cmakecommands
(1)
Name
cmakecommands - Platform Makefile Generator.
Synopsis
Please see following description for synopsis
Description
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
NAME
cmakecommands - Reference of available CMake commands.
NAME
cmake - Cross-Platform Makefile Generator.
COMMANDS
add_custom_command
Add a custom build rule to the generated build system.
There are two main signatures for add_custom_command
The first signature is for adding a custom command to
produce an output.
add_custom_command(OUTPUT output1 [output2 ...]
COMMAND command1 [ARGS] [args1...]
[COMMAND command2 [ARGS] [args2...] ...]
[MAIN_DEPENDENCY depend]
[DEPENDS [depends...]]
[IMPLICIT_DEPENDS <lang1> depend1 ...]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment] [VERBATIM] [APPEND])
This defines a command to generate specified OUTPUT
file(s). A target created in the same directory
(CMakeLists.txt file) that specifies any output of the
custom command as a source file is given a rule to gen-
erate the file using the command at build time. Do not
list the output in more than one independent target
that may build in parallel or the two instances of the
rule may conflict (instead use add_custom_target to
drive the command and make the other targets depend on
that one). If an output name is a relative path it
will be interpreted relative to the build tree direc-
tory corresponding to the current source directory.
Note that MAIN_DEPENDENCY is completely optional and is
used as a suggestion to visual studio about where to
hang the custom command. In makefile terms this creates
a new target in the following form:
OUTPUT: MAIN_DEPENDENCY DEPENDS
COMMAND
If more than one command is specified they will be exe-
cuted in order. The optional ARGS argument is for back-
ward compatibility and will be ignored.
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The second signature adds a custom command to a target
such as a library or executable. This is useful for
performing an operation before or after building the
target. The command becomes part of the target and will
only execute when the target itself is built. If the
target is already built, the command will not execute.
add_custom_command(TARGET target
PRE_BUILD | PRE_LINK | POST_BUILD
COMMAND command1 [ARGS] [args1...]
[COMMAND command2 [ARGS] [args2...] ...]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment] [VERBATIM])
This defines a new command that will be associated with
building the specified target. When the command will
happen is determined by which of the following is spec-
ified:
PRE_BUILD - run before all other dependencies
PRE_LINK - run after other dependencies
POST_BUILD - run after the target has been built
Note that the PRE_BUILD option is only supported on
Visual Studio 7 or later. For all other generators
PRE_BUILD will be treated as PRE_LINK.
If WORKING_DIRECTORY is specified the command will be
executed in the directory given. If it is a relative
path it will be interpreted relative to the build tree
directory corresponding to the current source direc-
tory. If COMMENT is set, the value will be displayed as
a message before the commands are executed at build
time. If APPEND is specified the COMMAND and DEPENDS
option values are appended to the custom command for
the first output specified. There must have already
been a previous call to this command with the same out-
put. The COMMENT, WORKING_DIRECTORY, and MAIN_DEPEN-
DENCY options are currently ignored when APPEND is
given, but may be used in the future.
If VERBATIM is given then all arguments to the commands
will be escaped properly for the build tool so that the
invoked command receives each argument unchanged. Note
that one level of escapes is still used by the CMake
language processor before add_custom_command even sees
the arguments. Use of VERBATIM is recommended as it
enables correct behavior. When VERBATIM is not given
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the behavior is platform specific because there is no
protection of tool-specific special characters.
If the output of the custom command is not actually
created as a file on disk it should be marked as SYM-
BOLIC with SET_SOURCE_FILES_PROPERTIES.
The IMPLICIT_DEPENDS option requests scanning of
implicit dependencies of an input file. The language
given specifies the programming language whose corre-
sponding dependency scanner should be used. Currently
only C and CXX language scanners are supported. Depen-
dencies discovered from the scanning are added to those
of the custom command at build time. Note that the
IMPLICIT_DEPENDS option is currently supported only for
Makefile generators and will be ignored by other gener-
ators.
If COMMAND specifies an executable target (created by
ADD_EXECUTABLE) it will automatically be replaced by
the location of the executable created at build time.
Additionally a target-level dependency will be added so
that the executable target will be built before any
target using this custom command. However this does
NOT add a file-level dependency that would cause the
custom command to re-run whenever the executable is
recompiled.
Arguments to COMMAND may use "generator expressions"
with the syntax "$<...>". Generator expressions are
evaluted during build system generation to produce
information specific to each build configuration.
Valid expressions are:
$<CONFIGURATION> = configuration name
$<TARGET_FILE:tgt> = main file (.exe, .so.1.2, .a)
$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE:tgt> = file used to link (.a, .lib, .so)
$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE:tgt> = file with soname (.so.3)
where "tgt" is the name of a target. Target file
expressions produce a full path, but _DIR and _NAME
versions can produce the directory and file name compo-
nents:
$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_FILE_NAME:tgt>
$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_NAME:tgt>
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$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_NAME:tgt>
References to target names in generator expressions
imply target-level dependencies, but NOT file-level
dependencies. List target names with the DEPENDS
option to add file dependencies.
The DEPENDS option specifies files on which the command
depends. If any dependency is an OUTPUT of another
custom command in the same directory (CMakeLists.txt
file) CMake automatically brings the other custom com-
mand into the target in which this command is built.
If DEPENDS is not specified the command will run when-
ever the OUTPUT is missing; if the command does not
actually create the OUTPUT then the rule will always
run. If DEPENDS specifies any target (created by an
ADD_* command) a target-level dependency is created to
make sure the target is built before any target using
this custom command. Additionally, if the target is an
executable or library a file-level dependency is cre-
ated to cause the custom command to re-run whenever the
target is recompiled.
add_custom_target
Add a target with no output so it will always be built.
add_custom_target(Name [ALL] [command1 [args1...]]
[COMMAND command2 [args2...] ...]
[DEPENDS depend depend depend ... ]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
[COMMENT comment] [VERBATIM]
[SOURCES src1 [src2...]])
Adds a target with the given name that executes the
given commands. The target has no output file and is
ALWAYS CONSIDERED OUT OF DATE even if the commands try
to create a file with the name of the target. Use
ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND to generate a file with dependen-
cies. By default nothing depends on the custom target.
Use ADD_DEPENDENCIES to add dependencies to or from
other targets. If the ALL option is specified it indi-
cates that this target should be added to the default
build target so that it will be run every time (the
command cannot be called ALL). The command and argu-
ments are optional and if not specified an empty target
will be created. If WORKING_DIRECTORY is set, then the
command will be run in that directory. If it is a rela-
tive path it will be interpreted relative to the build
tree directory corresponding to the current source
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directory. If COMMENT is set, the value will be dis-
played as a message before the commands are executed at
build time. Dependencies listed with the DEPENDS argu-
ment may reference files and outputs of custom commands
created with add_custom_command() in the same directory
(CMakeLists.txt file).
If VERBATIM is given then all arguments to the commands
will be escaped properly for the build tool so that the
invoked command receives each argument unchanged. Note
that one level of escapes is still used by the CMake
language processor before add_custom_target even sees
the arguments. Use of VERBATIM is recommended as it
enables correct behavior. When VERBATIM is not given
the behavior is platform specific because there is no
protection of tool-specific special characters.
The SOURCES option specifies additional source files to
be included in the custom target. Specified source
files will be added to IDE project files for conve-
nience in editing even if they have not build rules.
add_definitions
Adds -D define flags to the compilation of source
files.
add_definitions(-DFOO -DBAR ...)
Adds flags to the compiler command line for sources in
the current directory and below. This command can be
used to add any flags, but it was originally intended
to add preprocessor definitions. Flags beginning in -D
or /D that look like preprocessor definitions are auto-
matically added to the COMPILE_DEFINITIONS property for
the current directory. Definitions with non-trival
values may be left in the set of flags instead of being
converted for reasons of backwards compatibility. See
documentation of the directory, target, and source file
COMPILE_DEFINITIONS properties for details on adding
preprocessor definitions to specific scopes and config-
urations.
add_dependencies
Add a dependency between top-level targets.
add_dependencies(target-name depend-target1
depend-target2 ...)
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Make a top-level target depend on other top-level tar-
gets. A top-level target is one created by ADD_EXE-
CUTABLE, ADD_LIBRARY, or ADD_CUSTOM_TARGET. Adding
dependencies with this command can be used to make sure
one target is built before another target. Dependen-
cies added to an IMPORTED target are followed transi-
tively in its place since the target itself does not
build. See the DEPENDS option of ADD_CUSTOM_TARGET and
ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND for adding file-level dependencies
in custom rules. See the OBJECT_DEPENDS option in
SET_SOURCE_FILES_PROPERTIES to add file-level dependen-
cies to object files.
add_executable
Add an executable to the project using the specified
source files.
add_executable(<name> [WIN32] [MACOSX_BUNDLE]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
source1 source2 ... sourceN)
Adds an executable target called <name> to be built
from the source files listed in the command invocation.
The <name> corresponds to the logical target name and
must be globally unique within a project. The actual
file name of the executable built is constructed based
on conventions of the native platform (such as
<name>.exe or just <name>).
By default the executable file will be created in the
build tree directory corresponding to the source tree
directory in which the command was invoked. See docu-
mentation of the RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY target prop-
erty to change this location. See documentation of the
OUTPUT_NAME target property to change the <name> part
of the final file name.
If WIN32 is given the property WIN32_EXECUTABLE will be
set on the target created. See documentation of that
target property for details.
If MACOSX_BUNDLE is given the corresponding property
will be set on the created target. See documentation
of the MACOSX_BUNDLE target property for details.
If EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL is given the corresponding property
will be set on the created target. See documentation
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of the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property for details.
The add_executable command can also create IMPORTED
executable targets using this signature:
add_executable(<name> IMPORTED)
An IMPORTED executable target references an executable
file located outside the project. No rules are gener-
ated to build it. The target name has scope in the
directory in which it is created and below. It may be
referenced like any target built within the project.
IMPORTED executables are useful for convenient refer-
ence from commands like add_custom_command. Details
about the imported executable are specified by setting
properties whose names begin in "IMPORTED_". The most
important such property is IMPORTED_LOCATION (and its
per-configuration version IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>)
which specifies the location of the main executable
file on disk. See documentation of the IMPORTED_*
properties for more information.
add_library
Add a library to the project using the specified source
files.
add_library(<name> [STATIC | SHARED | MODULE]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL]
source1 source2 ... sourceN)
Adds a library target called <name> to be built from
the source files listed in the command invocation. The
<name> corresponds to the logical target name and must
be globally unique within a project. The actual file
name of the library built is constructed based on con-
ventions of the native platform (such as lib<name>.a or
<name>.lib).
STATIC, SHARED, or MODULE may be given to specify the
type of library to be created. STATIC libraries are
archives of object files for use when linking other
targets. SHARED libraries are linked dynamically and
loaded at runtime. MODULE libraries are plugins that
are not linked into other targets but may be loaded
dynamically at runtime using dlopen-like functionality.
If no type is given explicitly the type is STATIC or
SHARED based on whether the current value of the vari-
able BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is true.
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By default the library file will be created in the
build tree directory corresponding to the source tree
directory in which the command was invoked. See docu-
mentation of the ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, LIBRARY_OUT-
PUT_DIRECTORY, and RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY target
properties to change this location. See documentation
of the OUTPUT_NAME target property to change the <name>
part of the final file name.
If EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL is given the corresponding property
will be set on the created target. See documentation
of the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property for details.
The add_library command can also create IMPORTED
library targets using this signature:
add_library(<name> <SHARED|STATIC|MODULE|UNKNOWN> IMPORTED)
An IMPORTED library target references a library file
located outside the project. No rules are generated to
build it. The target name has scope in the directory
in which it is created and below. It may be referenced
like any target built within the project. IMPORTED
libraries are useful for convenient reference from com-
mands like target_link_libraries. Details about the
imported library are specified by setting properties
whose names begin in "IMPORTED_". The most important
such property is IMPORTED_LOCATION (and its per-config-
uration version IMPORTED_LOCATION_<CONFIG>) which spec-
ifies the location of the main library file on disk.
See documentation of the IMPORTED_* properties for more
information.
add_subdirectory
Add a subdirectory to the build.
add_subdirectory(source_dir [binary_dir]
[EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL])
Add a subdirectory to the build. The source_dir speci-
fies the directory in which the source CmakeLists.txt
and code files are located. If it is a relative path it
will be evaluated with respect to the current directory
(the typical usage), but it may also be an absolute
path. The binary_dir specifies the directory in which
to place the output files. If it is a relative path it
will be evaluated with respect to the current output
directory, but it may also be an absolute path. If
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binary_dir is not specified, the value of source_dir,
before expanding any relative path, will be used (the
typical usage). The CMakeLists.txt file in the speci-
fied source directory will be processed immediately by
CMake before processing in the current input file con-
tinues beyond this command.
If the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL argument is provided then tar-
gets in the subdirectory will not be included in the
ALL target of the parent directory by default, and will
be excluded from IDE project files. Users must explic-
itly build targets in the subdirectory. This is meant
for use when the subdirectory contains a separate part
of the project that is useful but not necessary, such
as a set of examples. Typically the subdirectory
should contain its own project() command invocation so
that a full build system will be generated in the sub-
directory (such as a VS IDE solution file). Note that
inter-target dependencies supercede this exclusion. If
a target built by the parent project depends on a tar-
get in the subdirectory, the dependee target will be
included in the parent project build system to satisfy
the dependency.
add_test
Add a test to the project with the specified arguments.
add_test(testname Exename arg1 arg2 ... )
If the ENABLE_TESTING command has been run, this com-
mand adds a test target to the current directory. If
ENABLE_TESTING has not been run, this command does
nothing. The tests are run by the testing subsystem by
executing Exename with the specified arguments. Exe-
name can be either an executable built by this project
or an arbitrary executable on the system (like tclsh).
The test will be run with the current working directory
set to the CMakeList.txt files corresponding directory
in the binary tree.
add_test(NAME <name> [CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
COMMAND <command> [arg1 [arg2 ...]])
