that wrap classes into other languages.

AUTORCC_OPTIONS
Additional options for rcc when using AUTORCC

By default it is empty.

The options set on the .qrc source file may override AUTORCC_OPTIONS set on the target.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE resources.qrc PROPERTY AUTORCC_OPTIONS "--compress;9")
# ...

AUTOUIC_OPTIONS
Additional options for uic when using AUTOUIC

By default it is empty.

The options set on the .ui source file may override AUTOUIC_OPTIONS set on the target.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE widget.ui PROPERTY AUTOUIC_OPTIONS "--no-protection")
# ...

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
Preprocessor definitions for compiling a source file.

The COMPILE_DEFINITIONS property may be set to a semicolon-separated list of preprocessor
definitions using the syntax VAR or VAR=value. Function-style definitions are not
supported. CMake will automatically escape the value correctly for the native build
system (note that CMake language syntax may require escapes to specify some values). This
property may be set on a per-configuration basis using the name
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG> where <CONFIG> is an upper-case name (ex.
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_DEBUG).

CMake will automatically drop some definitions that are not supported by the native build
tool. Xcode does not support per-configuration definitions on source files.

New in version 3.26: Any leading -D on an item will be removed.

CMake does not reject these values outright because they do work in some cases. Use with
caution.

Contents of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS may use cmake-generator-expressions(7) with the syntax
$<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions.
However, Xcode does not support per-config per-source settings, so expressions that depend
on the build configuration are not allowed with that generator.

Generator expressions should be preferred instead of setting the alternative
per-configuration property.

COMPILE_FLAGS
Additional flags to be added when compiling this source file.

The COMPILE_FLAGS property, managed as a string, sets additional compiler flags used that
will be added to the list of compile flags when this source file builds. The flags will
be added after target-wide flags (except in some cases not supported by the Visual Studio
9 2008 generator).

Use COMPILE_DEFINITIONS to pass additional preprocessor definitions.

Contents of COMPILE_FLAGS may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>. See the
cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. However, Xcode does not
support per-config per-source settings, so expressions that depend on the build
configuration are not allowed with that generator.

NOTE:
This property has been superseded by the COMPILE_OPTIONS property.

COMPILE_OPTIONS
New in version 3.11.

List of additional options to pass to the compiler.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of options and will be added to the list of
compile flags when this source file builds. The options will be added after target-wide
options (except in some cases not supported by the Visual Studio 9 2008 generator).

Contents of COMPILE_OPTIONS may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>. See
the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. However, Xcode does
not support per-config per-source settings, so expressions that depend on the build
configuration are not allowed with that generator.

Usage example:

set_source_files_properties(foo.cpp PROPERTIES COMPILE_OPTIONS "-Wno-unused-parameter;-Wno-missing-field-initializer")

Related properties:

• Prefer this property over COMPILE_FLAGS.

• Use COMPILE_DEFINITIONS to pass additional preprocessor definitions.

• Use INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES to pass additional include directories.

Related commands:

• add_compile_options() for directory-wide settings

• target_compile_options() for target-specific settings

CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES
New in version 3.28.

CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES is a boolean specifying whether CMake will scan the source for C++
module dependencies. See also the CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES for target-wide settings.

When this property is set ON, CMake will scan the source at build time and add module
dependency information to the compile line as necessary. When this property is set OFF,
CMake will not scan the source at build time. When this property is unset, the
CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES property is consulted.

Note that scanning is only performed if C++20 or higher is enabled for the target and the
source uses the CXX language. Scanning for modules in sources belonging to file sets of
type CXX_MODULES is always performed.

EXTERNAL_OBJECT
If set to true then this is an object file.

If this property is set to True then the source file is really an object file and should
not be compiled. It will still be linked into the target though.

Fortran_FORMAT
Set to FIXED or FREE to indicate the Fortran source layout.

This property tells CMake whether a given Fortran source file uses fixed-format or
free-format. CMake will pass the corresponding format flag to the compiler. Consider
using the target-wide Fortran_FORMAT property if all source files in a target share the
same format.

NOTE:
For some compilers, NAG, PGI and Solaris Studio, setting this to OFF will have no
effect.

Fortran_PREPROCESS
New in version 3.18.

Control whether the Fortran source file should be unconditionally preprocessed.

When using the Ninja generator, all source files are first preprocessed in order to
generate module dependency information. Setting this property to OFF will make Ninja skip
this step.

Consider using the target-wide Fortran_PREPROCESS property if all source files in a target
need to be preprocessed.

