![]() ![]() But of course, all problems in computer science can be solved by another layer of indirection except for the problem of too many layers of indirection. ? When configure.ac and automake were introduced to compile a mere ten-line program the problem of too many (layers) was apparent. Setting up a build system the right way became extremely difficult with configure and Makefile.in. ![]() “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Efforts to further automate the process by introducing tools like automake, autoconf and m4 increased the complexity. Make vs Make: CMake – the Cross-Platform Makeįrom the previous exposition it is clear that setting up a cross platform build system is no child’s play. What if there was a tool that generates build systems from a single starting point – akin to a Makefile? Enter CMake. CMAKE LINUX COMMAND FOR MACĬMake is a generator of build systems that can produce Makefiles for Unix like systems, Visual Studio Solutions for Windows and XCode projects for Mac OS. ![]() All these from the same base – a single CMakeLists.txt file. But any magic – not just advanced technology – can be understood if we break it into stages. Before we do, learn more about what is CMake. The CMake Build ProcessĪ program (or a library) is built using CMake in two stages. In the first stage, standard build files are created from CMakeLists.txt. Then the platform’s native toolchain is used for the actual building. CMake effectively composes Make as a build system within itself. This is the best possible reuse without incurring the cost of unnecessary inheritance baggage from Make. Unlike Make, CMake’s two stage build process lets the programmer work with platform’s debugging tools if necessary. During the CMake build process it is customary to create a folder named `build` that keeps all the build artifacts. This prevents source code getting polluted with build related artifacts like object files. B build ß Assumes sources are in the current folderĬmake –build build ß Generate a binary with a build tool for the system The easiest way to accomplish such an out of source build is:Ĭmake -S. The CMakeLists.txt file contains a set of directives and instructions describing the source and targets. Unlike a complex Makefile that looks intimidating to a beginner, a CMakeLists.txt file is more structured and well written. The cmake-language includes most modern programming language constructs like This is owing to the well defined cmake-language with which the CMakeLists.txt are written. Since the syntax of cmake-language is not too different from modern programming languages it becomes easier for programmers to create CMakeLists.txt file and maintain it. Here is an example CMakeLists.txt file that even non-programmers will agree to be easy to comprehend.Īfter the first configuration of a project, CMake persists variable information in a text file called CMakeCache.txt. When CMake is re-run on a project the cache is read before starting so that some re-parsing time can be saved on CMakeLists.txt. ![]()
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