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To create a new configuration with CMake, you need to first create a new build directory where you want to build your project. Then, you can use the command line or a GUI tool to run CMake with the -G flag specifying the generator you want to use (e.g. Visual Studio, Xcode, Makefiles).
After specifying the generator, you can use the -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE flag to set the build type for the new configuration (e.g. Release, Debug). You can also use other flags to set specific options for the new configuration, such as compiler flags or build options.
Once you have set up the new configuration with the desired options, you can run the build process using the chosen generator to build your project with the new configuration. This allows you to easily switch between different configurations with CMake without having to manually modify project files.
What is the purpose of cmake's ExternalProject module?
The purpose of cmake's ExternalProject module is to provide a way to download, build, and integrate external projects into a cmake-based build system. This module allows developers to easily include dependencies from other projects or libraries into their cmake project without having to manually download, configure, and build the external project separately. This can help simplify the build process, reduce errors, and improve the overall efficiency of the build system.
What is the difference between cmake and make?
CMake is a build system generator tool, whereas Make is a build automation tool. CMake is used to generate configuration files for build systems such as Make, Ninja, Visual Studio, and others. Make is used to build the software based on the configuration files generated by CMake. In other words, CMake generates Makefiles, which are then used by Make to build the project.
How to generate makefiles with cmake?
To generate a makefile with CMake, you can follow these steps:
- Create a CMakeLists.txt file in your project directory. This file will contain the instructions for CMake to generate the makefile.
- Add the project name and minimum required CMake version at the top of the CMakeLists.txt file:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10) project(MyProject)
- Specify the source files that make up your project using the add_executable() or add_library() command. For example:
add_executable(MyExecutable main.cpp)
- If your project requires additional libraries or headers, you can use the target_link_libraries() or target_include_directories() commands to specify these dependencies.
- Create a build directory within your project directory and navigate into it.
- Run the following command in the build directory to generate the makefile:
cmake ..
- The makefile will be generated in the build directory. You can then run make to build your project using the makefile.
By following these steps, you can generate a makefile for your project using CMake.