If COMMAND specifies an executable target (created by
add_executable) it will automatically be replaced by
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the location of the executable created at build time.
If a CONFIGURATIONS option is given then the test will
be executed only when testing under one of the named
configurations. If a WORKING_DIRECTORY option is given
then the test will be executed in the given directory.
Arguments after COMMAND may use "generator expressions"
with the syntax "$<...>". Generator expressions are
evaluted during build system generation to produce
information specific to each build configuration.
Valid expressions are:
$<CONFIGURATION> = configuration name
$<TARGET_FILE:tgt> = main file (.exe, .so.1.2, .a)
$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE:tgt> = file used to link (.a, .lib, .so)
$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE:tgt> = file with soname (.so.3)
where "tgt" is the name of a target. Target file
expressions produce a full path, but _DIR and _NAME
versions can produce the directory and file name compo-
nents:
$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_FILE_NAME:tgt>
$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_NAME:tgt>
$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_DIR:tgt>/$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_NAME:tgt>
Example usage:
add_test(NAME mytest
COMMAND testDriver --config $<CONFIGURATION>
--exe $<TARGET_FILE:myexe>)
This creates a test "mytest" whose command runs a test-
Driver tool passing the configuration name and the full
path to the executable file produced by target "myexe".
aux_source_directory
Find all source files in a directory.
aux_source_directory(<dir> <variable>)
Collects the names of all the source files in the spec-
ified directory and stores the list in the <variable>
provided. This command is intended to be used by
projects that use explicit template instantiation.
Template instantiation files can be stored in a "Tem-
plates" subdirectory and collected automatically using
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this command to avoid manually listing all instantia-
tions.
It is tempting to use this command to avoid writing the
list of source files for a library or executable tar-
get. While this seems to work, there is no way for
CMake to generate a build system that knows when a new
source file has been added. Normally the generated
build system knows when it needs to rerun CMake because
the CMakeLists.txt file is modified to add a new
source. When the source is just added to the directory
without modifying this file, one would have to manually
rerun CMake to generate a build system incorporating
the new file.
break
Break from an enclosing foreach or while loop.
break()
Breaks from an enclosing foreach loop or while loop
build_command
Get the command line to build this project.
build_command(<variable>
[CONFIGURATION <config>]
[PROJECT_NAME <projname>]
[TARGET <target>])
Sets the given <variable> to a string containing the
command line for building one configuration of a target
in a project using the build tool appropriate for the
current CMAKE_GENERATOR.
If CONFIGURATION is omitted, CMake chooses a reasonable
default value for multi-configuration generators.
CONFIGURATION is ignored for single-configuration gen-
erators.
If PROJECT_NAME is omitted, the resulting command line
will build the top level PROJECT in the current build
tree.
If TARGET is omitted, the resulting command line will
build everything, effectively using build target 'all'
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or 'ALL_BUILD'.
build_command(<cachevariable> <makecommand>)
This second signature is deprecated, but still avail-
able for backwards compatibility. Use the first signa-
ture instead.
Sets the given <cachevariable> to a string containing
the command to build this project from the root of the
build tree using the build tool given by <makecommand>.
<makecommand> should be the full path to msdev, devenv,
nmake, make or one of the end user build tools.
cmake_minimum_required
Set the minimum required version of cmake for a
project.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]
[FATAL_ERROR])
If the current version of CMake is lower than that
required it will stop processing the project and report
an error. When a version higher than 2.4 is specified
the command implicitly invokes
cmake_policy(VERSION major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]])
which sets the cmake policy version level to the ver-
sion specified. When version 2.4 or lower is given the
command implicitly invokes
cmake_policy(VERSION 2.4)
which enables compatibility features for CMake 2.4 and
lower.
The FATAL_ERROR option is accepted but ignored by CMake
2.6 and higher. It should be specified so CMake ver-
sions 2.4 and lower fail with an error instead of just
a warning.
cmake_policy
Manage CMake Policy settings.
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As CMake evolves it is sometimes necessary to change
existing behavior in order to fix bugs or improve
implementations of existing features. The CMake Policy
mechanism is designed to help keep existing projects
building as new versions of CMake introduce changes in
behavior. Each new policy (behavioral change) is given
an identifier of the form "CMP<NNNN>" where "<NNNN>" is
an integer index. Documentation associated with each
policy describes the OLD and NEW behavior and the rea-
son the policy was introduced. Projects may set each
policy to select the desired behavior. When CMake
needs to know which behavior to use it checks for a
setting specified by the project. If no setting is
available the OLD behavior is assumed and a warning is
produced requesting that the policy be set.
The cmake_policy command is used to set policies to OLD
or NEW behavior. While setting policies individually
is supported, we encourage projects to set policies
based on CMake versions.
cmake_policy(VERSION major.minor[.patch[.tweak]])
Specify that the current CMake list file is written for
the given version of CMake. All policies introduced in
the specified version or earlier will be set to use NEW
behavior. All policies introduced after the specified
version will be unset (unless variable CMAKE_POL-
ICY_DEFAULT_CMP<NNNN> sets a default). This effec-
tively requests behavior preferred as of a given CMake
version and tells newer CMake versions to warn about
their new policies. The policy version specified must
be at least 2.4 or the command will report an error.
In order to get compatibility features supporting ver-
sions earlier than 2.4 see documentation of policy
CMP0001.
cmake_policy(SET CMP<NNNN> NEW)
cmake_policy(SET CMP<NNNN> OLD)
Tell CMake to use the OLD or NEW behavior for a given
policy. Projects depending on the old behavior of a
given policy may silence a policy warning by setting
the policy state to OLD. Alternatively one may fix the
project to work with the new behavior and set the pol-
icy state to NEW.
cmake_policy(GET CMP<NNNN> <variable>)
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Check whether a given policy is set to OLD or NEW
behavior. The output variable value will be "OLD" or
"NEW" if the policy is set, and empty otherwise.
CMake keeps policy settings on a stack, so changes made
by the cmake_policy command affect only the top of the
stack. A new entry on the policy stack is managed
automatically for each subdirectory to protect its par-
ents and siblings. CMake also manages a new entry for
scripts loaded by include() and find_package() commands
except when invoked with the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option
(see also policy CMP0011). The cmake_policy command
provides an interface to manage custom entries on the
policy stack:
cmake_policy(PUSH)
cmake_policy(POP)
Each PUSH must have a matching POP to erase any
changes. This is useful to make temporary changes to
policy settings.
Functions and macros record policy settings when they
are created and use the pre-record policies when they
are invoked. If the function or macro implementation
sets policies, the changes automatically propagate up
through callers until they reach the closest nested
policy stack entry.
configure_file
Copy a file to another location and modify its con-
tents.
configure_file(<input> <output>
[COPYONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES] [@ONLY])
Copies a file <input> to file <output> and substitutes
variable values referenced in the file content. If
<input> is a relative path it is evaluated with respect
to the current source directory. The <input> must be a
file, not a directory. If <output> is a relative path
it is evaluated with respect to the current binary
directory. If <output> names an existing directory the
input file is placed in that directory with its origi-
nal name.
This command replaces any variables in the input file
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referenced as ${VAR} or @VAR@ with their values as
determined by CMake. If a variable is not defined, it
will be replaced with nothing. If COPYONLY is speci-
fied, then no variable expansion will take place. If
ESCAPE_QUOTES is specified then any substituted quotes
will be C-style escaped. The file will be configured
with the current values of CMake variables. If @ONLY is
specified, only variables of the form @VAR@ will be
replaces and ${VAR} will be ignored. This is useful
for configuring scripts that use ${VAR}. Any occur-
rences of #cmakedefine VAR will be replaced with either
#define VAR or /* #undef VAR */ depending on the set-
ting of VAR in CMake. Any occurrences of #cmakedefine01
VAR will be replaced with either #define VAR 1 or
#define VAR 0 depending on whether VAR evaluates to
TRUE or FALSE in CMake
create_test_sourcelist
Create a test driver and source list for building test
programs.
create_test_sourcelist(sourceListName driverName
test1 test2 test3
EXTRA_INCLUDE include.h
FUNCTION function)
A test driver is a program that links together many
small tests into a single executable. This is useful
when building static executables with large libraries
to shrink the total required size. The list of source
files needed to build the test driver will be in
sourceListName. DriverName is the name of the test
driver program. The rest of the arguments consist of a
list of test source files, can be semicolon separated.
Each test source file should have a function in it that
is the same name as the file with no extension (foo.cxx
should have int foo(int, char*[]);) DriverName will be
able to call each of the tests by name on the command
line. If EXTRA_INCLUDE is specified, then the next
argument is included into the generated file. If FUNC-
TION is specified, then the next argument is taken as a
function name that is passed a pointer to ac and av.
This can be used to add extra command line processing
to each test. The cmake variable CMAKE_TEST-
DRIVER_BEFORE_TESTMAIN can be set to have code that
will be placed directly before calling the test main
function. CMAKE_TESTDRIVER_AFTER_TESTMAIN can be set
to have code that will be placed directly after the
call to the test main function.
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define_property
Define and document custom properties.
define_property(<GLOBAL | DIRECTORY | TARGET | SOURCE |
TEST | VARIABLE | CACHED_VARIABLE>
PROPERTY <name> [INHERITED]
BRIEF_DOCS <brief-doc> [docs...]
FULL_DOCS <full-doc> [docs...])
Define one property in a scope for use with the
set_property and get_property commands. This is pri-
marily useful to associate documentation with property
names that may be retrieved with the get_property com-
mand. The first argument determines the kind of scope
in which the property should be used. It must be one
of the following:
GLOBAL = associated with the global namespace
DIRECTORY = associated with one directory
TARGET = associated with one target
SOURCE = associated with one source file
TEST = associated with a test named with add_test
VARIABLE = documents a CMake language variable
CACHED_VARIABLE = documents a CMake cache variable
Note that unlike set_property and get_property no
actual scope needs to be given; only the kind of scope
is important.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by
the name of the property being defined.
If the INHERITED option then the get_property command
will chain up to the next higher scope when the
requested property is not set in the scope given to the
command. DIRECTORY scope chains to GLOBAL. TARGET,
SOURCE, and TEST chain to DIRECTORY.
The BRIEF_DOCS and FULL_DOCS options are followed by
strings to be associated with the property as its brief
and full documentation. Corresponding options to the
get_property command will retrieve the documentation.
else Starts the else portion of an if block.
else(expression)
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
See the if command.
elseif
Starts the elseif portion of an if block.
elseif(expression)
See the if command.
enable_language
Enable a language (CXX/C/Fortran/etc)
enable_language(languageName [OPTIONAL] )
This command enables support for the named language in
CMake. This is the same as the project command but does
not create any of the extra variables that are created
by the project command. Example languages are CXX, C,
Fortran. If OPTIONAL is used, use the CMAKE_<language-
Name>_COMPILER_WORKS variable to check whether the lan-
guage has been enabled successfully.
enable_testing
Enable testing for current directory and below.
enable_testing()
Enables testing for this directory and below. See also
the add_test command. Note that ctest expects to find
a test file in the build directory root. Therefore,
this command should be in the source directory root.
endforeach
Ends a list of commands in a FOREACH block.
endforeach(expression)
See the FOREACH command.
endfunction
Ends a list of commands in a function block.
endfunction(expression)
See the function command.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 17
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
endif
Ends a list of commands in an if block.
endif(expression)
See the if command.
endmacro
Ends a list of commands in a macro block.
endmacro(expression)
See the macro command.
endwhile
Ends a list of commands in a while block.
endwhile(expression)
See the while command.
execute_process
Execute one or more child processes.
execute_process(COMMAND <cmd1> [args1...]]
[COMMAND <cmd2> [args2...] [...]]
[WORKING_DIRECTORY <directory>]
[TIMEOUT <seconds>]
[RESULT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <variable>]
[ERROR_VARIABLE <variable>]
[INPUT_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_FILE <file>]
[ERROR_FILE <file>]
[OUTPUT_QUIET]
[ERROR_QUIET]
[OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE]
[ERROR_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE])
Runs the given sequence of one or more commands with
the standard output of each process piped to the stan-
dard input of the next. A single standard error pipe
is used for all processes. If WORKING_DIRECTORY is
given the named directory will be set as the current
working directory of the child processes. If TIMEOUT
is given the child processes will be terminated if they
do not finish in the specified number of seconds (frac-
tions are allowed). If RESULT_VARIABLE is given the
variable will be set to contain the result of running
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 18
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
the processes. This will be an integer return code
from the last child or a string describing an error
condition. If OUTPUT_VARIABLE or ERROR_VARIABLE are
given the variable named will be set with the contents
of the standard output and standard error pipes respec-
tively. If the same variable is named for both pipes
their output will be merged in the order produced. If
INPUT_FILE, OUTPUT_FILE, or ERROR_FILE is given the
file named will be attached to the standard input of
the first process, standard output of the last process,
or standard error of all processes respectively. If
OUTPUT_QUIET or ERROR_QUIET is given then the standard
output or standard error results will be quietly
ignored. If more than one OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* option
is given for the same pipe the precedence is not speci-
fied. If no OUTPUT_* or ERROR_* options are given the
output will be shared with the corresponding pipes of
the CMake process itself.
The execute_process command is a newer more powerful
version of exec_program, but the old command has been
kept for compatibility.
export
Export targets from the build tree for use by outside
projects.
export(TARGETS [target1 [target2 [...]]] [NAMESPACE <namespace>]
[APPEND] FILE <filename>)
Create a file <filename> that may be included by out-
side projects to import targets from the current
project's build tree. This is useful during cross-com-
piling to build utility executables that can run on the
host platform in one project and then import them into
another project being compiled for the target platform.
If the NAMESPACE option is given the <namespace> string
will be prepended to all target names written to the
file. If the APPEND option is given the generated code
will be appended to the file instead of overwriting it.
If a library target is included in the export but a
target to which it links is not included the behavior
is unspecified.
