Provided by: cmake_3.28.3-1build7_amd64 

NAME
cmake - CMake Command-Line Reference
SYNOPSIS
Generate a Project Buildsystem cmake [<options>] -B <path-to-build> [-S <path-to-source>] cmake [<options>] <path-to-source | path-to-existing-build> Build a Project cmake --build <dir> [<options>] [-- <build-tool-options>] Install a Project cmake --install <dir> [<options>] Open a Project cmake --open <dir> Run a Script cmake [-D <var>=<value>]... -P <cmake-script-file> Run a Command-Line Tool cmake -E <command> [<options>] Run the Find-Package Tool cmake --find-package [<options>] Run a Workflow Preset cmake --workflow [<options>] View Help cmake --help[-<topic>]
DESCRIPTION
The cmake executable is the command-line interface of the cross-platform buildsystem generator CMake. The above Synopsis lists various actions the tool can perform as described in sections below. To build a software project with CMake, Generate a Project Buildsystem. Optionally use cmake to Build a Project, Install a Project or just run the corresponding build tool (e.g. make) directly. cmake can also be used to View Help. The other actions are meant for use by software developers writing scripts in the CMake language to support their builds. For graphical user interfaces that may be used in place of cmake, see ccmake and cmake-gui. For command-line interfaces to the CMake testing and packaging facilities, see ctest and cpack. For more information on CMake at large, see also the links at the end of this manual.
INTRODUCTION TO CMAKE BUILDSYSTEMS
A buildsystem describes how to build a project's executables and libraries from its source code using a build tool to automate the process. For example, a buildsystem may be a Makefile for use with a command-line make tool or a project file for an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). In order to avoid maintaining multiple such buildsystems, a project may specify its buildsystem abstractly using files written in the CMake language. From these files CMake generates a preferred buildsystem locally for each user through a backend called a generator. To generate a buildsystem with CMake, the following must be selected: Source Tree The top-level directory containing source files provided by the project. The project specifies its buildsystem using files as described in the cmake-language(7) manual, starting with a top-level file named CMakeLists.txt. These files specify build targets and their dependencies as described in the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual. Build Tree The top-level directory in which buildsystem files and build output artifacts (e.g. executables and libraries) are to be stored. CMake will write a CMakeCache.txt file to identify the directory as a build tree and store persistent information such as buildsystem configuration options. To maintain a pristine source tree, perform an out-of-source build by using a separate dedicated build tree. An in-source build in which the build tree is placed in the same directory as the source tree is also supported, but discouraged. Generator This chooses the kind of buildsystem to generate. See the cmake-generators(7) manual for documentation of all generators. Run cmake --help to see a list of generators available locally. Optionally use the -G option below to specify a generator, or simply accept the default CMake chooses for the current platform. When using one of the Command-Line Build Tool Generators CMake expects that the environment needed by the compiler toolchain is already configured in the shell. When using one of the IDE Build Tool Generators, no particular environment is needed.
