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CMake Cookbook

By : Bast, Di Remigio

3.2 (9)

CMake Cookbook

3.2 (9)

By: Bast, Di Remigio

Overview of this book

CMake is cross-platform, open-source software for managing the build process in a portable fashion. This book features a collection of recipes and building blocks with tips and techniques for working with CMake, CTest, CPack, and CDash. CMake Cookbook includes real-world examples in the form of recipes that cover different ways to structure, configure, build, and test small- to large-scale code projects. You will learn to use CMake's command-line tools and master modern CMake practices for configuring, building, and testing binaries and libraries. With this book, you will be able to work with external libraries and structure your own projects in a modular and reusable way. You will be well-equipped to generate native build scripts for Linux, MacOS, and Windows, simplify and refactor projects using CMake, and port projects to CMake.

Preface

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Additional reading resources

Get in touch

Free Chapter

Setting up Your System

Setting up Your System

Obtaining the code

Docker image

Installing prerequisite software

Testing the recipes

Reporting problems and suggesting improvements

From a Simple Executable to Libraries

From a Simple Executable to Libraries

Introduction

Compiling a single source file into an executable

Switching generators

Building and linking static and shared libraries

Controlling compilation with conditionals

Presenting options to the user

Specifying the compiler

Switching the build type

Controlling compiler flags

Setting the standard for the language

Using control flow constructs

Detecting the Environment

Detecting the Environment

Introduction

Discovering the operating system

Dealing with platform-dependent source code

Dealing with compiler-dependent source code

Discovering the host processor architecture

Discovering the host processor instruction set

Enabling vectorization for the Eigen library

Detecting External Libraries and Programs

Detecting External Libraries and Programs

Introduction

Detecting the Python interpreter

Detecting the Python library

Detecting Python modules and packages

Detecting the BLAS and LAPACK math libraries

Detecting the OpenMP parallel environment

Detecting the MPI parallel environment

Detecting the Eigen library

Detecting the Boost libraries

Detecting external libraries: I. Using pkg-config

Detecting external libraries: II. Writing a find-module

Creating and Running Tests

Creating and Running Tests

Introduction

Creating a simple unit test

Defining a unit test using the Catch2 library

Defining a unit test and linking against Google Test

Defining a unit test and linking against Boost test

Using dynamic analysis to detect memory defects

Testing expected failures

Using timeouts for long tests

Running tests in parallel

Running a subset of tests

Using test fixtures

Configure-time and Build-time Operations

Configure-time and Build-time Operations

Introduction

Using platform-independent file operations

Running a custom command at configure time

Running a custom command at build time: I. Using add_custom_command

Running a custom command at build time: II. Using add_custom_target

Running custom commands for specific targets at build time

Probing compilation and linking

Probing compiler flags

Probing execution

Fine-tuning configuration and compilation with generator expressions

Generating Source Code

Generating Source Code

Introduction

Generating sources at configure time

Generating source code at configure time using Python

Generating source code at build time using Python

Recording the project version information for reproducibility

Recording the project version from a file

Recording the Git hash at configure time

Recording the Git hash at build time

Structuring Projects

Structuring Projects

Introduction

Code reuse with functions and macros

Splitting CMake sources into modules

Writing a function to test and set compiler flags

Defining a function or macro with named arguments

Redefining functions and macros

Deprecating functions, macros, and variables

Limiting scope with add_subdirectory

Avoiding global variables using target_sources

Organizing Fortran projects

The Superbuild Pattern

The Superbuild Pattern

Introduction

Using the superbuild pattern

Managing dependencies with a superbuild: I. The Boost libraries

Managing dependencies with a superbuild: II. The FFTW library

Managing dependencies with a superbuild: III. The Google Test framework

Managing your project as a superbuild

Mixed-language Projects

Mixed-language Projects

Introduction

Building Fortran projects that use C/C++ libraries

Building C/C++ projects that use Fortran libraries

Building C++ and Python projects using Cython

Building C++ and Python projects using Boost.Python

Building C++ and Python projects using pybind11

Mixing C, C++, Fortran, and Python using Python CFFI

Writing an Installer

Writing an Installer

Introduction

Installing your project

Generating export headers

Exporting your targets

Installing a superbuild

Packaging Projects

Packaging Projects

Introduction

Generating source and binary packages

Distributing a C++/Python project built with CMake/pybind11 via PyPI

Distributing a C/Fortran/Python project build with CMake/CFFI via PyPI

Distributing a simple project as Conda package

Distributing a project with dependencies as Conda package

Building Documentation

Building Documentation

Introduction

Building documentation using Doxygen

Building documentation using Sphinx

Combining Doxygen and Sphinx

Alternative Generators and Cross-compilation

Alternative Generators and Cross-compilation

Introduction

Building a CMake project using Visual Studio 2017

Cross-compiling a hello world example

Cross-compiling a Windows binary with OpenMP parallelization

Testing Dashboards

Testing Dashboards

Introduction

Deploying tests to the CDash dashboard

Reporting test coverage to the CDash dashboard

Using the AddressSanitizer and reporting memory defects to CDash

Using the ThreadSanitizer and reporting data races to CDash

Porting a Project to CMake

Porting a Project to CMake

Where to start

Generating files and writing platform checks

Detecting required dependencies and linking

Reproducing compiler flags

Porting tests

Porting install targets

Further steps

Summary and common pitfalls when converting projects to CMake

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Further steps

After a successful port to CMake, the next step should be to localize the scope of targets and variables even further: consider moving options, targets, and variables closer to where they are used and modified. Avoid global variables since they will enforce an order to CMake commands, and this order may not be evident and will lead to a brittle CMake code. One approach to enforcing the separation of variable scopes is to divide larger projects into CMake projects, which are composed using the superbuild pattern (see Chapter 8, The Superbuild Pattern). Consider splitting large CMakeLists.txt files into smaller modules.

The next steps can be to test the configuration and compilation on other platforms and operating systems in order to generalize and bullet-proof the CMake code and make it more portable.

Finally, when migrating projects to a new build framework, the...

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