The file created by this command is specific to the
build tree and should never be installed. See the
install(EXPORT) command to export targets from an
installation tree.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 19
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
export(PACKAGE <name>)
Store the current build directory in the CMake user
package registry for package <name>. The find_package
command may consider the directory while searching for
package <name>. This helps dependent projects find and
use a package from the current project's build tree
without help from the user. Note that the entry in the
package registry that this command creates works only
in conjunction with a package configuration file
(<name>Config.cmake) that works with the build tree.
file File manipulation command.
file(WRITE filename "message to write"... )
file(APPEND filename "message to write"... )
file(READ filename variable [LIMIT numBytes] [OFFSET offset] [HEX])
file(STRINGS filename variable [LIMIT_COUNT num]
[LIMIT_INPUT numBytes] [LIMIT_OUTPUT numBytes]
[LENGTH_MINIMUM numBytes] [LENGTH_MAXIMUM numBytes]
[NEWLINE_CONSUME] [REGEX regex]
[NO_HEX_CONVERSION])
file(GLOB variable [RELATIVE path] [globbing expressions]...)
file(GLOB_RECURSE variable [RELATIVE path]
[FOLLOW_SYMLINKS] [globbing expressions]...)
file(RENAME <oldname> <newname>)
file(REMOVE [file1 ...])
file(REMOVE_RECURSE [file1 ...])
file(MAKE_DIRECTORY [directory1 directory2 ...])
file(RELATIVE_PATH variable directory file)
file(TO_CMAKE_PATH path result)
file(TO_NATIVE_PATH path result)
file(DOWNLOAD url file [INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT timeout]
[TIMEOUT timeout] [STATUS status] [LOG log] [SHOW_PROGRESS]
[EXPECTED_MD5 sum])
file(UPLOAD filename url [INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT timeout]
[TIMEOUT timeout] [STATUS status] [LOG log] [SHOW_PROGRESS])
WRITE will write a message into a file called 'file-
name'. It overwrites the file if it already exists, and
creates the file if it does not exist.
APPEND will write a message into a file same as WRITE,
except it will append it to the end of the file
READ will read the content of a file and store it into
the variable. It will start at the given offset and
read up to numBytes. If the argument HEX is given, the
binary data will be converted to hexadecimal
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 20
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
representation and this will be stored in the variable.
STRINGS will parse a list of ASCII strings from a file
and store it in a variable. Binary data in the file are
ignored. Carriage return (CR) characters are ignored.
It works also for Intel Hex and Motorola S-record
files, which are automatically converted to binary for-
mat when reading them. Disable this using NO_HEX_CON-
VERSION.
LIMIT_COUNT sets the maximum number of strings to
return. LIMIT_INPUT sets the maximum number of bytes to
read from the input file. LIMIT_OUTPUT sets the maximum
number of bytes to store in the output variable.
LENGTH_MINIMUM sets the minimum length of a string to
return. Shorter strings are ignored. LENGTH_MAXIMUM
sets the maximum length of a string to return. Longer
strings are split into strings no longer than the maxi-
mum length. NEWLINE_CONSUME allows newlines to be
included in strings instead of terminating them.
REGEX specifies a regular expression that a string must
match to be returned. Typical usage
file(STRINGS myfile.txt myfile)
stores a list in the variable "myfile" in which each
item is a line from the input file.
GLOB will generate a list of all files that match the
globbing expressions and store it into the variable.
Globbing expressions are similar to regular expres-
sions, but much simpler. If RELATIVE flag is specified
for an expression, the results will be returned as a
relative path to the given path. (We do not recommend
using GLOB to collect a list of source files from your
source tree. If no CMakeLists.txt file changes when a
source is added or removed then the generated build
system cannot know when to ask CMake to regenerate.)
Examples of globbing expressions include:
*.cxx - match all files with extension cxx
*.vt? - match all files with extension vta,...,vtz
f[3-5].txt - match files f3.txt, f4.txt, f5.txt
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 21
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
GLOB_RECURSE will generate a list similar to the regu-
lar GLOB, except it will traverse all the subdirecto-
ries of the matched directory and match the files. Sub-
directories that are symlinks are only traversed if
FOLLOW_SYMLINKS is given or cmake policy CMP0009 is not
set to NEW. See cmake --help-policy CMP0009 for more
information.
Examples of recursive globbing include:
/dir/*.py - match all python files in /dir and subdirectories
MAKE_DIRECTORY will create the given directories, also
if their parent directories don't exist yet
RENAME moves a file or directory within a filesystem,
replacing the destination atomically.
REMOVE will remove the given files, also in subdirecto-
ries
REMOVE_RECURSE will remove the given files and directo-
ries, also non-empty directories
RELATIVE_PATH will determine relative path from direc-
tory to the given file.
TO_CMAKE_PATH will convert path into a cmake style path
with unix /. The input can be a single path or a sys-
tem path like "$ENV{PATH}". Note the double quotes
around the ENV call TO_CMAKE_PATH only takes one argu-
ment.
TO_NATIVE_PATH works just like TO_CMAKE_PATH, but will
convert from a cmake style path into the native path
style \ for windows and / for UNIX.
DOWNLOAD will download the given URL to the given file.
If LOG var is specified a log of the download will be
put in var. If STATUS var is specified the status of
the operation will be put in var. The status is
returned in a list of length 2. The first element is
the numeric return value for the operation, and the
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
second element is a string value for the error. A 0
numeric error means no error in the operation. If TIME-
OUT time is specified, the operation will timeout after
time seconds, time should be specified as an integer.
The INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT specifies an integer number of
seconds of inactivity after which the operation should
terminate. If EXPECTED_MD5 sum is specified, the opera-
tion will verify that the downloaded file's actual md5
sum matches the expected value. If it does not match,
the operation fails with an error. If SHOW_PROGRESS is
specified, progress information will be printed as sta-
tus messages until the operation is complete.
UPLOAD will upload the given file to the given URL. If
LOG var is specified a log of the upload will be put in
var. If STATUS var is specified the status of the oper-
ation will be put in var. The status is returned in a
list of length 2. The first element is the numeric
return value for the operation, and the second element
is a string value for the error. A 0 numeric error
means no error in the operation. If TIMEOUT time is
specified, the operation will timeout after time sec-
onds, time should be specified as an integer. The INAC-
TIVITY_TIMEOUT specifies an integer number of seconds
of inactivity after which the operation should termi-
nate. If SHOW_PROGRESS is specified, progress informa-
tion will be printed as status messages until the oper-
ation is complete.
The file() command also provides COPY and INSTALL sig-
natures:
file(<COPY|INSTALL> files... DESTINATION <dir>
[FILE_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS] [USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS]
[FILES_MATCHING]
[[PATTERN <pattern> | REGEX <regex>]
[EXCLUDE] [PERMISSIONS permissions...]] [...])
The COPY signature copies files, directories, and sym-
links to a destination folder. Relative input paths
are evaluated with respect to the current source direc-
tory, and a relative destination is evaluated with
respect to the current build directory. Copying pre-
serves input file timestamps, and optimizes out a file
if it exists at the destination with the same time-
stamp. Copying preserves input permissions unless
explicit permissions or NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS are given
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 23
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
(default is USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS). See the
install(DIRECTORY) command for documentation of permis-
sions, PATTERN, REGEX, and EXCLUDE options.
The INSTALL signature differs slightly from COPY: it
prints status messages, and NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS is
default. Installation scripts generated by the
install() command use this signature (with some undocu-
mented options for internal use).
find_file
Find the full path to a file.
find_file(<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
This is the short-hand signature for the command that
is sufficient in many cases. It is the same as
find_file(<VAR> name1 [PATHS path1 path2 ...])
find_file(
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a full path to named file.
A cache entry named by <VAR> is created to store the
result of this command. If the full path to a file is
found the result is stored in the variable and the
search will not be repeated unless the variable is
cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be
<VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will be attempted again
the next time find_file is invoked with the same vari-
able. The name of the full path to a file that is
searched for is specified by the names listed after the
NAMES argument. Additional search locations can be
specified after the PATHS argument. If ENV var is
found in the HINTS or PATHS section the environment
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 24
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
variable var will be read and converted from a system
environment variable to a cmake style list of paths.
For example ENV PATH would be a way to list the system
path variable. The argument after DOC will be used for
the documentation string in the cache. PATH_SUFFIXES
specifies additional subdirectories to check below each
search path.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional
paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache vari-
ables. These are intended to be used on the command
line with a -DVAR=value. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment
variables. These are intended to be set in the user's
shell configuration. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option.
These should be paths computed by system introspection,
such as a hint provided by the location of another item
already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified
with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables.
This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is an
argument.
PATH
INCLUDE
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files
for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 25
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in
the short-hand version of the command. These are typi-
cally hard-coded guesses.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Frameworks, the
cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK can be set to
empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find frameworks before standard
libraries or headers. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find frameworks after standard
libraries or headers.
"ONLY" - Only try to find frameworks.
"NEVER" - Never try to find frameworks.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Application Bun-
dles, the cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE can be
set to empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find application bundles before standard
programs. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find application bundles after standard
programs.
"ONLY" - Only try to find application bundles.
"NEVER" - Never try to find application bundles.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one
or more directories to be prepended to all other search
directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire
search under given locations. By default it is empty.
It is especially useful when cross-compiling to point
to the root directory of the target environment and
CMake will search there too. By default at first the
directories listed in CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH and then the
non-rooted directories will be searched. The default
behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE. This behavior can
be manually overridden on a per-call basis. By using
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH the search order will be as
described above. If NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used
then CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH will not be used. If
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used then only the
re-rooted directories will be searched.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 26
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
The default search order is designed to be most-spe-
cific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects
may override the order by simply calling the command
multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_file(<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_file(<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will
be set and stored in the cache so that no call will
search again.
find_library
Find a library.
find_library(<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
This is the short-hand signature for the command that
is sufficient in many cases. It is the same as
find_library(<VAR> name1 [PATHS path1 path2 ...])
find_library(
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a library. A cache entry
named by <VAR> is created to store the result of this
command. If the library is found the result is stored
in the variable and the search will not be repeated
unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found,
the result will be <VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will
be attempted again the next time find_library is
invoked with the same variable. The name of the
library that is searched for is specified by the names
listed after the NAMES argument. Additional search
locations can be specified after the PATHS argument.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 27
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
If ENV var is found in the HINTS or PATHS section the
environment variable var will be read and converted
from a system environment variable to a cmake style
list of paths. For example ENV PATH would be a way to
list the system path variable. The argument after DOC
will be used for the documentation string in the cache.
PATH_SUFFIXES specifies additional subdirectories to
check below each search path.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional
paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache vari-
ables. These are intended to be used on the command
line with a -DVAR=value. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and
<prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment
variables. These are intended to be set in the user's
shell configuration. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and
<prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option.
These should be paths computed by system introspection,
such as a hint provided by the location of another item
already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified
with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables.
This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is an
argument.
PATH
LIB
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 28
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files
for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/lib/<arch> if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set, and
<prefix>/lib for each <prefix> in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_LIBRARY_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in
the short-hand version of the command. These are typi-
cally hard-coded guesses.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Frameworks, the
cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK can be set to
empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find frameworks before standard
libraries or headers. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find frameworks after standard
libraries or headers.
"ONLY" - Only try to find frameworks.
"NEVER" - Never try to find frameworks.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Application Bun-
dles, the cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE can be
set to empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find application bundles before standard
programs. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find application bundles after standard
programs.
"ONLY" - Only try to find application bundles.
"NEVER" - Never try to find application bundles.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one
or more directories to be prepended to all other search
directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire
search under given locations. By default it is empty.
It is especially useful when cross-compiling to point
to the root directory of the target environment and
CMake will search there too. By default at first the
directories listed in CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH and then the
non-rooted directories will be searched. The default
behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY. This behavior can
be manually overridden on a per-call basis. By using
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH the search order will be as
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 29
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
described above. If NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used
then CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH will not be used. If
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used then only the
re-rooted directories will be searched.
The default search order is designed to be most-spe-
cific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects
may override the order by simply calling the command
multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_library(<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_library(<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will
be set and stored in the cache so that no call will
search again.
If the library found is a framework, then VAR will be
set to the full path to the framework <full-
Path>/A.framework. When a full path to a framework is
used as a library, CMake will use a -framework A, and a
-F<fullPath> to link the framework to the target.
find_package
Load settings for an external project.
find_package(<package> [version] [EXACT] [QUIET]
[[REQUIRED|COMPONENTS] [components...]]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE])
Finds and loads settings from an external project.
<package>_FOUND will be set to indicate whether the
package was found. When the package is found pack-
age-specific information is provided through variables
documented by the package itself. The QUIET option
disables messages if the package cannot be found. The
REQUIRED option stops processing with an error message
if the package cannot be found. A package-specific
list of components may be listed after the REQUIRED
option or after the COMPONENTS option if no REQUIRED
option is given. The [version] argument requests a
version with which the package found should be compati-
ble (format is major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]). The
EXACT option requests that the version be matched
exactly. If no [version] and/or component list is
given to a recursive invocation inside a find-module,
the corresponding arguments are forwarded automatically
from the outer call (including the EXACT flag for
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 30
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
[version]). Version support is currently provided only
on a package-by-package basis (details below).
User code should generally look for packages using the
above simple signature. The remainder of this command
documentation specifies the full command signature and
details of the search process. Project maintainers
wishing to provide a package to be found by this com-
mand are encouraged to read on.
The command has two modes by which it searches for
packages: "Module" mode and "Config" mode. Module mode
is available when the command is invoked with the above
reduced signature. CMake searches for a file called
"Find<package>.cmake" in the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH followed
by the CMake installation. If the file is found, it is
read and processed by CMake. It is responsible for
finding the package, checking the version, and produc-
ing any needed messages. Many find-modules provide
limited or no support for versioning; check the module
documentation. If no module is found the command pro-
ceeds to Config mode.