GENERATE A PROJECT BUILDSYSTEM
Run CMake with one of the following command signatures to specify the source and build trees and generate a buildsystem: cmake [<options>] -B <path-to-build> [-S <path-to-source>] New in version 3.13. Uses <path-to-build> as the build tree and <path-to-source> as the source tree. The specified paths may be absolute or relative to the current working directory. The source tree must contain a CMakeLists.txt file. The build tree will be created automatically if it does not already exist. For example: $ cmake -S src -B build cmake [<options>] <path-to-source> Uses the current working directory as the build tree, and <path-to-source> as the source tree. The specified path may be absolute or relative to the current working directory. The source tree must contain a CMakeLists.txt file and must not contain a CMakeCache.txt file because the latter identifies an existing build tree. For example: $ mkdir build ; cd build $ cmake ../src cmake [<options>] <path-to-existing-build> Uses <path-to-existing-build> as the build tree, and loads the path to the source tree from its CMakeCache.txt file, which must have already been generated by a previous run of CMake. The specified path may be absolute or relative to the current working directory. For example: $ cd build $ cmake . In all cases the <options> may be zero or more of the Options below. The above styles for specifying the source and build trees may be mixed. Paths specified with -S or -B are always classified as source or build trees, respectively. Paths specified with plain arguments are classified based on their content and the types of paths given earlier. If only one type of path is given, the current working directory (cwd) is used for the other. For example: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── Command Line Source Dir Build Dir ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -B build cwd build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -B build src src build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -B build -S src src build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake src src cwd ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake build (existing) loaded build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -S src src cwd ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -S src build src build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── cmake -S src -B build src build ┌────────────────────────┬────────────┬───────────┐ │ │ │ │ --
BUILD A PROJECT
CMake provides a command-line signature to build an already-generated project binary tree: cmake --build <dir> [<options>] [-- <build-tool-options>] cmake --build --preset <preset> [<options>] [-- <build-tool-options>] This abstracts a native build tool's command-line interface with the following options: --build <dir> Project binary directory to be built. This is required (unless a preset is specified) and must be first. --preset <preset>, --preset=<preset> Use a build preset to specify build options. The project binary directory is inferred from the configurePreset key. The current working directory must contain CMake preset files. See preset for more details. --list-presets Lists the available build presets. The current working directory must contain CMake preset files. -j [<jobs>], --parallel [<jobs>] New in version 3.12. The maximum number of concurrent processes to use when building. If <jobs> is omitted the native build tool's default number is used. The CMAKE_BUILD_PARALLEL_LEVEL environment variable, if set, specifies a default parallel level when this option is not given. Some native build tools always build in parallel. The use of <jobs> value of 1 can be used to limit to a single job. -t <tgt>..., --target <tgt>... Build <tgt> instead of the default target. Multiple targets may be given, separated by spaces. --config <cfg> For multi-configuration tools, choose configuration <cfg>. --clean-first Build target clean first, then build. (To clean only, use --target clean.) --resolve-package-references=<value> New in version 3.23. Resolve remote package references from external package managers (e.g. NuGet) before build. When <value> is set to on (default), packages will be restored before building a target. When <value> is set to only, the packages will be restored, but no build will be performed. When <value> is set to off, no packages will be restored. If the target does not define any package references, this option does nothing. This setting can be specified in a build preset (using resolvePackageReferences). The preset setting will be ignored, if this command line option is specified. If no command line parameter or preset option are provided, an environment- specific cache variable will be evaluated to decide, if package restoration should be performed. When using the Visual Studio generator, package references are defined using the VS_PACKAGE_REFERENCES property. Package references are restored using NuGet. It can be disabled by setting the CMAKE_VS_NUGET_PACKAGE_RESTORE variable to OFF. --use-stderr Ignored. Behavior is default in CMake >= 3.0. -v, --verbose Enable verbose output - if supported - including the build commands to be executed. This option can be omitted if VERBOSE environment variable or CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE cached variable is set. -- Pass remaining options to the native tool. Run cmake --build with no options for quick help.
INSTALL A PROJECT
CMake provides a command-line signature to install an already-generated project binary tree: cmake --install <dir> [<options>] This may be used after building a project to run installation without using the generated build system or the native build tool. The options are: --install <dir> Project binary directory to install. This is required and must be first. --config <cfg> For multi-configuration generators, choose configuration <cfg>. --component <comp> Component-based install. Only install component <comp>. --default-directory-permissions <permissions> Default directory install permissions. Permissions in format <u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx>. --prefix <prefix> Override the installation prefix, CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. --strip Strip before installing. -v, --verbose Enable verbose output. This option can be omitted if VERBOSE environment variable is set. Run cmake --install with no options for quick help.
OPEN A PROJECT
cmake --open <dir> Open the generated project in the associated application. This is only supported by some generators.
