12 KiB
What's new in in CMake
This is an abbreviated version of the CMake changlog with just the highlights for authors. Names for each release are arbitrarily picked by the author.
CMake 3.0 : Interface libraries
There were a ton of additions to this version of CMake, primarily to fill out the target interface. Some bits of needed functionality were missed and implemented in CMake 3.1 instead.
- New documentation
- INTERFACE libraries
- Project VERSION support
- Exporting build trees easily
- Bracket arguments and comments available (not widely used)
- Lots of improvements
CMake 3.1 : C++11 and compile features
This is the first release of CMake to support C++11. Combined with fixes to the new features of CMake 3.0, this is currently a common minimum version of CMake for libraries that want to support old CMake builds.
- C++11 Support
- Compile features support
- Sources can be added later with
target_sources
- Better support for generator expressions and INTERFACE targets
CMake 3.2 : UTF8
This is a smaller release, with mostly small features and fixes. Internal changes, like better Windows and UTF8 support, were the focus.
continue()
inside loops- File and directory locks added
CMake 3.3 : if IN_LIST
This is notable for the useful IN_LIST
option for if, but it also added better library search using $PATH
(See CMake 3.6), dependencies for INTERFACE libraries, and several other useful improvements. The addition of a COMPILE_LANGUAGE
generator expression would prove very useful in the future as more languages are added. Makefiles now produce better output in parallel.
IN_LIST
added toif
*_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE
property addedCOMPILE_LANGUAGE
generator expression (limited support in some generators)
CMake 3.4 : Swift & CCache
This release adds lots of useful tools, support for the Swift language, and the usual improvements. It also started supporting compiler launchers, like CCache.
- Added
Swift
language - Added
BASE_DIR
toget_filename_component
if(TEST ...)
addedstring(APPEND ...)
addedCMAKE_*_COMPILER_LAUNCHER
added for make and ninjaTARGET_MESSAGES
allow makefiles to print messages after target is completed- Imported targets are beginning to show up in the official
Find*.cmake
files
CMake 3.5 : ARM
This release expanded CMake to more platforms, and make warnings easier to control from the command line.
- Multiple input files supported for several of the
cmake -E
commands. cmake_parse_arguments
now builtin- Boost, GTest, and more now support imported targets
- ARMCC now supported, better support for iOS
- XCode backslash fix
CMake 3.6 : Clang-Tidy
This release added Clang-Tidy support, along with more utilities and improvements. It also removed the search of $PATH
on Unix systems due to problems, instead users should use $CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
.
EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
for installlist(FILTER
addedCMAKE_*_STANDARD_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
andCMAKE_*_STANDARD_LIBRARIES
added for toolchains- Try-compile improvements
*_CLANG_TIDY
property added- External projects can now be shallow clones, and other improvements
CMake 3.7 : Android & CMake Server
You can now cross-compile to Android. Useful new if statement options really help clarify code. And the new server mode was supposed to improve integration with IDEs (but is being replaced by a different system in CMake 3.14+). Support for the VIM editor was also improved.
PARSE_ARGV
mode forcmake_parse_arguments
- Better 32-bit support on 64-bit machines
- Lots of useful new if comparisons, like
VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL
(really, why did it take this long?) LINK_WHAT_YOU_USE
added- Lots of custom properties related to files and directories
- CMake Server added
- Added
--trace-source="filename"
to monitor certain files only
CMake 3.8 : C# & CUDA
This adds CUDA as a language, as well as cxx_std_11
as a compiler meta-feature. The new generator expression could be really useful if you can require CMake 3.8+!
- Native support for C# as a language
- Native support for CUDA as a language
- Meta features cxx_std_11 (and 14, 17) added
try_compile
has better language supportBUILD_RPATH
property addedCOMPILE_FLAGS
now supports generator expression*_CPPLINT
added$<IF:cond,true-value,false-value>
added (wow!)source_group(TREE
added (finally allowing IDE's to reflect the project folder structure!)
CMake 3.9 : IPO
Lots of fixes to CUDA support went into this release, including PTX
support and MSVC generators. Interprocedural Optimizations are now supported properly.
Even more modules provide imported targets, including MPI.
- CUDA supported for Windows
- Better object library support in several situations
DESCRIPTION
added toproject
separate_arguments
getsNATIVE_COMMAND
INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION
enforced (andCMAKE_*
initializer added, CheckIPOSupported added, Clang and GCC support)- New
GoogleTest
module FindDoxygen
drastically improved
CMake 3.10 : CppCheck
CMake now is built with C++11 compilers. Lots of useful improvements help write cleaner code.
- Support for flang Fortran compiler
- Compiler launcher added to CUDA
- Indented
#cmakedefines
now supported forconfigure_file
include_guard()
added to ensure a file gets included only oncestring(PREPEND
added*_CPPCHECK
property addedLABELS
added to directories- FindMPI vastly expanded
- FindOpenMP improved
- Dynamic test discovery for
GoogleTest
CMake 3.11 : Faster & IMPORTED INTERFACE
This release is supposed to be much faster. You can also finally directly add INTERFACE targets
to IMPORTED libraries (the internal Find*.cmake
scripts should become much cleaner eventually).