GENERATED
Is this source file generated as part of the build or CMake process.

Changed in version 3.20: The GENERATED source file property is now visible in all
directories.

Tells the internal CMake engine that a source file is generated by an outside process such
as another build step, or the execution of CMake itself. This information is then used to
exempt the file from any existence or validity checks.

Any file that is

• created by the execution of commands such as add_custom_command() which run during the
build

• listed as one of the BYPRODUCTS of an add_custom_command() or add_custom_target()
command, or

• created by a CMake AUTOGEN operation such as AUTOMOC, AUTORCC, or AUTOUIC

will be marked with the GENERATED property.

When a generated file created as the OUTPUT of an add_custom_command() command is
explicitly listed as a source file for any target in the same directory scope (which
usually means the same CMakeLists.txt file), CMake will automatically create a dependency
to make sure the file is generated before building that target.

The Makefile Generators will remove GENERATED files during make clean.

Generated sources may be hidden in some IDE tools, while in others they might be shown.
For the special case of sources generated by CMake's AUTOMOC, AUTORCC or AUTOUIC
functionality, the AUTOGEN_SOURCE_GROUP, AUTOMOC_SOURCE_GROUP, AUTORCC_SOURCE_GROUP and
AUTOUIC_SOURCE_GROUP target properties may influence where the generated sources are
grouped in the project's file lists.

NOTE:
Starting with CMake 3.20 the GENERATED source file property can be set and retrieved
from any directory scope. It is an all-or-nothing property. It also can no longer be
removed or unset if it was set to TRUE. Policy CMP0118 was introduced to allow
supporting the OLD behavior for some time.

HEADER_FILE_ONLY
Is this source file only a header file.

A property on a source file that indicates if the source file is a header file with no
associated implementation. This is set automatically based on the file extension and is
used by CMake to determine if certain dependency information should be computed.

By setting this property to ON, you can disable compilation of the given source file, even
if it should be compiled because it is part of the library's/executable's sources.

This is useful if you have some source files which you somehow pre-process, and then add
these pre-processed sources via add_library() or add_executable(). Normally, in IDE, there
would be no reference of the original sources, only of these pre-processed sources. So by
setting this property for all the original source files to ON, and then either calling
add_library() or add_executable() while passing both the pre-processed sources and the
original sources, or by using target_sources() to add original source files will do
exactly what would one expect, i.e. the original source files would be visible in IDE,
and will not be built.

INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
New in version 3.11.

List of preprocessor include file search directories.

This property holds a semicolon-separated list of paths and will be added to the list of
include directories when this source file builds. These directories will take precedence
over directories defined at target level except for Xcode generator due to technical
limitations.

Relative paths should not be added to this property directly.

Contents of INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>.
See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. However, Xcode
does not support per-config per-source settings, so expressions that depend on the build
configuration are not allowed with that generator.

KEEP_EXTENSION
Make the output file have the same extension as the source file.

If this property is set then the file extension of the output file will be the same as
that of the source file. Normally the output file extension is computed based on the
language of the source file, for example .cxx will go to a .o extension.

LABELS
Specify a list of text labels associated with a source file.

This property has meaning only when the source file is listed in a target whose LABELS
property is also set. No other semantics are currently specified.

LANGUAGE
Specify the programming language in which a source file is written.

A property that can be set to indicate what programming language the source file is. If
it is not set the language is determined based on the file extension. Typical values are
CXX (i.e. C++), C, CSharp, CUDA, Fortran, HIP, ISPC, and ASM. Setting this property for
a file means this file will be compiled, unless HEADER_FILE_ONLY is set.

Changed in version 3.20: Setting this property causes the source file to be compiled as
the specified language, using explicit flags if possible. Previously it only caused the
specified language's compiler to be used. See policy CMP0119.

LOCATION
The full path to a source file.

A read only property on a SOURCE FILE that contains the full path to the source file.

MACOSX_PACKAGE_LOCATION
Place a source file inside a Application Bundle (MACOSX_BUNDLE), Core Foundation Bundle (‐
BUNDLE), or Framework Bundle (FRAMEWORK). It is applicable for macOS and iOS.