RUN A SCRIPT
cmake [-D <var>=<value>]... -P <cmake-script-file> [-- <unparsed-options>...] -D <var>=<value> Define a variable for script mode. -P <cmake-script-file> Process the given cmake file as a script written in the CMake language. No configure or generate step is performed and the cache is not modified. If variables are defined using -D, this must be done before the -P argument. Any options after -- are not parsed by CMake, but they are still included in the set of CMAKE_ARGV<n> variables passed to the script (including the -- itself).
RUN A COMMAND-LINE TOOL
CMake provides builtin command-line tools through the signature cmake -E <command> [<options>] -E [help] Run cmake -E or cmake -E help for a summary of commands. Available commands are: capabilities New in version 3.7. Report cmake capabilities in JSON format. The output is a JSON object with the following keys: version A JSON object with version information. Keys are: string The full version string as displayed by cmake --version. major The major version number in integer form. minor The minor version number in integer form. patch The patch level in integer form. suffix The cmake version suffix string. isDirty A bool that is set if the cmake build is from a dirty tree. generators A list available generators. Each generator is a JSON object with the following keys: name A string containing the name of the generator. toolsetSupport true if the generator supports toolsets and false otherwise. platformSupport true if the generator supports platforms and false otherwise. supportedPlatforms New in version 3.21. Optional member that may be present when the generator supports platform specification via CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM (-A ...). The value is a list of platforms known to be supported. extraGenerators A list of strings with all the Extra Generators compatible with the generator. fileApi Optional member that is present when the cmake-file-api(7) is available. The value is a JSON object with one member: requests A JSON array containing zero or more supported file-api requests. Each request is a JSON object with members: kind Specifies one of the supported Object Kinds. version A JSON array whose elements are each a JSON object containing major and minor members specifying non-negative integer version components. serverMode true if cmake supports server-mode and false otherwise. Always false since CMake 3.20. tls New in version 3.25. true if TLS support is enabled and false otherwise. debugger New in version 3.27. true if the --debugger mode is supported and false otherwise. cat [--] <files>... New in version 3.18. Concatenate files and print on the standard output. -- New in version 3.24. Added support for the double dash argument --. This basic implementation of cat does not support any options, so using a option starting with - will result in an error. Use -- to indicate the end of options, in case a file starts with -. chdir <dir> <cmd> [<arg>...] Change the current working directory and run a command. compare_files [--ignore-eol] <file1> <file2> Check if <file1> is same as <file2>. If files are the same, then returns 0, if not it returns 1. In case of invalid arguments, it returns 2. --ignore-eol New in version 3.14. The option implies line-wise comparison and ignores LF/CRLF differences. copy <file>... <destination>, copy -t <destination> <file>... Copy files to <destination> (either file or directory). If multiple files are specified, or if -t is specified, the <destination> must be directory and it must exist. If -t is not specified, the last argument is assumed to be the <destination>. Wildcards are not supported. copy does follow symlinks. That means it does not copy symlinks, but the files or directories it point to. New in version 3.5: Support for multiple input files. New in version 3.26: Support for -t argument. copy_directory <dir>... <destination> Copy content of <dir>... directories to <destination> directory. If <destination> directory does not exist it will be created. copy_directory does follow symlinks. New in version 3.5: Support for multiple input directories. New in version 3.15: The command now fails when the source directory does not exist. Previously it succeeded by creating an empty destination directory. copy_directory_if_different <dir>... <destination> New in version 3.26. Copy changed content of <dir>... directories to <destination> directory. If <destination> directory does not exist it will be created. copy_directory_if_different