- CMake
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CMake 
Developer(s) Andy Cedilnik, Bill Hoffman, Brad King, Ken Martin, Alexander Neundorf Stable release 2.8.6 / October 4, 2011 Written in C++[1] Operating system Cross-platform Type Software development tools License New BSD License Website www.cmake.org CMake is a cross-platform, open-source system for managing the build process of software (see Build automation) using a compiler-independent method. It is designed to support directory hierarchies and applications that depend on multiple libraries, and for use in conjunction with native build environments such as Make, Apple's Xcode and Microsoft Visual Studio. It also has minimal dependencies, requiring only a C++-compiler on its own build system.[2]
Contents
History
CMake was developed beginning in 1999 in response to the need for a cross-platform build environment the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK)[3]. The project is funded by the United States National Library of Medicine as part of the Visible Human Project. It was partially inspired by pcmaker, which was made by Ken Martin and other developers to support the Visualization Toolkit (VTK). At Kitware, Bill Hoffman blended components of pcmaker with his own ideas, striving to mimic the Unix configure tool’s functionality. CMake was first implemented in 2000 and further developed in 2001. Continued development and improvements were fueled by the incorporation of CMake into developers’ own systems, including:
Additional features were created when VTK transitioned to CMake for its build environment and for supporting ParaView.
Features
CMake can handle in-place and out-of-place builds, enabling several builds from the same source tree, and cross-compilation. The ability to build a directory tree outside the source tree is a key feature, ensuring that if a build directory is removed, the source file remains unaffected.
Another feature of CMake is the ability to generate a cache to be used with a graphical editor, which, when CMake is run, can locate executables, files and libraries. This information goes into the cache, which can then be tailored before generating the native build files.
Complicated directory hierarchies and applications that rely on several libraries are well supported by CMake. For instance, CMake is able to accommodate a project that has multiple toolkits, or libraries that each have multiple directories. In addition, CMake can work with projects that require executables to be created before generating code to be compiled for the final application. Its open-source, extensible design allows CMake to be adapted as necessary for specific projects.
CMake can generate makefiles for many platforms and IDEs including Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, MSVC, Cygwin, MinGW and Xcode.
Build process
The build process with CMake takes place in two stages. First, standard build files are created from configuration files. Then the platform's native build tools are used for the actual building.[2]
Each build project contains a CMakeLists.txt file in every directory that controls the build process. The CMakeLists.txt file has one or more commands in the form COMMAND (args...), with COMMAND representing the name of each command and args the list of arguments, each separated by white space. While there are many built-in rules for compiling the software libraries (static and dynamic) and executables, there are also provisions for custom build rules. Some build dependencies can be determined automatically. Advanced users can also create and incorporate additional makefile generators to support their specific compiler and OS needs.
Notable applications
- Allegro library
- Armadillo - linear algebra library
- Avidemux
- awesome - window manager
- Blender 3D
- Bullet Physics Engine
- Chicken Scheme
- Chipmunk physics engine
- Compiz
- Conky [4]
- Doomsday Engine
- Drishti
- Falcon (programming language)
- Gammu
- GDCM
- Gmsh
- Hypertable
- Hugin
- iCub robot and YARP [5]
- IGSTK
- Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK) [6]
- KDE SC 4 [2]
- Kicad
- libpng
- LMMS
- LLVM and Clang
- MiKTeX
- MuseScore
- MySQL and MariaDB
- OGRE
- OpenSceneGraph
- OpenSync
- OpenCV
- Poppler
- PvPGN
- Quantum GIS
- Raw Therapee
- ROS
- Scribus [2][6]
- Second Life [6]
- Spring RTS
- SuperTux
- Slicer
- Stellarium
- Trilinos
- The Visualization Toolkit and ParaView [6]
- VXL
- zlib
See also
References
- ^ "Ohloh Analysis Summary - CMake". Ohloh. http://www.ohloh.net/p/cmake. Retrieved 2009-12-25.
- ^ a b c d Neundorf, Alexander (2006-06-21). "Why the KDE project switched to CMake—and how". LWN.net. http://lwn.net/Articles/188693/.
- ^ "FLOSS Weekly 111: CMake". podcast. TWiT Network. http://twit.tv/floss111. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
- ^ Conky README.cmake file
- ^ "Compiling YARP and iCub". iCub user manual. http://eris.liralab.it/wiki/Manual#Six._Software.2C_Compiling_YARP_and_iCub.
- ^ a b c d Hoffman, Bill. "CMake / CTest / CPack: Open source tools to build, test, and install software" (PDF). BoostCon 2009. https://github.com/boostcon/2009_presentations/raw/master/tue/cmake-kitware.pdf.
External links
Learning resources for CMake include:
- CMake Wiki
- Online documentation and examples
- Mastering CMake book
- CMake Examples Wiki
Categories:- Build automation
- Compiling tools
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