The complete Config mode command signature is:
find_package(<package> [version] [EXACT] [QUIET]
[[REQUIRED|COMPONENTS] [components...]] [NO_MODULE]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE]
[NAMES name1 [name2 ...]]
[CONFIGS config1 [config2 ...]]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PACKAGE_REGISTRY]
[NO_CMAKE_BUILDS_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PACKAGE_REGISTRY]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH])
The NO_MODULE option may be used to skip Module mode
explicitly. It is also implied by use of options not
specified in the reduced signature.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 31
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
Config mode attempts to locate a configuration file
provided by the package to be found. A cache entry
called <package>_DIR is created to hold the directory
containing the file. By default the command searches
for a package with the name <package>. If the NAMES
option is given the names following it are used instead
of <package>. The command searches for a file called
"<name>Config.cmake" or "<lower-case-name>-con-
fig.cmake" for each name specified. A replacement set
of possible configuration file names may be given using
the CONFIGS option. The search procedure is specified
below. Once found, the configuration file is read and
processed by CMake. Since the file is provided by the
package it already knows the location of package con-
tents. The full path to the configuration file is
stored in the cmake variable <package>_CONFIG.
All configuration files which have been considered by
CMake while searching for an installation of the pack-
age with an appropriate version are stored in the cmake
variable <package>_CONSIDERED_CONFIGS, the associated
versions in <package>_CONSIDERED_VERSIONS.
If the package configuration file cannot be found CMake
will generate an error describing the problem unless
the QUIET argument is specified. If REQUIRED is speci-
fied and the package is not found a fatal error is gen-
erated and the configure step stops executing. If
<package>_DIR has been set to a directory not contain-
ing a configuration file CMake will ignore it and
search from scratch.
When the [version] argument is given Config mode will
only find a version of the package that claims compati-
bility with the requested version (format is
major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]). If the EXACT option is
given only a version of the package claiming an exact
match of the requested version may be found. CMake
does not establish any convention for the meaning of
version numbers. Package version numbers are checked
by "version" files provided by the packages themselves.
For a candidate package configuration file "<con-
fig-file>.cmake" the corresponding version file is
located next to it and named either "<config-file>-ver-
sion.cmake" or "<config-file>Version.cmake". If no
such version file is available then the configuration
file is assumed to not be compatible with any requested
version. A basic version file containing generic ver-
sion matching code can be created using the macro
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 32
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
write_basic_config_version_file(), see its documenta-
tion for more details. When a version file is found it
is loaded to check the requested version number. The
version file is loaded in a nested scope in which the
following variables have been defined:
PACKAGE_FIND_NAME = the <package> name
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION = full requested version string
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_MAJOR = major version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_MINOR = minor version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_PATCH = patch version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_TWEAK = tweak version if requested, else 0
PACKAGE_FIND_VERSION_COUNT = number of version components, 0 to 4
The version file checks whether it satisfies the
requested version and sets these variables:
PACKAGE_VERSION = full provided version string
PACKAGE_VERSION_EXACT = true if version is exact match
PACKAGE_VERSION_COMPATIBLE = true if version is compatible
PACKAGE_VERSION_UNSUITABLE = true if unsuitable as any version
These variables are checked by the find_package command
to determine whether the configuration file provides an
acceptable version. They are not available after the
find_package call returns. If the version is accept-
able the following variables are set:
<package>_VERSION = full provided version string
<package>_VERSION_MAJOR = major version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_MINOR = minor version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_PATCH = patch version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_TWEAK = tweak version if provided, else 0
<package>_VERSION_COUNT = number of version components, 0 to 4
and the corresponding package configuration file is
loaded. When multiple package configuration files are
available whose version files claim compatibility with
the version requested it is unspecified which one is
chosen. No attempt is made to choose a highest or
closest version number.
Config mode provides an elaborate interface and search
procedure. Much of the interface is provided for com-
pleteness and for use internally by find-modules loaded
by Module mode. Most user code should simply call
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 33
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
find_package(<package> [major[.minor]] [EXACT] [REQUIRED|QUIET])
in order to find a package. Package maintainers pro-
viding CMake package configuration files are encouraged
to name and install them such that the procedure out-
lined below will find them without requiring use of
additional options.
CMake constructs a set of possible installation pre-
fixes for the package. Under each prefix several
directories are searched for a configuration file. The
tables below show the directories searched. Each entry
is meant for installation trees following Windows (W),
UNIX (U), or Apple (A) conventions.
<prefix>/ (W)
<prefix>/(cmake|CMake)/ (W)
<prefix>/<name>*/ (W)
<prefix>/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/ (W)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/cmake/<name>*/ (U)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/ (U)
<prefix>/(lib/<arch>|lib|share)/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/ (U)
On systems supporting OS X Frameworks and Application
Bundles the following directories are searched for
frameworks or bundles containing a configuration file:
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Resources/CMake/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Versions/*/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.framework/Versions/*/Resources/CMake/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.app/Contents/Resources/ (A)
<prefix>/<name>.app/Contents/Resources/CMake/ (A)
In all cases the <name> is treated as case-insensitive
and corresponds to any of the names specified (<pack-
age> or names given by NAMES). Paths with lib/<arch>
are enabled if CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE is set. If
PATH_SUFFIXES is specified the suffixes are appended to
each (W) or (U) directory entry one-by-one.
This set of directories is intended to work in coopera-
tion with projects that provide configuration files in
their installation trees. Directories above marked
with (W) are intended for installations on Windows
where the prefix may point at the top of an applica-
tion's installation directory. Those marked with (U)
are intended for installations on UNIX platforms where
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 34
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
the prefix is shared by multiple packages. This is
merely a convention, so all (W) and (U) directories are
still searched on all platforms. Directories marked
with (A) are intended for installations on Apple plat-
forms. The cmake variables CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK and
CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE determine the order of preference
as specified below.
The set of installation prefixes is constructed using
the following steps. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified
all NO_* options are enabled.
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache vari-
ables. These are intended to be used on the command
line with a -DVAR=value. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment
variables. These are intended to be set in the user's
shell configuration. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
<package>_DIR
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
3. Search paths specified by the HINTS option. These
should be paths computed by system introspection, such
as a hint provided by the location of another item
already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified
with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables.
This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is
passed. Path entries ending in "/bin" or "/sbin" are
automatically converted to their parent directories.
PATH
5. Search project build trees recently configured in a
CMake GUI. This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_BUILDS_PATH
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 35
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
is passed. It is intended for the case when a user is
building multiple dependent projects one after another.
6. Search paths stored in the CMake user package reg-
istry. This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_PACKAGE_REG-
ISTRY is passed. On Windows a <package> may appear
under registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Kitware\CMake\Packages\<package>
as a REG_SZ value, with arbitrary name, that specifies
the directory containing the package configuration
file. On UNIX platforms a <package> may appear under
the directory
~/.cmake/packages/<package>
as a file, with arbitrary name, whose content specifies
the directory containing the package configuration
file. See the export(PACKAGE) command to create user
package registry entries for project build trees.
7. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files
for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_APPBUNDLE_PATH
8. Search paths stored in the CMake system package reg-
istry. This can be skipped if NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PACK-
AGE_REGISTRY is passed. On Windows a <package> may
appear under registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Kitware\CMake\Packages\<package>
as a REG_SZ value, with arbitrary name, that specifies
the directory containing the package configuration
file. There is no system package registry on non-Win-
dows platforms.
9. Search paths specified by the PATHS option. These
are typically hard-coded guesses.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 36
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Frameworks, the
cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK can be set to
empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find frameworks before standard
libraries or headers. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find frameworks after standard
libraries or headers.
"ONLY" - Only try to find frameworks.
"NEVER" - Never try to find frameworks.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Application Bun-
dles, the cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE can be
set to empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find application bundles before standard
programs. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find application bundles after standard
programs.
"ONLY" - Only try to find application bundles.
"NEVER" - Never try to find application bundles.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one
or more directories to be prepended to all other search
directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire
search under given locations. By default it is empty.
It is especially useful when cross-compiling to point
to the root directory of the target environment and
CMake will search there too. By default at first the
directories listed in CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH and then the
non-rooted directories will be searched. The default
behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PACKAGE. This behavior can
be manually overridden on a per-call basis. By using
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH the search order will be as
described above. If NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used
then CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH will not be used. If
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used then only the
re-rooted directories will be searched.
The default search order is designed to be most-spe-
cific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects
may override the order by simply calling the command
multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_package(<package> PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_package(<package>)
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 37
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will
be set and stored in the cache so that no call will
search again.
Every non-REQUIRED find_package() call can be disabled
by setting the variable CMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACK-
AGE_<package> to TRUE. See the documentation for the
CMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_<package> variable for more
information.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for dis-
cussion of the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option.
find_path
Find the directory containing a file.
find_path(<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
This is the short-hand signature for the command that
is sufficient in many cases. It is the same as
find_path(<VAR> name1 [PATHS path1 path2 ...])
find_path(
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
This command is used to find a directory containing the
named file. A cache entry named by <VAR> is created to
store the result of this command. If the file in a
directory is found the result is stored in the variable
and the search will not be repeated unless the variable
is cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be
<VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will be attempted again
the next time find_path is invoked with the same vari-
able. The name of the file in a directory that is
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 38
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
searched for is specified by the names listed after the
NAMES argument. Additional search locations can be
specified after the PATHS argument. If ENV var is
found in the HINTS or PATHS section the environment
variable var will be read and converted from a system
environment variable to a cmake style list of paths.
For example ENV PATH would be a way to list the system
path variable. The argument after DOC will be used for
the documentation string in the cache. PATH_SUFFIXES
specifies additional subdirectories to check below each
search path.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional
paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache vari-
ables. These are intended to be used on the command
line with a -DVAR=value. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment
variables. These are intended to be set in the user's
shell configuration. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option.
These should be paths computed by system introspection,
such as a hint provided by the location of another item
already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified
with the PATHS option.
4. Search the standard system environment variables.
This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is an
argument.
PATH
INCLUDE
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 39
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files
for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/include for each <prefix> in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in
the short-hand version of the command. These are typi-
cally hard-coded guesses.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Frameworks, the
cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK can be set to
empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find frameworks before standard
libraries or headers. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find frameworks after standard
libraries or headers.
"ONLY" - Only try to find frameworks.
"NEVER" - Never try to find frameworks.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Application Bun-
dles, the cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE can be
set to empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find application bundles before standard
programs. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find application bundles after standard
programs.
"ONLY" - Only try to find application bundles.
"NEVER" - Never try to find application bundles.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one
or more directories to be prepended to all other search
directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire
search under given locations. By default it is empty.
It is especially useful when cross-compiling to point
to the root directory of the target environment and
CMake will search there too. By default at first the
directories listed in CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH and then the
non-rooted directories will be searched. The default
behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE. This behavior can
be manually overridden on a per-call basis. By using
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH the search order will be as
described above. If NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 40
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
then CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH will not be used. If
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used then only the
re-rooted directories will be searched.
The default search order is designed to be most-spe-
cific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects
may override the order by simply calling the command
multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_path(<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_path(<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will
be set and stored in the cache so that no call will
search again.
When searching for frameworks, if the file is specified
as A/b.h, then the framework search will look for
A.framework/Headers/b.h. If that is found the path will
be set to the path to the framework. CMake will convert
this to the correct -F option to include the file.
find_program
Find an executable program.
find_program(<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])
This is the short-hand signature for the command that
is sufficient in many cases. It is the same as
find_program(<VAR> name1 [PATHS path1 path2 ...])
find_program(
<VAR>
name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
[HINTS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATHS path1 [path2 ... ENV var]]
[PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
[DOC "cache documentation string"]
[NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_PATH]
[NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
[NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
[CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
)
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 41
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
This command is used to find a program. A cache entry
named by <VAR> is created to store the result of this
command. If the program is found the result is stored
in the variable and the search will not be repeated
unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found,
the result will be <VAR>-NOTFOUND, and the search will
be attempted again the next time find_program is
invoked with the same variable. The name of the pro-
gram that is searched for is specified by the names
listed after the NAMES argument. Additional search
locations can be specified after the PATHS argument.
If ENV var is found in the HINTS or PATHS section the
environment variable var will be read and converted
from a system environment variable to a cmake style
list of paths. For example ENV PATH would be a way to
list the system path variable. The argument after DOC
will be used for the documentation string in the cache.
PATH_SUFFIXES specifies additional subdirectories to
check below each search path.
If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is specified, then no additional
paths are added to the search. If NO_DEFAULT_PATH is
not specified, the search process is as follows:
1. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache vari-
ables. These are intended to be used on the command
line with a -DVAR=value. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_PROGRAM_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment
variables. These are intended to be set in the user's
shell configuration. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_PROGRAM_PATH
CMAKE_APPBUNDLE_PATH
3. Search the paths specified by the HINTS option.
These should be paths computed by system introspection,
such as a hint provided by the location of another item
already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified
with the PATHS option.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 42
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
4. Search the standard system environment variables.
This can be skipped if NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH is an
argument.
PATH
5. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files
for the current system. This can be skipped if
NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH is passed.
<prefix>/[s]bin for each <prefix> in CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROGRAM_PATH
CMAKE_SYSTEM_APPBUNDLE_PATH
6. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in
the short-hand version of the command. These are typi-
cally hard-coded guesses.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Frameworks, the
cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK can be set to
empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find frameworks before standard
libraries or headers. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find frameworks after standard
libraries or headers.
"ONLY" - Only try to find frameworks.
"NEVER" - Never try to find frameworks.
On Darwin or systems supporting OS X Application Bun-
dles, the cmake variable CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE can be
set to empty or one of the following:
"FIRST" - Try to find application bundles before standard
programs. This is the default on Darwin.
"LAST" - Try to find application bundles after standard
programs.
"ONLY" - Only try to find application bundles.
"NEVER" - Never try to find application bundles.
The CMake variable CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH specifies one
or more directories to be prepended to all other search
directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire
search under given locations. By default it is empty.
