DEV Community

Lena
Lena

Posted on

CMake cheat sheet!

#cpp #cmake

Article::Article

This is just a reminder of some commands I often use and why not share it if it can help someone.

The basics

Generate

Generate the project into path_to_build_directory (the base CMakeLists.txt must is in the current path)

cmake -B path_to_build_directory
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Build

Build the project in path_to_build_directory

cmake --build path_to_build_directory
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Test

Launch the tests with the root in path_to_build_directory

ctest --test-dir path_to_build_directory
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Common stuff

Toolchain integration 

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=path_to_the_toolchain .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Specify the generator 

# Example with Ninja
cmake -GNinja .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Override an option/variable

Now MY_VAR will have the value : ON (ON/OFF can be used for boolean value with CMake)

cmake -DMY_VAR=ON
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Vcpkg

On all example there is an env variable named VCPKG_ROOT with path where you can find vcpkg.

Simple use of vcpkg

With Powershell

The quotes are meaningful

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$env:VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

With Bash 

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Specify additionnal toolchain 

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_CHAINLOAD_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=my_path_to_my_other_toolchain .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Specify the triplet

With the triplet for emscripten

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=wasm32-emscripten .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Use Both 

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_CHAINLOAD_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=my_path_to_my_other_toolchain -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=wasm32-emscripten .
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

An example with emscripten for one of my projects 

cmake -GNinja -B em_build -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$env:HOMEPATH/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" -DVCPKG_CHAINLOAD_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$env:EMSCRIPTEN_UPSTREAM_ROOT/emscripten/cmake/Modules/Platform:Emscripten.cmake" -DEMSCRIPTEN=ON
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Article::~Article

I hope theses commands will improve your daily life with cmake, or you can just use an IDE that launch the build by just pressing ctrl+b.

Sources

Top comments (0)

Read next

ravikishan profile image

Building a URL Shortener with Rate Limiting and Redis in Go

Ravi Kishan -

niko-gus profile image

How good is Copilot in 2024

Nikolay Gushchin -

kaankaya profile image

HBO Reveals New Details About Satoshi Nakamoto's Identity?

Kaan Kaya -

andretation profile image

How do I set up a new app on Coolify?

tation -