Executable targets with the MACOSX_BUNDLE property set are built as macOS or iOS
application bundles on Apple platforms. Shared library targets with the FRAMEWORK
property set are built as macOS or iOS frameworks on Apple platforms. Module library
targets with the BUNDLE property set are built as macOS CFBundle bundles on Apple
platforms. Source files listed in the target with this property set will be copied to a
directory inside the bundle or framework content folder specified by the property value.
For macOS Application Bundles the content folder is <name>.app/Contents. For macOS
Frameworks the content folder is <name>.framework/Versions/<version>. For macOS CFBundles
the content folder is <name>.bundle/Contents (unless the extension is changed). See the
PUBLIC_HEADER, PRIVATE_HEADER, and RESOURCE target properties for specifying files meant
for Headers, PrivateHeaders, or Resources directories.

If the specified location is equal to Resources, the resulting location will be the same
as if the RESOURCE property had been used. If the specified location is a sub-folder of
Resources, it will be placed into the respective sub-folder. Note: For iOS Apple uses a
flat bundle layout where no Resources folder exist. Therefore CMake strips the Resources
folder name from the specified location.

OBJECT_DEPENDS
Additional files on which a compiled object file depends.

Specifies a semicolon-separated list of full-paths to files on which any object files
compiled from this source file depend. On Makefile Generators and the Ninja generator an
object file will be recompiled if any of the named files is newer than it. Visual Studio
Generators and the Xcode generator cannot implement such compilation dependencies.

This property need not be used to specify the dependency of a source file on a generated
header file that it includes. Although the property was originally introduced for this
purpose, it is no longer necessary. If the generated header file is created by a custom
command in the same target as the source file, the automatic dependency scanning process
will recognize the dependency. If the generated header file is created by another target,
an inter-target dependency should be created with the add_dependencies() command (if one
does not already exist due to linking relationships).

OBJECT_OUTPUTS
Additional outputs for a Ninja or Makefile Generators rule.

Additional outputs created by compilation of this source file. If any of these outputs is
missing the object will be recompiled. This is supported only on the Ninja and Makefile
Generators and will be ignored on other generators.

This property supports generator expressions.

SKIP_AUTOGEN
New in version 3.8.

Exclude the source file from AUTOMOC, AUTOUIC and AUTORCC processing (for Qt projects).

For finer exclusion control see SKIP_AUTOMOC, SKIP_AUTOUIC and SKIP_AUTORCC.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE file.h PROPERTY SKIP_AUTOGEN ON)
# ...

SKIP_AUTOMOC
New in version 3.8.

Exclude the source file from AUTOMOC processing (for Qt projects).

For broader exclusion control see SKIP_AUTOGEN.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE file.h PROPERTY SKIP_AUTOMOC ON)
# ...

SKIP_AUTORCC
New in version 3.8.

Exclude the source file from AUTORCC processing (for Qt projects).

For broader exclusion control see SKIP_AUTOGEN.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE file.qrc PROPERTY SKIP_AUTORCC ON)
# ...

SKIP_AUTOUIC
New in version 3.8.

Exclude the source file from AUTOUIC processing (for Qt projects).

SKIP_AUTOUIC can be set on C++ header and source files and on .ui files.

For broader exclusion control see SKIP_AUTOGEN.

EXAMPLE
# ...
set_property(SOURCE file.h PROPERTY SKIP_AUTOUIC ON)
set_property(SOURCE file.cpp PROPERTY SKIP_AUTOUIC ON)
set_property(SOURCE widget.ui PROPERTY SKIP_AUTOUIC ON)
# ...

SKIP_LINTING
New in version 3.27.

This property allows you to exclude a specific source file from the linting process. The
linting process involves running tools such as <LANG>_CPPLINT, <LANG>_CLANG_TIDY,
<LANG>_CPPCHECK, and <LANG>_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE on the source files, as well as compiling
header files as part of VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS. By setting SKIP_LINTING on a source
file, the mentioned linting tools will not be executed for that particular file.

Example
Consider a C++ project that includes multiple source files, such as main.cpp, things.cpp,
and generatedBindings.cpp. In this example, you want to exclude the generatedBindings.cpp
file from the linting process. To achieve this, you can utilize the SKIP_LINTING property
with the set_source_files_properties() command as shown below:

add_executable(MyApp main.cpp things.cpp generatedBindings.cpp)

set_source_files_properties(generatedBindings.cpp PROPERTIES
SKIP_LINTING ON
)

In the provided code snippet, the SKIP_LINTING property is set to true for the
generatedBindings.cpp source file. As a result, when the linting tools specified by
<LANG>_CPPLINT, <LANG>_CLANG_TIDY, <LANG>_CPPCHECK, or <LANG>_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE are
executed, they will skip analyzing the generatedBindings.cpp file.