- Fortran supports compiler launchers
- Xcode and Visual Studio support
COMPILE_LANGUAGE
generator expressions finally - You can now add INTERFACE targets directly to IMPORTED INTERFACE libraries (Wow!)
- Source file properties have been expanded
FetchContent
module now allows downloads to happen at configure time (Wow)
CMake 3.12 : Version ranges and CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
Very powerful release, containing lots of smaller long-requested features. One of the smaller
but immediately noticeable changes is the addition of version ranges;
you can now set both the minimum and maximum known CMake version easily. You can also set
CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
on a GLOB
ed set of files, and the build system will check those files and
rerun if needed! You can use the general PackageName_ROOT
for all find_package
searches. Lots of additions to strings and lists, module updates,
shiny new Python find module (2 and 3 versions too), and many more.
- Support for
cmake_minimum_required
ranges (backward compatible) - Support for
-j,--parallel
in--build
mode (passed on to build tool) - Support for
$<SHELL:
shell strings (not deduplicated) - New FindPython module
string(JOIN
andlist(JOIN
, andlist(TRANSFORM
file(TOUCH
andfile(GLOB CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
- C++20 support
- CUDA as a language improvements: CUDA 7 and 7.5 now supported
- Support for OpenMP on macOS (command line only)
- Several new properties and property initializers
- CPack finally reads
CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION
variables
CMake 3.13 : Linking control
You can now make symbolic links on Windows! Lots of new functions that fill out the
popular requests for CMake, such as add_link_options
, target_link_directories
, and
target_link_options
. You can now do quite a bit more modification to targets outside
of the source directory, for better file separation. And, target_sources
finally handles relative paths properly (policy 76).
- New
ctest --progress
option for live output target_link_options
andadd_link_options
addedtarget_link_directories
added- Symbolic link creation,
-E create_symlink
, supported on Windows - IPO supported on Windows
- You can use
-S
and-B
for source and build directories target_link_libraries
andinstall
work outside the current target directorySTATIC_LIBRARY_OPTIONS
property addedtarget_sources
is now relative to the current source directory (CMP0076)- If you use Xcode, you now can experimentally set schema fields
CMake 3.14 : File utilities (AKA CMake π)
This release has lots of small cleanups, including several utilities for files. Generator expressions work in a few more places, and list handling is better with empty variables. Quite a few more find packages produce targets. The new Visual Studio 16 2019 generator is a bit different than older versions. Windows XP and Vista support has been dropped.
- The cmake
--build
command gained-v/--verbose
, to use verbose builds if your build tool supports it - The FILE command gained
CREATE_LINK
,READ_SYMLINK
, andSIZE
- «command:get_filename_component» gained
LAST_EXT
andNAME_WLE
to access just the last extension on a file, which would get.zip
on a file such asversion.1.2.zip
(very handy!) - You can see if a variable is defined in the CACHE with
DEFINED CACHE{VAR}
in an «command:if» statement. BUILD_RPATH_USE_ORIGIN
and CMake version were added to improve handling of RPath in the build directory.- The CMake server mode is now being replaced with a file API, starting in this release. Will affect IDEs in the long run.
CMake 3.15 : CLI upgrade
This release has many smaller polishing changes, include several of improvements to the CMake command line, such as control over the default generator through environment variables (so now it's easy to change the default generator to Ninja). Multiple targets are supported in --build
mode, and --install
mode added. CMake finally supports multiple levels of logging. Generator expressions gained a few handy tools. The still very new FindPython module continues to improve, and FindBoost is now more inline with Boost 1.70's new CONFIG
module. export(PACKAGE)
has drastically changed; it now no longer touches $HOME/.cmake
by default (if CMake Minimum version is 3.15 or higher), and requires an extra step if a user wants to use it. This is generally less surprising.
- «envvar:CMAKE_GENERATOR» environment variable added to control default generator
- Multiple target support in build mode,
cmake . --build --target a b
- Shortcut
-t
for--target
- Install support,
cmake . --install
, does not invoke the build system - Support for
--loglevel
andNOTICE
,VERBOSE
,DEBUG
, andTRACE
formessage
- The «command:list» command gained
PREPEND
,POP_FRONT
, andPOP_BACK
- «command:execute_process» gained
COMMAND_ECHO
option («variable:CMAKE_EXECUTE_PROCESS_COMMAND_ECHO») allows you to automatically echo commands before running them - Several Ninja improvements, include SWIFT language support
- Compiler and list improvements to generator expressions
CMake 3.16 : IN DEVELOPMENT
- Support for precompiling headers, with
target_precompile_headers
- Support for "Unity" or "Jumbo" builds (merging source files) with
CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD
- CTest: Can now skip based on regex, expand lists
- Several new features to control RPath.
- Generator expressions work in more places, like build and install paths
- Find locations can now be explicitly controlled through new variables