It is especially useful when cross-compiling to point
to the root directory of the target environment and
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 43
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
CMake will search there too. By default at first the
directories listed in CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH and then the
non-rooted directories will be searched. The default
behavior can be adjusted by setting
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM. This behavior can
be manually overridden on a per-call basis. By using
CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH the search order will be as
described above. If NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used
then CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH will not be used. If
ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH is used then only the
re-rooted directories will be searched.
The default search order is designed to be most-spe-
cific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects
may override the order by simply calling the command
multiple times and using the NO_* options:
find_program(<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_program(<VAR> NAMES name)
Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will
be set and stored in the cache so that no call will
search again.
fltk_wrap_ui
Create FLTK user interfaces Wrappers.
fltk_wrap_ui(resultingLibraryName source1
source2 ... sourceN )
Produce .h and .cxx files for all the .fl and .fld
files listed. The resulting .h and .cxx files will be
added to a variable named resultingLibrary-
Name_FLTK_UI_SRCS which should be added to your
library.
foreach
Evaluate a group of commands for each value in a list.
foreach(loop_var arg1 arg2 ...)
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endforeach(loop_var)
All commands between foreach and the matching endfore-
ach are recorded without being invoked. Once the end-
foreach is evaluated, the recorded list of commands is
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 44
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
invoked once for each argument listed in the original
foreach command. Before each iteration of the loop
"${loop_var}" will be set as a variable with the cur-
rent value in the list.
foreach(loop_var RANGE total)
foreach(loop_var RANGE start stop [step])
Foreach can also iterate over a generated range of num-
bers. There are three types of this iteration:
* When specifying single number, the range will have
elements 0 to "total".
* When specifying two numbers, the range will have ele-
ments from the first number to the second number.
* The third optional number is the increment used to
iterate from the first number to the second number.
foreach(loop_var IN [LISTS [list1 [...]]]
[ITEMS [item1 [...]]])
Iterates over a precise list of items. The LISTS
option names list-valued variables to be traversed,
including empty elements (an empty string is a
zero-length list). The ITEMS option ends argument
parsing and includes all arguments following it in the
iteration.
function
Start recording a function for later invocation as a
command.
function(<name> [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ...]]])
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endfunction(<name>)
Define a function named <name> that takes arguments
named arg1 arg2 arg3 (...). Commands listed after
function, but before the matching endfunction, are not
invoked until the function is invoked. When it is
invoked, the commands recorded in the function are
first modified by replacing formal parameters (${arg1})
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 45
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
with the arguments passed, and then invoked as normal
commands. In addition to referencing the formal parame-
ters you can reference the variable ARGC which will be
set to the number of arguments passed into the function
as well as ARGV0 ARGV1 ARGV2 ... which will have the
actual values of the arguments passed in. This facili-
tates creating functions with optional arguments. Addi-
tionally ARGV holds the list of all arguments given to
the function and ARGN holds the list of argument past
the last expected argument.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for the
behavior of policies inside functions.
get_cmake_property
Get a property of the CMake instance.
get_cmake_property(VAR property)
Get a property from the CMake instance. The value of
the property is stored in the variable VAR. If the
property is not found, VAR will be set to "NOTFOUND".
Some supported properties include: VARIABLES,
CACHE_VARIABLES, COMMANDS, MACROS, and COMPONENTS.
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_directory_property
Get a property of DIRECTORY scope.
get_directory_property(<variable> [DIRECTORY <dir>] <prop-name>)
Store a property of directory scope in the named vari-
able. If the property is not defined the empty-string
is returned. The DIRECTORY argument specifies another
directory from which to retrieve the property value.
The specified directory must have already been tra-
versed by CMake.
get_directory_property(<variable> [DIRECTORY <dir>]
DEFINITION <var-name>)
Get a variable definition from a directory. This form
is useful to get a variable definition from another
directory.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 46
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_filename_component
Get a specific component of a full filename.
get_filename_component(<VAR> FileName
PATH|ABSOLUTE|NAME|EXT|NAME_WE|REALPATH
[CACHE])
Set <VAR> to be the path (PATH), file name (NAME), file
extension (EXT), file name without extension (NAME_WE)
of FileName, the full path (ABSOLUTE), or the full path
with all symlinks resolved (REALPATH). Note that the
path is converted to Unix slashes format and has no
trailing slashes. The longest file extension is always
considered. If the optional CACHE argument is speci-
fied, the result variable is added to the cache.
get_filename_component(<VAR> FileName
PROGRAM [PROGRAM_ARGS <ARG_VAR>]
[CACHE])
The program in FileName will be found in the system
search path or left as a full path. If PROGRAM_ARGS is
present with PROGRAM, then any command-line arguments
present in the FileName string are split from the pro-
gram name and stored in <ARG_VAR>. This is used to
separate a program name from its arguments in a command
line string.
get_property
Get a property.
get_property(<variable>
<GLOBAL |
DIRECTORY [dir] |
TARGET <target> |
SOURCE <source> |
TEST <test> |
CACHE <entry> |
VARIABLE>
PROPERTY <name>
[SET | DEFINED | BRIEF_DOCS | FULL_DOCS])
Get one property from one object in a scope. The first
argument specifies the variable in which to store the
result. The second argument determines the scope from
which to get the property. It must be one of the fol-
lowing:
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
GLOBAL scope is unique and does not accept a name.
DIRECTORY scope defaults to the current directory but
another directory (already processed by CMake) may be
named by full or relative path.
TARGET scope must name one existing target.
SOURCE scope must name one source file.
TEST scope must name one existing test.
CACHE scope must name one cache entry.
VARIABLE scope is unique and does not accept a name.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by
the name of the property to get. If the property is
not set an empty value is returned. If the SET option
is given the variable is set to a boolean value indi-
cating whether the property has been set. If the
DEFINED option is given the variable is set to a
boolean value indicating whether the property has been
defined such as with define_property. If BRIEF_DOCS or
FULL_DOCS is given then the variable is set to a string
containing documentation for the requested property.
If documentation is requested for a property that has
not been defined NOTFOUND is returned.
get_source_file_property
Get a property for a source file.
get_source_file_property(VAR file property)
Get a property from a source file. The value of the
property is stored in the variable VAR. If the prop-
erty is not found, VAR will be set to "NOTFOUND". Use
set_source_files_properties to set property values.
Source file properties usually control how the file is
built. One property that is always there is LOCATION
See also the more general get_property() command.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 48
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
get_target_property
Get a property from a target.
get_target_property(VAR target property)
Get a property from a target. The value of the prop-
erty is stored in the variable VAR. If the property is
not found, VAR will be set to "NOTFOUND". Use set_tar-
get_properties to set property values. Properties are
usually used to control how a target is built, but some
query the target instead. This command can get proper-
ties for any target so far created. The targets do not
need to be in the current CMakeLists.txt file.
See also the more general get_property() command.
get_test_property
Get a property of the test.
get_test_property(test property VAR)
Get a property from the Test. The value of the prop-
erty is stored in the variable VAR. If the property is
not found, VAR will be set to "NOTFOUND". For a list of
standard properties you can type cmake --help-prop-
erty-list
See also the more general get_property() command.
if Conditionally execute a group of commands.
if(expression)
# then section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
elseif(expression2)
# elseif section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
else(expression)
# else section.
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endif(expression)
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 49
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
Evaluates the given expression. If the result is true,
the commands in the THEN section are invoked. Other-
wise, the commands in the else section are invoked.
The elseif and else sections are optional. You may have
multiple elseif clauses. Note that the expression in
the else and endif clause is optional. Long expressions
can be used and there is a traditional order of prece-
dence. Parenthetical expressions are evaluated first
followed by unary operators such as EXISTS, COMMAND,
and DEFINED. Then any EQUAL, LESS, GREATER, STRLESS,
STRGREATER, STREQUAL, MATCHES will be evaluated. Then
NOT operators and finally AND, OR operators will be
evaluated. Possible expressions are:
if(<constant>)
True if the constant is 1, ON, YES, TRUE, Y, or a
non-zero number. False if the constant is 0, OFF, NO,
FALSE, N, IGNORE, "", or ends in the suffix '-NOT-
FOUND'. Named boolean constants are case-insensitive.
If the argument is not one of these constants, it is
treated as a variable:
if(<variable>)
True if the variable is defined to a value that is not
a false constant. False otherwise.
if(NOT <expression>)
True if the expression is not true.
if(<expr1> AND <expr2>)
True if both expressions would be considered true indi-
vidually.
if(<expr1> OR <expr2>)
True if either expression would be considered true
individually.
if(COMMAND command-name)
True if the given name is a command, macro or function
that can be invoked.
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
if(POLICY policy-id)
True if the given name is an existing policy (of the
form CMP<NNNN>).
if(TARGET target-name)
True if the given name is an existing target, built or
imported.
if(EXISTS file-name)
if(EXISTS directory-name)
True if the named file or directory exists. Behavior
is well-defined only for full paths.
if(file1 IS_NEWER_THAN file2)
True if file1 is newer than file2 or if one of the two
files doesn't exist. Behavior is well-defined only for
full paths.
if(IS_DIRECTORY directory-name)
True if the given name is a directory. Behavior is
well-defined only for full paths.
if(IS_SYMLINK file-name)
True if the given name is a symbolic link. Behavior is
well-defined only for full paths.
if(IS_ABSOLUTE path)
True if the given path is an absolute path.
if(<variable|string> MATCHES regex)
True if the given string or variable's value matches
the given regular expression.
if(<variable|string> LESS <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> GREATER <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> EQUAL <variable|string>)
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True if the given string or variable's value is a valid
number and the inequality or equality is true.
if(<variable|string> STRLESS <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> STRGREATER <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> STREQUAL <variable|string>)
True if the given string or variable's value is lexico-
graphically less (or greater, or equal) than the string
or variable on the right.
if(<variable|string> VERSION_LESS <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> VERSION_EQUAL <variable|string>)
if(<variable|string> VERSION_GREATER <variable|string>)
Component-wise integer version number comparison (ver-
sion format is major[.minor[.patch[.tweak]]]).
if(DEFINED <variable>)
True if the given variable is defined. It does not mat-
ter if the variable is true or false just if it has
been set.
if((expression) AND (expression OR (expression)))
The expressions inside the parenthesis are evaluated
first and then the remaining expression is evaluated as
in the previous examples. Where there are nested paren-
thesis the innermost are evaluated as part of evaluat-
ing the expression that contains them.
The if command was written very early in CMake's his-
tory, predating the ${} variable evaluation syntax, and
for convenience evaluates variables named by its argu-
ments as shown in the above signatures. Note that nor-
mal variable evaluation with ${} applies before the if
command even receives the arguments. Therefore code
like
set(var1 OFF)
set(var2 "var1")
if(${var2})
appears to the if command as
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
if(var1)
and is evaluated according to the if(<variable>) case
documented above. The result is OFF which is false.
However, if we remove the ${} from the example then the
command sees
if(var2)
which is true because var2 is defined to "var1" which
is not a false constant.
Automatic evaluation applies in the other cases when-
ever the above-documented signature accepts <vari-
able|string>:
1) The left hand argument to MATCHES is first checked
to see if it is a defined variable, if so the vari-
able's value is used, otherwise the original value is
used.
2) If the left hand argument to MATCHES is missing it
returns false without error
3) Both left and right hand arguments to LESS GREATER
EQUAL are independently tested to see if they are
defined variables, if so their defined values are used
otherwise the original value is used.
4) Both left and right hand arguments to STRLESS STRE-
QUAL STRGREATER are independently tested to see if they
are defined variables, if so their defined values are
used otherwise the original value is used.
5) Both left and right hand argumemnts to VERSION_LESS
VERSION_EQUAL VERSION_GREATER are independently tested
to see if they are defined variables, if so their
defined values are used otherwise the original value is
used.
6) The right hand argument to NOT is tested to see if
it is a boolean constant, if so the value is used, oth-
erwise it is assumed to be a variable and it is deref-
erenced.
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
7) The left and right hand arguments to AND OR are
independently tested to see if they are boolean con-
stants, if so they are used as such, otherwise they are
assumed to be variables and are dereferenced.
include
Read CMake listfile code from the given file.
include(<file|module> [OPTIONAL] [RESULT_VARIABLE <VAR>]
[NO_POLICY_SCOPE])
Reads CMake listfile code from the given file. Com-
mands in the file are processed immediately as if they
were written in place of the include command. If
OPTIONAL is present, then no error is raised if the
file does not exist. If RESULT_VARIABLE is given the
variable will be set to the full filename which has
been included or NOTFOUND if it failed.
If a module is specified instead of a file, the file
with name <modulename>.cmake is searched first in
CMAKE_MODULE_PATH, then in the CMake module directory.
There is one exception to this: if the file which calls
include() is located itself in the CMake module direc-
tory, then first the CMake module directory is searched
and CMAKE_MODULE_PATH afterwards. See also policy
CMP0017.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for dis-
cussion of the NO_POLICY_SCOPE option.
include_directories
Add include directories to the build.
include_directories([AFTER|BEFORE] [SYSTEM] dir1 dir2 ...)
Add the given directories to those searched by the com-
piler for include files. By default the directories are
appended onto the current list of directories. This
default behavior can be changed by setting
CMAKE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES_BEFORE to ON. By using BEFORE
or AFTER you can select between appending and prepend-
ing, independent from the default. If the SYSTEM option
is given the compiler will be told that the directories
are meant as system include directories on some plat-
forms.
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
include_external_msproject
Include an external Microsoft project file in a
workspace.
include_external_msproject(projectname location
dep1 dep2 ...)
Includes an external Microsoft project in the generated
workspace file. Currently does nothing on UNIX. This
will create a target named [projectname]. This can be
used in the add_dependencies command to make things
depend on the external project.
include_regular_expression
Set the regular expression used for dependency check-
ing.
include_regular_expression(regex_match [regex_complain])
Set the regular expressions used in dependency check-
ing. Only files matching regex_match will be traced as
dependencies. Only files matching regex_complain will
generate warnings if they cannot be found (standard
header paths are not searched). The defaults are:
regex_match = "^.*$" (match everything)
regex_complain = "^$" (match empty string only)
install
Specify rules to run at install time.