By using the SKIP_LINTING property, you can selectively exclude specific source files from
the linting process. This allows you to focus the linting tools on the relevant parts of
your project, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the linting workflow.

SKIP_PRECOMPILE_HEADERS
New in version 3.16.

Is this source file skipped by PRECOMPILE_HEADERS feature.

This property helps with build problems that one would run into when using the
PRECOMPILE_HEADERS feature.

One example would be the usage of Objective-C (*.m) files, and Objective-C++ (*.mm) files,
which lead to compilation failure because they are treated (in case of Ninja / Makefile
generator) as C, and CXX respectively. The precompile headers are not compatible between
languages.

SKIP_UNITY_BUILD_INCLUSION
New in version 3.16.

Setting this property to true ensures the source file will be skipped by unity builds when
its associated target has its UNITY_BUILD property set to true. The source file will
instead be compiled on its own in the same way as it would with unity builds disabled.

This property helps with "ODR (One definition rule)" problems where combining a particular
source file with others might lead to build errors or other unintended side effects.

Note that sources which are scanned for C++ modules (see cmake-cxxmodules(7)) are not
eligible for unity build inclusion and will automatically be excluded.

Swift_DEPENDENCIES_FILE
New in version 3.15.

This property sets the path for the Swift dependency file (swiftdeps) for the source. If
one is not specified, it will default to <OBJECT>.swiftdeps.

Swift_DIAGNOSTICS_FILE
New in version 3.15.

This property controls where the Swift diagnostics are serialized.

SYMBOLIC
Is this just a name for a rule.

If SYMBOLIC (boolean) is set to True the build system will be informed that the source
file is not actually created on disk but instead used as a symbolic name for a build rule.

UNITY_GROUP
New in version 3.18.

This property controls which bucket the source will be part of when the UNITY_BUILD_MODE
is set to GROUP.

VS_COPY_TO_OUT_DIR
New in version 3.8.

Sets the <CopyToOutputDirectory> tag for a source file in a Visual Studio project file.
Valid values are Never, Always and PreserveNewest.

VS_CSHARP_<tagname>
New in version 3.8.

Visual Studio and CSharp source-file-specific configuration.

Tell the Visual Studio generators to set the source file tag <tagname> to a given value in
the generated Visual Studio CSharp project. Ignored on other generators and languages.
This property can be used to define dependencies between source files or set any other
Visual Studio specific parameters.

Example usage:

set_source_files_properties(<filename>
PROPERTIES
VS_CSHARP_DependentUpon <other file>
VS_CSHARP_SubType "Form")

VS_DEPLOYMENT_CONTENT
New in version 3.1.

Mark a source file as content for deployment with a Windows Phone or Windows Store
application when built with a Visual Studio generators. The value must evaluate to either
1 or 0 and may use generator expressions to make the choice based on the build
configuration. The .vcxproj file entry for the source file will be marked either
DeploymentContent or ExcludedFromBuild for values 1 and 0, respectively.

VS_DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION
New in version 3.1.

Specifies the deployment location for a content source file with a Windows Phone or
Windows Store application when built with a Visual Studio generators. This property is
only applicable when using VS_DEPLOYMENT_CONTENT. The value represent the path relative
to the app package and applies to all configurations.

VS_INCLUDE_IN_VSIX
New in version 3.8.

Boolean property to specify if the file should be included within a VSIX (Visual Studio
Integration Extension) extension package. This is needed for development of Visual Studio
extensions.

VS_RESOURCE_GENERATOR
New in version 3.8.

This property allows to specify the resource generator to be used on this file. It
defaults to PublicResXFileCodeGenerator if not set.

This property only applies to C# projects.

VS_SETTINGS
New in version 3.18.

Set any item metadata on a file.

New in version 3.22: This property is honored for all source file types. Previously it
worked only for non-built files.

Takes a list of Key=Value pairs. Tells the Visual Studio generator to set Key to Value as
item metadata on the file.

For example:

set_property(SOURCE file.hlsl PROPERTY VS_SETTINGS "Key=Value" "Key2=Value2")

will set Key to Value and Key2 to Value2 on the file.hlsl item as metadata.

Generator expressions are supported.

VS_SHADER_DISABLE_OPTIMIZATIONS
New in version 3.11.

Disable compiler optimizations for an .hlsl source file. This adds the -Od flag to the
command line for the FxCompiler tool. Specify the value true for this property to disable
compiler optimizations.

VS_SHADER_ENABLE_DEBUG
New in version 3.11.

