Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

By : Rafał Świdziński
5 (2)
Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

5 (2)
By: Rafał Świdziński

Overview of this book

Creating top-notch software is an extremely difficult undertaking. Developers researching the subject have difficulty determining which advice is up to date and which approaches have already been replaced by easier, better practices. At the same time, most online resources offer limited explanation, while also lacking the proper context and structure. This book offers a simpler, more comprehensive, experience as it treats the subject of building C++ solutions holistically. Modern CMake for C++ is an end-to-end guide to the automatization of complex tasks, including building, testing, and packaging. You'll not only learn how to use the CMake language in CMake projects, but also discover what makes them maintainable, elegant, and clean. The book also focuses on the structure of source directories, building targets, and packages. As you progress, you’ll learn how to compile and link executables and libraries, how those processes work, and how to optimize builds in CMake for the best results. You'll understand how to use external dependencies in your project – third-party libraries, testing frameworks, program analysis tools, and documentation generators. Finally, you'll get to grips with exporting, installing, and packaging for internal and external purposes. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to use CMake confidently on a professional level.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introducing CMake
5
Section 2: Building With CMake
10
Section 3: Automating With CMake

Section 1: Introducing CMake

Getting the basics right is critical to understanding the more advanced subjects and avoiding silly mistakes. This is where the majority of CMake users get in trouble: without a proper foundation, it's difficult to achieve the right outcome. No wonder. It's tempting to skip the introductory material and jump right in where the action is and get things done quickly. We address both points in this section by explaining the core topics of CMake and by hacking together a few lines of code to show what the simplest project looks like.

To build an appropriate mental context, we'll explain what CMake is exactly and how it does its job, along with what the command line is like. We'll talk about the different build stages and learn the language used to generate build systems. We'll also discuss CMake projects: what files they contain, how to approach their directory structure, and we'll explore their primary configuration.

This...