This command generates installation rules for a
project. Rules specified by calls to this command
within a source directory are executed in order during
installation. The order across directories is not
defined.
There are multiple signatures for this command. Some
of them define installation properties for files and
targets. Properties common to multiple signatures are
covered here but they are valid only for signatures
that specify them.
DESTINATION arguments specify the directory on disk to
which a file will be installed. If a full path (with a
leading slash or drive letter) is given it is used
directly. If a relative path is given it is
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 55
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
interpreted relative to the value of CMAKE_INSTALL_PRE-
FIX.
PERMISSIONS arguments specify permissions for installed
files. Valid permissions are OWNER_READ, OWNER_WRITE,
OWNER_EXECUTE, GROUP_READ, GROUP_WRITE, GROUP_EXECUTE,
WORLD_READ, WORLD_WRITE, WORLD_EXECUTE, SETUID, and
SETGID. Permissions that do not make sense on certain
platforms are ignored on those platforms.
The CONFIGURATIONS argument specifies a list of build
configurations for which the install rule applies
(Debug, Release, etc.).
The COMPONENT argument specifies an installation compo-
nent name with which the install rule is associated,
such as "runtime" or "development". During compo-
nent-specific installation only install rules associ-
ated with the given component name will be executed.
During a full installation all components are
installed.
The RENAME argument specifies a name for an installed
file that may be different from the original file.
Renaming is allowed only when a single file is
installed by the command.
The OPTIONAL argument specifies that it is not an error
if the file to be installed does not exist.
The TARGETS signature:
install(TARGETS targets... [EXPORT <export-name>]
[[ARCHIVE|LIBRARY|RUNTIME|FRAMEWORK|BUNDLE|
PRIVATE_HEADER|PUBLIC_HEADER|RESOURCE]
[DESTINATION <dir>]
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[OPTIONAL] [NAMELINK_ONLY|NAMELINK_SKIP]
] [...])
The TARGETS form specifies rules for installing targets
from a project. There are five kinds of target files
that may be installed: ARCHIVE, LIBRARY, RUNTIME,
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
FRAMEWORK, and BUNDLE. Executables are treated as RUN-
TIME targets, except that those marked with the
MACOSX_BUNDLE property are treated as BUNDLE targets on
OS X. Static libraries are always treated as ARCHIVE
targets. Module libraries are always treated as LIBRARY
targets. For non-DLL platforms shared libraries are
treated as LIBRARY targets, except that those marked
with the FRAMEWORK property are treated as FRAMEWORK
targets on OS X. For DLL platforms the DLL part of a
shared library is treated as a RUNTIME target and the
corresponding import library is treated as an ARCHIVE
target. All Windows-based systems including Cygwin are
DLL platforms. The ARCHIVE, LIBRARY, RUNTIME, and
FRAMEWORK arguments change the type of target to which
the subsequent properties apply. If none is given the
installation properties apply to all target types. If
only one is given then only targets of that type will
be installed (which can be used to install just a DLL
or just an import library).
The PRIVATE_HEADER, PUBLIC_HEADER, and RESOURCE argu-
ments cause subsequent properties to be applied to
installing a FRAMEWORK shared library target's associ-
ated files on non-Apple platforms. Rules defined by
these arguments are ignored on Apple platforms because
the associated files are installed into the appropriate
locations inside the framework folder. See documenta-
tion of the PRIVATE_HEADER, PUBLIC_HEADER, and RESOURCE
target properties for details.
Either NAMELINK_ONLY or NAMELINK_SKIP may be specified
as a LIBRARY option. On some platforms a versioned
shared library has a symbolic link such as
lib<name>.so -> lib<name>.so.1
where "lib<name>.so.1" is the soname of the library and
"lib<name>.so" is a "namelink" allowing linkers to find
the library when given "-l<name>". The NAMELINK_ONLY
option causes installation of only the namelink when a
library target is installed. The NAMELINK_SKIP option
causes installation of library files other than the
namelink when a library target is installed. When nei-
ther option is given both portions are installed. On
platforms where versioned shared libraries do not have
namelinks or when a library is not versioned the
NAMELINK_SKIP option installs the library and the
NAMELINK_ONLY option installs nothing. See the VERSION
and SOVERSION target properties for details on creating
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 57
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
versioned shared libraries.
One or more groups of properties may be specified in a
single call to the TARGETS form of this command. A
target may be installed more than once to different
locations. Consider hypothetical targets "myExe",
"mySharedLib", and "myStaticLib". The code
install(TARGETS myExe mySharedLib myStaticLib
RUNTIME DESTINATION bin
LIBRARY DESTINATION lib
ARCHIVE DESTINATION lib/static)
install(TARGETS mySharedLib DESTINATION /some/full/path)
will install myExe to <prefix>/bin and myStaticLib to
<prefix>/lib/static. On non-DLL platforms mySharedLib
will be installed to <prefix>/lib and /some/full/path.
On DLL platforms the mySharedLib DLL will be installed
to <prefix>/bin and /some/full/path and its import
library will be installed to <prefix>/lib/static and
/some/full/path. On non-DLL platforms mySharedLib will
be installed to <prefix>/lib and /some/full/path.
The EXPORT option associates the installed target files
with an export called <export-name>. It must appear
before any RUNTIME, LIBRARY, or ARCHIVE options. To
actually install the export file itself, call
install(EXPORT). See documentation of the
install(EXPORT ...) signature below for details.
Installing a target with EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL set to true
has undefined behavior.
The FILES signature:
install(FILES files... DESTINATION <dir>
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[RENAME <name>] [OPTIONAL])
The FILES form specifies rules for installing files for
a project. File names given as relative paths are
interpreted with respect to the current source direc-
tory. Files installed by this form are by default
given permissions OWNER_WRITE, OWNER_READ, GROUP_READ,
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
and WORLD_READ if no PERMISSIONS argument is given.
The PROGRAMS signature:
install(PROGRAMS files... DESTINATION <dir>
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>]
[RENAME <name>] [OPTIONAL])
The PROGRAMS form is identical to the FILES form except
that the default permissions for the installed file
also include OWNER_EXECUTE, GROUP_EXECUTE, and
WORLD_EXECUTE. This form is intended to install pro-
grams that are not targets, such as shell scripts. Use
the TARGETS form to install targets built within the
project.
The DIRECTORY signature:
install(DIRECTORY dirs... DESTINATION <dir>
[FILE_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS] [OPTIONAL]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>] [FILES_MATCHING]
[[PATTERN <pattern> | REGEX <regex>]
[EXCLUDE] [PERMISSIONS permissions...]] [...])
The DIRECTORY form installs contents of one or more
directories to a given destination. The directory
structure is copied verbatim to the destination. The
last component of each directory name is appended to
the destination directory but a trailing slash may be
used to avoid this because it leaves the last component
empty. Directory names given as relative paths are
interpreted with respect to the current source direc-
tory. If no input directory names are given the desti-
nation directory will be created but nothing will be
installed into it. The FILE_PERMISSIONS and DIREC-
TORY_PERMISSIONS options specify permissions given to
files and directories in the destination. If
USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS is specified and FILE_PERMIS-
SIONS is not, file permissions will be copied from the
source directory structure. If no permissions are
specified files will be given the default permissions
specified in the FILES form of the command, and the
directories will be given the default permissions
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 59
User Commands cmakecommands(1)
specified in the PROGRAMS form of the command.
Installation of directories may be controlled with fine
granularity using the PATTERN or REGEX options. These
"match" options specify a globbing pattern or regular
expression to match directories or files encountered
within input directories. They may be used to apply
certain options (see below) to a subset of the files
and directories encountered. The full path to each
input file or directory (with forward slashes) is
matched against the expression. A PATTERN will match
only complete file names: the portion of the full path
matching the pattern must occur at the end of the file
name and be preceded by a slash. A REGEX will match
any portion of the full path but it may use '/' and '$'
to simulate the PATTERN behavior. By default all files
and directories are installed whether or not they are
matched. The FILES_MATCHING option may be given before
the first match option to disable installation of files
(but not directories) not matched by any expression.
For example, the code
install(DIRECTORY src/ DESTINATION include/myproj
FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.h")
will extract and install header files from a source
tree.
Some options may follow a PATTERN or REGEX expression
and are applied only to files or directories matching
them. The EXCLUDE option will skip the matched file or
directory. The PERMISSIONS option overrides the per-
missions setting for the matched file or directory.
For example the code
install(DIRECTORY icons scripts/ DESTINATION share/myproj
PATTERN "CVS" EXCLUDE
PATTERN "scripts/*"
PERMISSIONS OWNER_EXECUTE OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ
GROUP_EXECUTE GROUP_READ)
will install the icons directory to share/myproj/icons
and the scripts directory to share/myproj. The icons
will get default file permissions, the scripts will be
given specific permissions, and any CVS directories
will be excluded.
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
The SCRIPT and CODE signature:
install([[SCRIPT <file>] [CODE <code>]] [...])
The SCRIPT form will invoke the given CMake script
files during installation. If the script file name is
a relative path it will be interpreted with respect to
the current source directory. The CODE form will
invoke the given CMake code during installation. Code
is specified as a single argument inside a dou-
ble-quoted string. For example, the code
install(CODE "MESSAGE(\"Sample install message.\")")
will print a message during installation.
The EXPORT signature:
install(EXPORT <export-name> DESTINATION <dir>
[NAMESPACE <namespace>] [FILE <name>.cmake]
[PERMISSIONS permissions...]
[CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
[COMPONENT <component>])
The EXPORT form generates and installs a CMake file
containing code to import targets from the installation
tree into another project. Target installations are
associated with the export <export-name> using the
EXPORT option of the install(TARGETS ...) signature
documented above. The NAMESPACE option will prepend
<namespace> to the target names as they are written to
the import file. By default the generated file will be
called <export-name>.cmake but the FILE option may be
used to specify a different name. The value given to
the FILE option must be a file name with the ".cmake"
extension. If a CONFIGURATIONS option is given then
the file will only be installed when one of the named
configurations is installed. Additionally, the gener-
ated import file will reference only the matching tar-
get configurations. If a COMPONENT option is specified
that does not match that given to the targets associ-
ated with <export-name> the behavior is undefined. If
a library target is included in the export but a target
to which it links is not included the behavior is
unspecified.
The EXPORT form is useful to help outside projects use
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
targets built and installed by the current project.
For example, the code
install(TARGETS myexe EXPORT myproj DESTINATION bin)
install(EXPORT myproj NAMESPACE mp_ DESTINATION lib/myproj)
will install the executable myexe to <prefix>/bin and
code to import it in the file "<pre-
fix>/lib/myproj/myproj.cmake". An outside project may
load this file with the include command and reference
the myexe executable from the installation tree using
the imported target name mp_myexe as if the target were
built in its own tree.
NOTE: This command supercedes the INSTALL_TARGETS com-
mand and the target properties PRE_INSTALL_SCRIPT and
POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT. It also replaces the FILES forms
of the INSTALL_FILES and INSTALL_PROGRAMS commands.
The processing order of these install rules relative to
those generated by INSTALL_TARGETS, INSTALL_FILES, and
INSTALL_PROGRAMS commands is not defined.
link_directories
Specify directories in which the linker will look for
libraries.
link_directories(directory1 directory2 ...)
Specify the paths in which the linker should search for
libraries. The command will apply only to targets cre-
ated after it is called. For historical reasons, rela-
tive paths given to this command are passed to the
linker unchanged (unlike many CMake commands which
interpret them relative to the current source direc-
tory).
list List operations.
list(LENGTH <list> <output variable>)
list(GET <list> <element index> [<element index> ...]
<output variable>)
list(APPEND <list> <element> [<element> ...])
list(FIND <list> <value> <output variable>)
list(INSERT <list> <element_index> <element> [<element> ...])
list(REMOVE_ITEM <list> <value> [<value> ...])
list(REMOVE_AT <list> <index> [<index> ...])
list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES <list>)
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
list(REVERSE <list>)
list(SORT <list>)
LENGTH will return a given list's length.
GET will return list of elements specified by indices
from the list.
APPEND will append elements to the list.
FIND will return the index of the element specified in
the list or -1 if it wasn't found.
INSERT will insert elements to the list to the speci-
fied location.
REMOVE_AT and REMOVE_ITEM will remove items from the
list. The difference is that REMOVE_ITEM will remove
the given items, while REMOVE_AT will remove the items
at the given indices.
REMOVE_DUPLICATES will remove duplicated items in the
list.
REVERSE reverses the contents of the list in-place.
SORT sorts the list in-place alphabetically.
The list subcommands APPEND, INSERT, REMOVE_AT,
REMOVE_ITEM, REMOVE_DUPLICATES, REVERSE and SORT may
create new values for the list within the current CMake
variable scope. Similar to the SET command, the LIST
command creates new variable values in the current
scope, even if the list itself is actually defined in a
parent scope. To propagate the results of these opera-
tions upwards, use SET with PARENT_SCOPE, SET with
CACHE INTERNAL, or some other means of value propaga-
tion.
NOTES: A list in cmake is a ; separated group of
strings. To create a list the set command can be used.
For example, set(var a b c d e) creates a list with
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a;b;c;d;e, and set(var "a b c d e") creates a string or
a list with one item in it.
When specifying index values, if <element index> is 0
or greater, it is indexed from the beginning of the
list, with 0 representing the first list element. If
<element index> is -1 or lesser, it is indexed from the
end of the list, with -1 representing the last list
element. Be careful when counting with negative
indices: they do not start from 0. -0 is equivalent to
0, the first list element.
load_cache
Load in the values from another project's CMake cache.
load_cache(pathToCacheFile READ_WITH_PREFIX
prefix entry1...)
Read the cache and store the requested entries in vari-
ables with their name prefixed with the given prefix.
This only reads the values, and does not create entries
in the local project's cache.
load_cache(pathToCacheFile [EXCLUDE entry1...]