Enable debugging information for an .hlsl source file. This adds the -Zi flag to the
command line for the FxCompiler tool. Specify the value true to generate debugging
information for the compiled shader.

VS_SHADER_ENTRYPOINT
New in version 3.1.

Specifies the name of the entry point for the shader of a .hlsl source file.

VS_SHADER_FLAGS
New in version 3.2.

Set additional Visual Studio shader flags of a .hlsl source file.

VS_SHADER_MODEL
New in version 3.1.

Specifies the shader model of a .hlsl source file. Some shader types can only be used with
recent shader models

VS_SHADER_OBJECT_FILE_NAME
New in version 3.12.

Specifies a file name for the compiled shader object file for an .hlsl source file. This
adds the -Fo flag to the command line for the FxCompiler tool.

VS_SHADER_OUTPUT_HEADER_FILE
New in version 3.10.

Set filename for output header file containing object code of a .hlsl source file.

VS_SHADER_TYPE
New in version 3.1.

Set the Visual Studio shader type of a .hlsl source file.

VS_SHADER_VARIABLE_NAME
New in version 3.10.

Set name of variable in header file containing object code of a .hlsl source file.

VS_TOOL_OVERRIDE
New in version 3.7.

Override the default Visual Studio tool that will be applied to the source file with a new
tool not based on the extension of the file.

VS_XAML_TYPE
New in version 3.3.

Mark a Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) source file as a different type than
the default Page. The most common usage would be to set the default App.xaml file as
ApplicationDefinition.

WRAP_EXCLUDE
Exclude this source file from any code wrapping techniques.

Some packages can wrap source files into alternate languages to provide additional
functionality.

For example, C++ code can be wrapped into Java or Python, using SWIG. If WRAP_EXCLUDE is
set to True, that indicates that this source file should not be wrapped.

XCODE_EXPLICIT_FILE_TYPE
New in version 3.1.

Set the Xcode explicitFileType attribute on its reference to a source file. CMake
computes a default based on file extension but can be told explicitly with this property.

PROPERTIES ON CACHE ENTRIES

ADVANCED
True if entry should be hidden by default in GUIs.

This is a boolean value indicating whether the entry is considered interesting only for
advanced configuration. The mark_as_advanced() command modifies this property.

HELPSTRING
Help associated with entry in GUIs.

This string summarizes the purpose of an entry to help users set it through a CMake GUI.

MODIFIED
Internal management property. Do not set or get.

This is an internal cache entry property managed by CMake to track interactive user
modification of entries. Ignore it.

STRINGS
Enumerate possible STRING entry values for GUI selection.

For cache entries with type STRING, this enumerates a set of values. CMake GUIs may use
this to provide a selection widget instead of a generic string entry field. This is for
convenience only. CMake does not enforce that the value matches one of those listed.

TYPE
Widget type for entry in GUIs.

Cache entry values are always strings, but CMake GUIs present widgets to help users set
values. The GUIs use this property as a hint to determine the widget type. Valid TYPE
values are:

BOOL = Boolean ON/OFF value.
PATH = Path to a directory.
FILEPATH = Path to a file.
STRING = Generic string value.
INTERNAL = Do not present in GUI at all.
STATIC = Value managed by CMake, do not change.
UNINITIALIZED = Type not yet specified.

Generally the TYPE of a cache entry should be set by the command which creates it ( set(),
option(), find_library(), etc.).

VALUE
Value of a cache entry.

This property maps to the actual value of a cache entry. Setting this property always
sets the value without checking, so use with care.

PROPERTIES ON INSTALLED FILES

CPACK_DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS
New in version 3.3.

Species a list of shortcut names that should be created on the Desktop for this file.

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

CPACK_NEVER_OVERWRITE
New in version 3.1.

Request that this file not be overwritten on install or reinstall.

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

CPACK_PERMANENT
New in version 3.1.

Request that this file not be removed on uninstall.

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

CPACK_START_MENU_SHORTCUTS
New in version 3.3.

Species a list of shortcut names that should be created in the Start Menu for this file.

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

CPACK_STARTUP_SHORTCUTS
New in version 3.3.

Species a list of shortcut names that should be created in the Startup folder for this
file.

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

CPACK_WIX_ACL
New in version 3.1.

Specifies access permissions for files or directories installed by a WiX installer.

The property can contain multiple list entries, each of which has to match the following
format.

<user>[@<domain>]=<permission>[,<permission>]

<user> and <domain> specify the windows user and domain for which the <Permission> element
should be generated.