does follow symlinks. The command fails when the source directory does not exist. copy_if_different <file>... <destination> Copy files to <destination> (either file or directory) if they have changed. If multiple files are specified, the <destination> must be directory and it must exist. copy_if_different does follow symlinks. New in version 3.5: Support for multiple input files. create_symlink <old> <new> Create a symbolic link <new> naming <old>. New in version 3.13: Support for creating symlinks on Windows. NOTE: Path to where <new> symbolic link will be created has to exist beforehand. create_hardlink <old> <new> New in version 3.19. Create a hard link <new> naming <old>. NOTE: Path to where <new> hard link will be created has to exist beforehand. <old> has to exist beforehand. echo [<string>...] Displays arguments as text. echo_append [<string>...] Displays arguments as text but no new line. env [<options>] [--] <command> [<arg>...] New in version 3.1. Run command in a modified environment. Options are: NAME=VALUE Replaces the current value of NAME with VALUE. --unset=NAME Unsets the current value of NAME. --modify ENVIRONMENT_MODIFICATION New in version 3.25. Apply a single ENVIRONMENT_MODIFICATION operation to the modified environment. The NAME=VALUE and --unset=NAME options are equivalent to --modify NAME=set:VALUE and --modify NAME=unset:, respectively. Note that --modify NAME=reset: resets NAME to the value it had when cmake launched (or unsets it), not to the most recent NAME=VALUE option. -- New in version 3.24. Added support for the double dash argument --. Use -- to stop interpreting options/environment variables and treat the next argument as the command, even if it start with - or contains a =. environment Display the current environment variables. false New in version 3.16. Do nothing, with an exit code of 1. make_directory <dir>... Create <dir> directories. If necessary, create parent directories too. If a directory already exists it will be silently ignored. New in version 3.5: Support for multiple input directories. md5sum <file>... Create MD5 checksum of files in md5sum compatible format: 351abe79cd3800b38cdfb25d45015a15 file1.txt 052f86c15bbde68af55c7f7b340ab639 file2.txt sha1sum <file>... New in version 3.10. Create SHA1 checksum of files in sha1sum compatible format: 4bb7932a29e6f73c97bb9272f2bdc393122f86e0 file1.txt 1df4c8f318665f9a5f2ed38f55adadb7ef9f559c file2.txt sha224sum <file>... New in version 3.10. Create SHA224 checksum of files in sha224sum compatible format: b9b9346bc8437bbda630b0b7ddfc5ea9ca157546dbbf4c613192f930 file1.txt 6dfbe55f4d2edc5fe5c9197bca51ceaaf824e48eba0cc453088aee24 file2.txt sha256sum <file>... New in version 3.10. Create SHA256 checksum of files in sha256sum compatible format: 76713b23615d31680afeb0e9efe94d47d3d4229191198bb46d7485f9cb191acc file1.txt 15b682ead6c12dedb1baf91231e1e89cfc7974b3787c1e2e01b986bffadae0ea file2.txt sha384sum <file>... New in version 3.10. Create SHA384 checksum of files in sha384sum compatible format: acc049fedc091a22f5f2ce39a43b9057fd93c910e9afd76a6411a28a8f2b8a12c73d7129e292f94fc0329c309df49434 file1.txt 668ddeb108710d271ee21c0f3acbd6a7517e2b78f9181c6a2ff3b8943af92b0195dcb7cce48aa3e17893173c0a39e23d file2.txt sha512sum <file>... New in version 3.10. Create SHA512 checksum of files in sha512sum compatible format: 2a78d7a6c5328cfb1467c63beac8ff21794213901eaadafd48e7800289afbc08e5fb3e86aa31116c945ee3d7bf2a6194489ec6101051083d1108defc8e1dba89 file1.txt 7a0b54896fe5e70cca6dd643ad6f672614b189bf26f8153061c4d219474b05dad08c4e729af9f4b009f1a1a280cb625454bf587c690f4617c27e3aebdf3b7a2d file2.txt remove [-f] <file>... Deprecated since version 3.17. Remove the file(s). The planned behavior was that if any of the listed files already do not exist, the command returns a non-zero exit code, but no message is logged. The -f option changes the behavior to return a zero exit code (i.e. success) in such situations instead. remove does not follow symlinks. That means it remove only symlinks and not files it point to. The implementation was buggy and always returned 0. It cannot be fixed without breaking backwards compatibility. Use rm instead. remove_directory <dir>... Deprecated since version 3.17. Remove <dir> directories and their contents. If a directory does not exist it will be silently ignored. Use rm instead. New in version 3.15: Support for multiple directories. New in version 3.16: If <dir> is a symlink to a directory, just the symlink will be removed. rename <oldname> <newname> Rename a file or directory (on one volume). If file with the <newname> name already exists, then it will be silently replaced. rm [-rRf] [--] <file|dir>... New in version 3.17. Remove the files <file> or directories <dir>. Use -r or -R to remove directories and their contents recursively. If any of the listed files/directories do not exist, the command returns a non-zero exit code, but no message is logged. The -f option changes the behavior to return a zero exit code (i.e. success) in such situations instead. Use -- to stop interpreting options and treat all remaining arguments as paths, even if they start with -. sleep <number> New in version 3.0. Sleep for <number> seconds. <number> may be a floating point number. A practical minimum is about 0.1 seconds due to overhead in starting/stopping CMake executable. This can be useful in a CMake script to insert a delay: # Sleep for about 0.5 seconds execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E sleep 0.5) tar [cxt][vf][zjJ] file.tar [<options>] [--] [<pathname>...] Create or extract a tar or zip archive. Options are: c Create a new archive containing the specified files. If used, the <pathname>... argument is mandatory. x Extract to disk from the archive. New in version 3.15: The <pathname>... argument could be used to extract only selected files or directories. When extracting selected files or directories, you must provide their exact names including the path, as printed by list (-t). t List archive contents. New in version 3.15: The <pathname>... argument could be used to list only selected files or directories. v Produce verbose output. z Compress the resulting archive with gzip. j Compress the resulting archive with bzip2. J New in version 3.1. Compress the resulting archive with XZ. --zstd New in version 3.15. Compress the resulting archive with Zstandard. --files-from=<file> New in version 3.1. Read file names from the given file, one per line. Blank lines are ignored. Lines may not start in - except for --add-file=<name> to add files whose names start in -. --format=<format> New in version 3.3. Specify the format of the archive to be created. Supported formats are: 7zip, gnutar, pax, paxr (restricted pax, default), and zip. --mtime=<date> New in version 3.1. Specify modification time recorded in tarball entries. --touch New in version 3.24. Use current local timestamp instead of extracting file timestamps from the archive. -- New in version 3.1. Stop interpreting options and treat all remaining arguments as file names, even if they start with -. New in version 3.1: LZMA (7zip) support. New in version 3.15: The command now continues adding files to an archive even if some of the files are not readable. This behavior is more consistent with the classic tar tool. The command now also parses all flags, and if an invalid flag was provided, a warning is issued. time <command> [<args>...] Run <command> and display elapsed time (including overhead of CMake frontend). New in version 3.5: The command now properly passes arguments with spaces or special characters through to the child process. This may break scripts that worked around the bug with their own extra quoting or escaping. touch <file>... Creates <file> if file do not exist. If <file> exists, it is changing <file> access and modification times. touch_nocreate <file>... Touch a file if it exists but do not create it. If a file does not exist it will be silently ignored. true New in version 3.16. Do nothing, with an exit code of 0. Windows-specific Command-Line Tools The following cmake -E commands are available only on Windows: delete_regv <key> Delete Windows registry value. env_vs8_wince <sdkname> New in version 3.2. Displays a batch file which sets the environment for the provided Windows CE SDK installed in VS2005. env_vs9_wince <sdkname> New in version 3.2. Displays a batch file which sets the environment for the provided Windows CE SDK installed in VS2008. write_regv <key> <value> Write Windows registry value.
RUN THE FIND-PACKAGE TOOL
CMake provides a pkg-config like helper for Makefile-based projects: cmake --find-package [<options>] It searches a package using find_package() and prints the resulting flags to stdout. This can be used instead of pkg-config to find installed libraries in plain Makefile-based projects or in autoconf-based projects (via share/aclocal/cmake.m4). NOTE: This mode is not well-supported due to some technical limitations. It is kept for compatibility but should not be used in new projects.