[INCLUDE_INTERNALS entry1...])
Load in the values from another cache and store them in
the local project's cache as internal entries. This is
useful for a project that depends on another project
built in a different tree. EXCLUDE option can be used
to provide a list of entries to be excluded.
INCLUDE_INTERNALS can be used to provide a list of
internal entries to be included. Normally, no internal
entries are brought in. Use of this form of the com-
mand is strongly discouraged, but it is provided for
backward compatibility.
load_command
Load a command into a running CMake.
load_command(COMMAND_NAME <loc1> [loc2 ...])
The given locations are searched for a library whose
name is cmCOMMAND_NAME. If found, it is loaded as a
module and the command is added to the set of available
CMake commands. Usually, TRY_COMPILE is used before
this command to compile the module. If the command is
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successfully loaded a variable named
CMAKE_LOADED_COMMAND_<COMMAND_NAME>
will be set to the full path of the module that was
loaded. Otherwise the variable will not be set.
macro
Start recording a macro for later invocation as a com-
mand.
macro(<name> [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ...]]])
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endmacro(<name>)
Define a macro named <name> that takes arguments named
arg1 arg2 arg3 (...). Commands listed after macro, but
before the matching endmacro, are not invoked until the
macro is invoked. When it is invoked, the commands
recorded in the macro are first modified by replacing
formal parameters (${arg1}) with the arguments passed,
and then invoked as normal commands. In addition to
referencing the formal parameters you can reference the
values ${ARGC} which will be set to the number of argu-
ments passed into the function as well as ${ARGV0}
${ARGV1} ${ARGV2} ... which will have the actual values
of the arguments passed in. This facilitates creating
macros with optional arguments. Additionally ${ARGV}
holds the list of all arguments given to the macro and
${ARGN} holds the list of argument past the last
expected argument. Note that the parameters to a macro
and values such as ARGN are not variables in the usual
CMake sense. They are string replacements much like the
c preprocessor would do with a macro. If you want true
CMake variables you should look at the function com-
mand.
See the cmake_policy() command documentation for the
behavior of policies inside macros.
mark_as_advanced
Mark cmake cached variables as advanced.
mark_as_advanced([CLEAR|FORCE] VAR VAR2 VAR...)
Mark the named cached variables as advanced. An
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advanced variable will not be displayed in any of the
cmake GUIs unless the show advanced option is on. If
CLEAR is the first argument advanced variables are
changed back to unadvanced. If FORCE is the first
argument, then the variable is made advanced. If nei-
ther FORCE nor CLEAR is specified, new values will be
marked as advanced, but if the variable already has an
advanced/non-advanced state, it will not be changed.
It does nothing in script mode.
math Mathematical expressions.
math(EXPR <output variable> <math expression>)
EXPR evaluates mathematical expression and return
result in the output variable. Example mathematical
expression is '5 * ( 10 + 13 )'. Supported operators
are + - * / % | & ^ ~ << >> * / %. They have the same
meaning as they do in c code.
message
Display a message to the user.
message([STATUS|WARNING|AUTHOR_WARNING|FATAL_ERROR|SEND_ERROR]
"message to display" ...)
The optional keyword determines the type of message:
(none) = Important information
STATUS = Incidental information
WARNING = CMake Warning, continue processing
AUTHOR_WARNING = CMake Warning (dev), continue processing
SEND_ERROR = CMake Error, continue but skip generation
FATAL_ERROR = CMake Error, stop all processing
The CMake command-line tool displays STATUS messages on
stdout and all other message types on stderr. The
CMake GUI displays all messages in its log area. The
interactive dialogs (ccmake and CMakeSetup) show STATUS
messages one at a time on a status line and other mes-
sages in interactive pop-up boxes.
CMake Warning and Error message text displays using a
simple markup language. Non-indented text is formatted
in line-wrapped paragraphs delimited by newlines.
Indented text is considered pre-formatted.
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option
Provides an option that the user can optionally select.
option(<option_variable> "help string describing option"
[initial value])
Provide an option for the user to select as ON or OFF.
If no initial value is provided, OFF is used.
If you have options that depend on the values of other
options, see the module help for CMakeDependentOption.
project
Set a name for the entire project.
project(<projectname> [languageName1 languageName2 ... ] )
Sets the name of the project. Additionally this sets
the variables <projectName>_BINARY_DIR and <project-
Name>_SOURCE_DIR to the respective values.
Optionally you can specify which languages your project
supports. Example languages are CXX (i.e. C++), C,
Fortran, etc. By default C and CXX are enabled. E.g.
if you do not have a C++ compiler, you can disable the
check for it by explicitly listing the languages you
want to support, e.g. C. By using the special language
"NONE" all checks for any language can be disabled.
qt_wrap_cpp
Create Qt Wrappers.
qt_wrap_cpp(resultingLibraryName DestName
SourceLists ...)
Produce moc files for all the .h files listed in the
SourceLists. The moc files will be added to the
library using the DestName source list.
qt_wrap_ui
Create Qt user interfaces Wrappers.
qt_wrap_ui(resultingLibraryName HeadersDestName
SourcesDestName SourceLists ...)
Produce .h and .cxx files for all the .ui files listed
in the SourceLists. The .h files will be added to the
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library using the HeadersDestNamesource list. The .cxx
files will be added to the library using the Sources-
DestNamesource list.
remove_definitions
Removes -D define flags added by add_definitions.
remove_definitions(-DFOO -DBAR ...)
Removes flags (added by add_definitions) from the com-
piler command line for sources in the current directory
and below.
return
Return from a file, directory or function.
return()
Returns from a file, directory or function. When this
command is encountered in an included file (via
include() or find_package()), it causes processing of
the current file to stop and control is returned to the
including file. If it is encountered in a file which is
not included by another file, e.g. a CMakeLists.txt,
control is returned to the parent directory if there is
one. If return is called in a function, control is
returned to the caller of the function. Note that a
macro is not a function and does not handle return like
a function does.
separate_arguments
Parse space-separated arguments into a semicolon-sepa-
rated list.
separate_arguments(<var> <UNIX|WINDOWS>_COMMAND "<args>")
Parses a unix- or windows-style command-line string
"<args>" and stores a semicolon-separated list of the
arguments in <var>. The entire command line must be
given in one "<args>" argument.
The UNIX_COMMAND mode separates arguments by unquoted
whitespace. It recognizes both single-quote and dou-
ble-quote pairs. A backslash escapes the next literal
character (\" is "); there are no special escapes (\n
is just n).
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The WINDOWS_COMMAND mode parses a windows command-line
using the same syntax the runtime library uses to con-
struct argv at startup. It separates arguments by
whitespace that is not double-quoted. Backslashes are
literal unless they precede double-quotes. See the
MSDN article "Parsing C Command-Line Arguments" for
details.
separate_arguments(VARIABLE)
Convert the value of VARIABLE to a semi-colon separated
list. All spaces are replaced with ';'. This helps
with generating command lines.
set Set a CMAKE variable to a given value.
set(<variable> <value>
[[CACHE <type> <docstring> [FORCE]] | PARENT_SCOPE])
Within CMake sets <variable> to the value <value>.
<value> is expanded before <variable> is set to it.
If CACHE is present, then the <variable> is put in the
cache. <type> and <docstring> are then required. <type>
is used by the CMake GUI to choose a widget with which
the user sets a value. The value for <type> may be one
of
FILEPATH = File chooser dialog.
PATH = Directory chooser dialog.
STRING = Arbitrary string.
BOOL = Boolean ON/OFF checkbox.
INTERNAL = No GUI entry (used for persistent variables).
If <type> is INTERNAL, then the <value> is always writ-
ten into the cache, replacing any values existing in
the cache. If it is not a cache variable, then this
always writes into the current makefile. The FORCE
option will overwrite the cache value removing any
changes by the user.
If PARENT_SCOPE is present, the variable will be set in
the scope above the current scope. Each new directory
or function creates a new scope. This command will set
the value of a variable into the parent directory or
calling function (whichever is applicable to the case
at hand).
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If <value> is not specified then the variable is
removed instead of set. See also: the unset() command.
set(<variable> <value1> ... <valueN>)
In this case <variable> is set to a semicolon separated
list of values.
<variable> can be an environment variable such as:
set( ENV{PATH} /home/martink )
in which case the environment variable will be set.
set_directory_properties
Set a property of the directory.
set_directory_properties(PROPERTIES prop1 value1 prop2 value2)
Set a property for the current directory and subdirec-
tories. If the property is not found, CMake will report
an error. The properties include: INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES,
LINK_DIRECTORIES, INCLUDE_REGULAR_EXPRESSION, and ADDI-
TIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES. ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES is
a list of files that will be cleaned as a part of "make
clean" stage.
set_property
Set a named property in a given scope.
set_property(<GLOBAL |
DIRECTORY [dir] |
TARGET [target1 [target2 ...]] |
SOURCE [src1 [src2 ...]] |
TEST [test1 [test2 ...]] |
CACHE [entry1 [entry2 ...]]>
[APPEND] [APPEND_STRING]
PROPERTY <name> [value1 [value2 ...]])
Set one property on zero or more objects of a scope.
The first argument determines the scope in which the
property is set. It must be one of the following:
GLOBAL scope is unique and does not accept a name.
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DIRECTORY scope defaults to the current directory but
another directory (already processed by CMake) may be
named by full or relative path.
TARGET scope may name zero or more existing targets.
SOURCE scope may name zero or more source files. Note
that source file properties are visible only to targets
added in the same directory (CMakeLists.txt).
TEST scope may name zero or more existing tests.
CACHE scope must name zero or more cache existing
entries.
The required PROPERTY option is immediately followed by
the name of the property to set. Remaining arguments
are used to compose the property value in the form of a
semicolon-separated list. If the APPEND option is
given the list is appended to any existing property
value.If the APPEND_STRING option is given the string
is append to any existing property value as string,
i.e. it results in a longer string and not a list of
strings.
set_source_files_properties
Source files can have properties that affect how they
are built.
set_source_files_properties([file1 [file2 [...]]]
PROPERTIES prop1 value1
[prop2 value2 [...]])
Set properties associated with source files using a
key/value paired list. See properties documentation
for those known to CMake. Unrecognized properties are
ignored. Source file properties are visible only to
targets added in the same directory (CMakeLists.txt).
set_target_properties
Targets can have properties that affect how they are
built.
set_target_properties(target1 target2 ...
PROPERTIES prop1 value1
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prop2 value2 ...)
Set properties on a target. The syntax for the command
is to list all the files you want to change, and then
provide the values you want to set next. You can use
any prop value pair you want and extract it later with
the GET_TARGET_PROPERTY command.
Properties that affect the name of a target's output
file are as follows. The PREFIX and SUFFIX properties
override the default target name prefix (such as "lib")
and suffix (such as ".so"). IMPORT_PREFIX and
IMPORT_SUFFIX are the equivalent properties for the
import library corresponding to a DLL (for SHARED
library targets). OUTPUT_NAME sets the real name of a
target when it is built and can be used to help create
two targets of the same name even though CMake requires
unique logical target names. There is also a <CON-
FIG>_OUTPUT_NAME that can set the output name on a
per-configuration basis. <CONFIG>_POSTFIX sets a post-
fix for the real name of the target when it is built
under the configuration named by <CONFIG> (in
upper-case, such as "DEBUG_POSTFIX"). The value of
this property is initialized when the target is created
to the value of the variable CMAKE_<CONFIG>_POSTFIX
(except for executable targets because earlier CMake
versions which did not use this variable for executa-
bles).
The LINK_FLAGS property can be used to add extra flags
to the link step of a target. LINK_FLAGS_<CONFIG> will
add to the configuration <CONFIG>, for example, DEBUG,
RELEASE, MINSIZEREL, RELWITHDEBINFO. DEFINE_SYMBOL sets
the name of the preprocessor symbol defined when com-
piling 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 identi-
fier). This is useful for headers to know whether they
are being included from inside their library or outside
to properly setup dllexport/dllimport decorations. The
COMPILE_FLAGS property sets additional compiler flags
used to build sources within the target. It may also
be used to pass additional preprocessor definitions.
The LINKER_LANGUAGE property is used to change the tool
used to link an executable or shared library. The
default is set the language to match the files in the
library. CXX and C are common values for this property.
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For shared libraries VERSION and SOVERSION can be used
to specify the build version and api version respec-
tively. When building or installing appropriate sym-
links are created if the platform supports symlinks and
the linker supports so-names. If only one of both is
specified the missing is assumed to have the same ver-
sion number. For executables VERSION can be used to
specify the build version. When building or installing
appropriate symlinks are created if the platform sup-
ports symlinks. For shared libraries and executables on
Windows the VERSION attribute is parsed to extract a
"major.minor" version number. These numbers are used as
the image version of the binary.
There are a few properties used to specify RPATH rules.
INSTALL_RPATH is a semicolon-separated list specifying
the rpath to use in installed targets (for platforms
that support it). INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH is a
boolean that if set to true will append directories in
the linker search path and outside the project to the
INSTALL_RPATH. SKIP_BUILD_RPATH is a boolean specifying
whether to skip automatic generation of an rpath allow-
ing the target to run from the build tree.
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. INSTALL_NAME_DIR is a string
specifying the directory portion of the "install_name"
field of shared libraries on Mac OSX to use in the
installed targets. When the target is created the val-
ues of the variables CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH,
CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH,
CMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH, CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH,
and CMAKE_INSTALL_NAME_DIR are used to initialize these
properties.
PROJECT_LABEL can be used to change the name of the
target in an IDE like visual studio. VS_KEYWORD can be
set to change the visual studio keyword, for example QT
integration works better if this is set to Qt4VSv1.0.
VS_SCC_PROJECTNAME, VS_SCC_LOCALPATH, VS_SCC_PROVIDER
can be set to add support for source control bindings
in a Visual Studio project file.