<permission> is any of the YesNoType attributes listed here:

http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/xsd/wix/permission.html

The property is currently only supported by the CPack WIX Generator.

DEPRECATED PROPERTIES ON DIRECTORIES

ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES
Deprecated since version 3.15: Use ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES instead.

Additional files to remove during the clean stage.

A ;-list of files that will be removed as a part of the make clean target.

Arguments to ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES may use generator expressions.

This property only works for the Makefile generators. It is ignored on other generators.

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG>
Ignored. See CMake Policy CMP0043.

Per-configuration preprocessor definitions in a directory.

This is the configuration-specific version of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS where <CONFIG> is an
upper-case name (ex. COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_DEBUG).

This property will be initialized in each directory by its value in the directory's
parent.

Contents of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG> 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.

Generator expressions should be preferred instead of setting this property.

INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION
This directory property does not exist anymore.

See the target property INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION instead.

INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION_<CONFIG>
This directory property does not exist anymore.

See the target property INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION_<CONFIG> instead.

TEST_INCLUDE_FILE
Deprecated. Use TEST_INCLUDE_FILES instead.

A cmake file that will be included when ctest is run.

If you specify TEST_INCLUDE_FILE, that file will be included and processed when ctest is
run on the directory.

DEPRECATED PROPERTIES ON TARGETS

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG>
Ignored. See CMake Policy CMP0043.

Per-configuration preprocessor definitions on a target.

This is the configuration-specific version of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS where <CONFIG> is an
upper-case name (ex. COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_DEBUG).

Generator expressions should be preferred instead of setting this property.

IMPORTED_NO_SYSTEM
New in version 3.23.

Deprecated since version 3.25: IMPORTED_NO_SYSTEM is deprecated. Please use the following
alternatives instead:

• Set SYSTEM to false if you don't want a target's include directories to be treated as
system directories when compiling consumers.

• Set EXPORT_NO_SYSTEM to true if you don't want the include directories of the imported
target generated by install(EXPORT) and export() commands to be treated as system
directories when compiling consumers.

Setting IMPORTED_NO_SYSTEM to true on an imported target specifies that it is not a system
target. This has the following effects:

• Entries of INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES are not treated as system include directories
when compiling consumers (regardless of the value of the consumed target's SYSTEM
property), as they would be by default. Entries of
INTERFACE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES are not affected, and will always be treated as
system include directories.

• On Apple platforms, when the target is a framework, it will not be treated as system.

This property can also be enabled on a non-imported target. Doing so does not affect the
build system, but does tell the install(EXPORT) and export() commands to enable it on the
imported targets they generate.

See the NO_SYSTEM_FROM_IMPORTED target property to set this behavior on the target
consuming the include directories rather than the one providing them.

IOS_INSTALL_COMBINED
New in version 3.5.

Deprecated since version 3.28: IOS_INSTALL_COMBINED was designed to make universal
binaries containing iOS/arm* device code paired with iOS Simulator/x86_64 code (or similar
for other Apple embedded platforms). Universal binaries can only differentiate code based
on CPU type, so this only made sense before the days of arm64 macOS machines (i.e. iOS
Simulator/arm64). Apple now recommends xcframeworks, which contain multiple binaries for
different platforms, for this use case.

Build a combined (device and simulator) target when installing.

When this property is set to false, which is the default, then it will either be built
with the device SDK or the simulator SDK depending on the SDK set. But if this property is
set to true then the target will at install time also be built for the other SDK and
combined into one library.

NOTE:
If a selected architecture is available for both device SDK and simulator SDK it will
be built for the SDK selected by CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT and removed from the other SDK.

This feature requires at least Xcode version 6.

POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT
Deprecated install support.

The PRE_INSTALL_SCRIPT and POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT properties are the old way to specify CMake
scripts to run before and after installing a target. They are used only when the old
INSTALL_TARGETS command is used to install the target. Use the install() command instead.

PRE_INSTALL_SCRIPT
Deprecated install support.

VS_WINRT_EXTENSIONS
Deprecated. Use VS_WINRT_COMPONENT instead. This property was an experimental partial
implementation of that one.

DEPRECATED PROPERTIES ON SOURCE FILES

   COMPILE_DEFINITIONS_<CONFIG>
       Ignored.  See CMake Policy CMP0043.

       Per-configuration preprocessor definitions on a source file.

       This is the configuration-specific version of COMPILE_DEFINITIONS.  Note that  Xcode  does
       not  support  per-configuration  source file flags so this property will be ignored by the
       Xcode generator.

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