RUN A WORKFLOW PRESET
New in version 3.25. CMake Presets provides a way to execute multiple build steps in order: cmake --workflow [<options>] The options are: --workflow Select a Workflow Preset using one of the following options. --preset <preset>, --preset=<preset> Use a workflow preset to specify a workflow. The project binary directory is inferred from the initial configure preset. The current working directory must contain CMake preset files. See preset for more details. --list-presets Lists the available workflow presets. The current working directory must contain CMake preset files. --fresh Perform a fresh configuration of the build tree. This removes any existing CMakeCache.txt file and associated CMakeFiles/ directory, and recreates them from scratch.
VIEW HELP
To print selected pages from the CMake documentation, use cmake --help[-<topic>] with one of the following options: -version [<file>], --version [<file>], /V [<file>] Show program name/version banner and exit. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. -h, -H, --help, -help, -usage, /? Print usage information and exit. Usage describes the basic command line interface and its options. --help <keyword> [<file>] Print help for one CMake keyword. <keyword> can be a property, variable, command, policy, generator or module. The relevant manual entry for <keyword> is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. Changed in version 3.28: Prior to CMake 3.28, this option supported command names only. --help-full [<file>] Print all help manuals and exit. All manuals are printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-manual <man> [<file>] Print one help manual and exit. The specified manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-manual-list [<file>] List help manuals available and exit. The list contains all manuals for which help may be obtained by using the --help-manual option followed by a manual name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-command <cmd> [<file>] Print help for one command and exit. The cmake-commands(7) manual entry for <cmd> is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-command-list [<file>] List commands with help available and exit. The list contains all commands for which help may be obtained by using the --help-command option followed by a command name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-commands [<file>] Print cmake-commands manual and exit. The cmake-commands(7) manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-module <mod> [<file>] Print help for one module and exit. The cmake-modules(7) manual entry for <mod> is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-module-list [<file>] List modules with help available and exit. The list contains all modules for which help may be obtained by using the --help-module option followed by a module name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-modules [<file>] Print cmake-modules manual and exit. The cmake-modules(7) manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-policy <cmp> [<file>] Print help for one policy and exit. The cmake-policies(7) manual entry for <cmp> is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-policy-list [<file>] List policies with help available and exit. The list contains all policies for which help may be obtained by using the --help-policy option followed by a policy name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-policies [<file>] Print cmake-policies manual and exit. The cmake-policies(7) manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-property <prop> [<file>] Print help for one property and exit. The cmake-properties(7) manual entries for <prop> are printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-property-list [<file>] List properties with help available and exit. The list contains all properties for which help may be obtained by using the --help-property option followed by a property name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-properties [<file>] Print cmake-properties manual and exit. The cmake-properties(7) manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-variable <var> [<file>] Print help for one variable and exit. The cmake-variables(7) manual entry for <var> is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-variable-list [<file>] List variables with help available and exit. The list contains all variables for which help may be obtained by using the --help-variable option followed by a variable name. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. --help-variables [<file>] Print cmake-variables manual and exit. The cmake-variables(7) manual is printed in a human-readable text format. The output is printed to a named <file> if given. To view the presets available for a project, use cmake <source-dir> --list-presets
RETURN VALUE (EXIT CODE)
Upon regular termination, the cmake executable returns the exit code 0. If termination is caused by the command message(FATAL_ERROR), or another error condition, then a non-zero exit code is returned.
SEE ALSO
The following resources are available to get help using CMake: Home Page https://cmake.org The primary starting point for learning about CMake. Online Documentation and Community Resources https://cmake.org/documentation Links to available documentation and community resources may be found on this web page. Discourse Forum https://discourse.cmake.org The Discourse Forum hosts discussion and questions about CMake.
COPYRIGHT
2000-2024 Kitware, Inc. and Contributors 3.28.3 April 15, 2024 CMAKE(1)