VS_GLOBAL_<variable> can be set to add a Visual Studio
project-specific global variable. Qt integration works
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
better if VS_GLOBAL_QtVersion is set to the Qt version
FindQt4.cmake found. For example, "4.7.3"
The PRE_INSTALL_SCRIPT and POST_INSTALL_SCRIPT proper-
ties 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.
The EXCLUDE_FROM_DEFAULT_BUILD property is used by the
visual studio generators. If it is set to 1 the target
will not be part of the default build when you select
"Build Solution".
set_tests_properties
Set a property of the tests.
set_tests_properties(test1 [test2...] PROPERTIES prop1 value1 prop2 value2)
Set a property for the tests. If the property is not
found, CMake will report an error. The properties
include:
WILL_FAIL: If set to true, this will invert the
pass/fail flag of the test.
PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION: 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: PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "TestPassed;All ok"
FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRESSION: If set, if the output will
match to one of specified regular expressions, the test
will fail.
Example: PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "[^a-z]Error;ERROR;Failed"
Both PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION and FAIL_REGULAR_EXPRES-
SION expect a list of regular expressions.
TIMEOUT: Setting this will limit the test runtime to
the number of seconds specified.
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
site_name
Set the given variable to the name of the computer.
site_name(variable)
source_group
Define a grouping for sources in the makefile.
source_group(name [REGULAR_EXPRESSION regex] [FILES src1 src2 ...])
Defines a group into which sources will be placed in
project files. This is mainly used to setup file tabs
in Visual Studio. Any file whose name is listed or
matches the regular expression will be placed in this
group. If a file matches multiple groups, the LAST
group that explicitly lists the file will be favored,
if any. If no group explicitly lists the file, the
LAST group whose regular expression matches the file
will be favored.
The name of the group may contain backslashes to spec-
ify subgroups:
source_group(outer\\inner ...)
For backwards compatibility, this command is also sup-
ports the format:
source_group(name regex)
string
String operations.
string(REGEX MATCH <regular_expression>
<output variable> <input> [<input>...])
string(REGEX MATCHALL <regular_expression>
<output variable> <input> [<input>...])
string(REGEX REPLACE <regular_expression>
<replace_expression> <output variable>
<input> [<input>...])
string(REPLACE <match_string>
<replace_string> <output variable>
<input> [<input>...])
string(COMPARE EQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE NOTEQUAL <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE LESS <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
string(COMPARE GREATER <string1> <string2> <output variable>)
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string(ASCII <number> [<number> ...] <output variable>)
string(CONFIGURE <string1> <output variable>
[@ONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES])
string(TOUPPER <string1> <output variable>)
string(TOLOWER <string1> <output variable>)
string(LENGTH <string> <output variable>)
string(SUBSTRING <string> <begin> <length> <output variable>)
string(STRIP <string> <output variable>)
string(RANDOM [LENGTH <length>] [ALPHABET <alphabet>]
[RANDOM_SEED <seed>] <output variable>)
string(FIND <string> <substring> <output variable> [REVERSE])
REGEX MATCH will match the regular expression once and
store the match in the output variable.
REGEX MATCHALL will match the regular expression as
many times as possible and store the matches in the
output variable as a list.
REGEX REPLACE will match the regular expression as many
times as possible and substitute the replacement
expression for the match in the output. The replace
expression may refer to paren-delimited subexpressions
of the match using \1, \2, ..., \9. Note that two
backslashes (\\1) are required in CMake code to get a
backslash through argument parsing.
REPLACE will replace all occurrences of match_string in
the input with replace_string and store the result in
the output.
COMPARE EQUAL/NOTEQUAL/LESS/GREATER will compare the
strings and store true or false in the output variable.
ASCII will convert all numbers into corresponding ASCII
characters.
CONFIGURE will transform a string like CONFIGURE_FILE
transforms a file.
TOUPPER/TOLOWER will convert string to upper/lower
characters.
LENGTH will return a given string's length.
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SUBSTRING will return a substring of a given string. If
length is -1 the remainder of the string starting at
begin will be returned.
STRIP will return a substring of a given string with
leading and trailing spaces removed.
RANDOM will return a random string of given length con-
sisting of characters from the given alphabet. Default
length is 5 characters and default alphabet is all num-
bers and upper and lower case letters. If an integer
RANDOM_SEED is given, its value will be used to seed
the random number generator.
FIND will return the position where the given substring
was found in the supplied string. If the REVERSE flag
was used, the command will search for the position of
the last occurrence of the specified substring.
The following characters have special meaning in regu-
lar expressions:
^ Matches at beginning of a line
$ Matches at end of a line
. Matches any single character
[ ] Matches any character(s) inside the brackets
[^ ] Matches any character(s) not inside the brackets
- Matches any character in range on either side of a dash
* Matches preceding pattern zero or more times
+ Matches preceding pattern one or more times
? Matches preceding pattern zero or once only
| Matches a pattern on either side of the |
() Saves a matched subexpression, which can be referenced
in the REGEX REPLACE operation. Additionally it is saved
by all regular expression-related commands, including
e.g. if( MATCHES ), in the variables CMAKE_MATCH_(0..9).
target_link_libraries
Link a target to given libraries.
target_link_libraries(<target> [item1 [item2 [...]]]
[[debug|optimized|general] <item>] ...)
Specify libraries or flags to use when linking a given
target. The named <target> must have been created in
the current directory by a command such as
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add_executable or add_library. The remaining arguments
specify library names or flags.
If a library name matches that of another target in the
project a dependency will automatically be added in the
build system to make sure the library being linked is
up-to-date before the target links. Item names start-
ing with '-', but not '-l' or '-framework', are treated
as linker flags.
A "debug", "optimized", or "general" keyword indicates
that the library immediately following it is to be used
only for the corresponding build configuration. The
"debug" keyword corresponds to the Debug configuration
(or to configurations named in the DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS
global property if it is set). The "optimized" keyword
corresponds to all other configurations. The "general"
keyword corresponds to all configurations, and is
purely optional (assumed if omitted). Higher granular-
ity may be achieved for per-configuration rules by cre-
ating and linking to IMPORTED library targets. See the
IMPORTED mode of the add_library command for more
information.
Library dependencies are transitive by default. When
this target is linked into another target then the
libraries linked to this target will appear on the link
line for the other target too. See the LINK_INTER-
FACE_LIBRARIES target property to override the set of
transitive link dependencies for a target.
target_link_libraries(<target> LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES
[[debug|optimized|general] <lib>] ...)
The LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES mode appends the libraries
to the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES and its per-configura-
tion equivalent target properties instead of using them
for linking. Libraries specified as "debug" are
appended to the the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES_DEBUG
property (or to the properties corresponding to config-
urations listed in the DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS global
property if it is set). Libraries specified as "opti-
mized" are appended to the the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES
property. Libraries specified as "general" (or without
any keyword) are treated as if specified for both
"debug" and "optimized".
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The library dependency graph is normally acyclic (a
DAG), but in the case of mutually-dependent STATIC
libraries CMake allows the graph to contain cycles
(strongly connected components). When another target
links to one of the libraries CMake repeats the entire
connected component. For example, the code
add_library(A STATIC a.c)
add_library(B STATIC b.c)
target_link_libraries(A B)
target_link_libraries(B A)
add_executable(main main.c)
target_link_libraries(main A)
links 'main' to 'A B A B'. (While one repetition is
usually sufficient, pathological object file and symbol
arrangements can require more. One may handle such
cases by manually repeating the component in the last
target_link_libraries call. However, if two archives
are really so interdependent they should probably be
combined into a single archive.)
try_compile
Try building some code.
try_compile(RESULT_VAR <bindir> <srcdir>
<projectName> [targetName] [CMAKE_FLAGS flags...]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>])
Try building a project. In this form, srcdir should
contain a complete CMake project with a CMakeLists.txt
file and all sources. The bindir and srcdir will not be
deleted after this command is run. Specify targetName
to build a specific target instead of the 'all' or
'ALL_BUILD' target.
try_compile(RESULT_VAR <bindir> <srcfile>
[CMAKE_FLAGS flags...]
[COMPILE_DEFINITIONS flags...]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>]
[COPY_FILE <fileName>])
Try building a source file into an executable. In this
form the user need only supply a source file that
defines a 'main'. CMake will create a CMakeLists.txt
file to build the source as an executable. Specify
COPY_FILE to get a copy of the linked executable at the
given fileName.
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In this version all files in bindir/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp
will be cleaned automatically. For debugging,
--debug-trycompile can be passed to cmake to avoid this
clean. However, multiple sequential try_compile opera-
tions reuse this single output directory. If you use
--debug-trycompile, you can only debug one try_compile
call at a time. The recommended procedure is to config-
ure with cmake all the way through once, then delete
the cache entry associated with the try_compile call of
interest, and then re-run cmake again with
--debug-trycompile.
Some extra flags that can be included are,
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES, LINK_DIRECTORIES, and
LINK_LIBRARIES. COMPILE_DEFINITIONS are -Ddefinition
that will be passed to the compile line. try_compile
creates a CMakeList.txt file on the fly that looks like
this:
add_definitions( <expanded COMPILE_DEFINITIONS from calling cmake>)
include_directories(${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})
link_directories(${LINK_DIRECTORIES})
add_executable(cmTryCompileExec sources)
target_link_libraries(cmTryCompileExec ${LINK_LIBRARIES})
In both versions of the command, if OUTPUT_VARIABLE is
specified, then the output from the build process is
stored in the given variable. The success or failure of
the try_compile, i.e. TRUE or FALSE respectively, is
returned in RESULT_VAR. CMAKE_FLAGS can be used to pass
-DVAR:TYPE=VALUE flags to the cmake that is run during
the build. Set variable CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION
to choose a build configuration.
try_run
Try compiling and then running some code.
try_run(RUN_RESULT_VAR COMPILE_RESULT_VAR
bindir srcfile [CMAKE_FLAGS <Flags>]
[COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <flags>]
[COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE comp]
[RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE run]
[OUTPUT_VARIABLE var]
[ARGS <arg1> <arg2>...])
Try compiling a srcfile. Return TRUE or FALSE for suc-
cess or failure in COMPILE_RESULT_VAR. Then if the
compile succeeded, run the executable and return its
exit code in RUN_RESULT_VAR. If the executable was
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built, but failed to run, then RUN_RESULT_VAR will be
set to FAILED_TO_RUN. COMPILE_OUTPUT_VARIABLE specifies
the variable where the output from the compile step
goes. RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE specifies the variable where
the output from the running executable goes.
For compatibility reasons OUTPUT_VARIABLE is still sup-
ported, which gives you the output from the compile and
run step combined.
Cross compiling issues
When cross compiling, the executable compiled in the
first step usually cannot be run on the build host.
try_run() checks the CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING variable to
detect whether CMake is in crosscompiling mode. If
that's the case, it will still try to compile the exe-
cutable, but it will not try to run the executable.
Instead it will create cache variables which must be
filled by the user or by presetting them in some CMake
script file to the values the executable would have
produced if it would have been run on its actual target
platform. These variables are RUN_RESULT_VAR (explana-
tion see above) and if RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE (or OUT-
PUT_VARIABLE) was used, an additional cache variable
RUN_RESULT_VAR__COMPILE_RESULT_VAR__TRYRUN_OUTPUT.This
is intended to hold stdout and stderr from the exe-
cutable.
In order to make cross compiling your project easier,
use try_run only if really required. If you use
try_run, use RUN_OUTPUT_VARIABLE (or OUTPUT_VARIABLE)
only if really required. Using them will require that
when crosscompiling, the cache variables will have to
be set manually to the output of the executable. You
can also "guard" the calls to try_run with
if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING) and provide an easy-to-preset
alternative for this case.
Set variable CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION to choose
a build configuration.
unset
Unset a variable, cache variable, or environment vari-
able.
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unset(<variable> [CACHE])
Removes the specified variable causing it to become
undefined. If CACHE is present then the variable is
removed from the cache instead of the current scope.
<variable> can be an environment variable such as:
unset(ENV{LD_LIBRARY_PATH})
in which case the variable will be removed from the
current environment.
variable_watch
Watch the CMake variable for change.
variable_watch(<variable name> [<command to execute>])
If the specified variable changes, the message will be
printed about the variable being changed. If the com-
mand is specified, the command will be executed. The
command will receive the following arguments: COM-
MAND(<variable> <access> <value> <current list file>
<stack>)
while
Evaluate a group of commands while a condition is true
while(condition)
COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
...
endwhile(condition)
All commands between while and the matching endwhile
are recorded without being invoked. Once the endwhile
is evaluated, the recorded list of commands is invoked
as long as the condition is true. The condition is
evaluated using the same logic as the if command.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2000-2009 Kitware, Inc., Insight Software Consor-
tium. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, are permitted provided that the
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following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copy-
right notice, this list of conditions and the following dis-
claimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials pro-
vided with the distribution.
Neither the names of Kitware, Inc., the Insight Software
Consortium, nor the names of their contributors may be used
to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CON-
TRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CON-
TRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFT-
WARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+-----------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+-----------------------+
|Availability | developer/build/cmake |
+---------------+-----------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+-----------------------+
SEE ALSO
The following resources are available to get help using
CMake:
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User Commands cmakecommands(1)
Home Page
http://www.cmake.org
The primary starting point for learning about CMake.
Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ
A Wiki is provided containing answers to frequently
asked questions.
Online Documentation
http://www.cmake.org/HTML/Documentation.html
Links to available documentation may be found on this
web page.
Mailing List
http://www.cmake.org/HTML/MailingLists.html
For help and discussion about using cmake, a mailing
list is provided at cmake@cmake.org. The list is mem-
ber-post-only but one may sign up on the CMake web
page. Please first read the full documentation at
http://www.cmake.org before posting questions to the
list.
Summary of helpful links:
Home: http://www.cmake.org
Docs: http://www.cmake.org/HTML/Documentation.html
Mail: http://www.cmake.org/HTML/MailingLists.html
FAQ: http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from
http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.8/cmake-2.8.6.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.cmake.org/.
cmake 2.8.6 Last change: June 17, 2014 84