CMake 3.11 Release Notes¶
Changes made since CMake 3.10 include the following.
New Features¶
Platforms¶
- TI C/C++ compilers are now supported by the - Ninjagenerator.
Generators¶
- The - CodeBlocksextra generator learned to check a- CMAKE_CODEBLOCKS_COMPILER_IDvariable for a custom compiler identification value to place in the project file.
- The Makefile Generators and the - Ninjagenerator learned to add compiler launcher tools along with the compiler for the- Fortranlanguage (- C,- CXX, and- CUDAwere supported previously). See the- CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LAUNCHERvariable and- <LANG>_COMPILER_LAUNCHERtarget property for details.
- Visual Studio Generators learned to support the - COMPILE_LANGUAGE- generator expressionin target-wide- COMPILE_DEFINITIONS,- INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES,- COMPILE_OPTIONS, and- file(GENERATE). See generator expression documentation for caveats.
- The - Xcodegenerator learned to support the- COMPILE_LANGUAGE- generator expressionin target-wide- COMPILE_DEFINITIONSand- INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES. It previously supported only- COMPILE_OPTIONSand- file(GENERATE). See generator expression documentation for caveats.
Commands¶
- add_library()and- add_executable()commands can now be called without any sources and will not complain as long as sources are added later via the- target_sources()command.
- The - file(DOWNLOAD)and- file(UPLOAD)commands gained- NETRCand- NETRC_FILEoptions to specify use of a- .netrcfile.
- The - target_compile_definitions()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONSproperty on Imported Targets.
- The - target_compile_features()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_COMPILE_FEATURESproperty on Imported Targets.
- The - target_compile_options()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_COMPILE_OPTIONSproperty on Imported Targets.
- The - target_include_directories()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIESproperty on Imported Targets.
- The - target_sources()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_SOURCESproperty on Imported Targets.
- The - target_link_libraries()command learned to set the- INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIESproperty on Imported Targets.
Variables¶
- A - CMAKE_GENERATOR_INSTANCEvariable was introduced to hold the selected instance of the generator's corresponding native tools if multiple are available. This is used by the- Visual Studio 15 2017generator to hold the selected instance of Visual Studio persistently.
- A - CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONSvariable was added to enable setting of default permissions for directories created implicitly during installation of files by- install()and- file(INSTALL), e.g. during- make install.
- A - CMAKE_JOB_POOLSvariable was added specify a value to use for the- JOB_POOLSproperty. This enables control over build parallelism with command line configuration parameters when using the Ninja generator.
- The - CMAKE_NETRCand- CMAKE_NETRC_FILEvariables were added to specify use of a- .netrcfile by the- file(DOWNLOAD)and- file(UPLOAD)commands and the- ExternalProjectmodule.
- A - CMAKE_CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATIONvariable was added to initialize the- CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATIONtarget property on targets when they are created.
Properties¶
- The - COMPILE_DEFINITIONSsource file property learned to support- generator expressions.
- A - COMPILE_OPTIONSsource file property was added to manage list of options to pass to the compiler.
- An - IMPORTED_GLOBALtarget property was added to indicate whether an IMPORTED target is globally visible. It is automatically set to a true value for targets created with the- GLOBALoption to- add_library()or- add_executable(). Additionally, project code may now promote a local imported target to be globally visible by setting this property to- TRUE.
- An - INCLUDE_DIRECTORIESsource file property was added to specify list of preprocessor include file search directories.
- Source file properties - VS_SHADER_DISABLE_OPTIMIZATIONSand- VS_SHADER_ENABLE_DEBUGhave been added to specify more details of- .hlslsources with Visual Studio Generators.
Modules¶
- The - CheckIncludeFilesmodule- check_include_files()command gained a- LANGUAGEoption to specify whether to check using the- Cor- CXXcompiler.
- The - CMakePackageConfigHelpersmodule- write_basic_package_version_file()command learned a new- SameMinorVersionmode for the- COMPATIBILITYargument.
- The - ExternalProjectmodule learned to substitute- <DOWNLOAD_DIR>in comments, commands, working directory and byproducts.
- The - ExternalProjectmodule gained- NETRCand- NETRC_FILEoptions to specify use of a- .netrcfile.
- A new - FetchContentmodule was added which supports populating content at configure time using any of the download/update methods supported by- ExternalProject_Add(). This allows the content to be used immediately during the configure stage, such as with- add_subdirectory(), etc. Hierarchical project structures are well supported, allowing parent projects to override the content details of child projects and ensuring content is not populated multiple times throughout the whole project tree.
- The - FindBLASand- FindLAPACKmodules learned to support FLAME- blisand- libflame.
- The - FindDoxygenmodule- doxygen_add_docs()function now supports a new- DOXYGEN_VERBATIM_VARSlist variable. Any- DOXYGEN_...variable contained in that list will bypass the automatic quoting logic, leaving its contents untouched when transferring them to the output- Doxyfile.
- A - FindIconvmodule was added to locate iconv support.
- The - GenerateExportHeadermodule- generate_export_headercommand gained an- INCLUDE_GUARD_NAMEoption to change the name of the include guard symbol written to the generated export header. Additionally, it now adds a comment after the closing- #endifon the generated export header's include guard.
- The - UseJavamodule- add_jarcommand gained a- GENERATE_NATIVE_HEADERSoption to generate native header files using- javac -hfor- javac1.8 or above. This supersedes- create_javah, which no longer works with JDK 1.10 and above due to removal of the- javahtool by JEP 313.
Autogen¶
- When using - AUTOMOCor- AUTOUIC, CMake now starts multiple parallel- mocor- uicprocesses to reduce the build time. A new- CMAKE_AUTOGEN_PARALLELvariable and- AUTOGEN_PARALLELtarget property may be set to specify the number of parallel- mocor- uicprocesses to start. The default is derived from the number of CPUs on the host.
CTest¶
- The - ctest_start()command no longer sets- CTEST_RUN_CURRENT_SCRIPTdue to issues with scoping if it is called from inside a function. Instead, it sets an internal variable in CTest. However, setting- CTEST_RUN_CURRENT_SCRIPTto 0 at the global scope still prevents the script from being re-run at the end.
CPack¶
- cpack(1)gained- --traceand- --trace-expandoptions.
- The - CPack IFW Generatorgained new- CPACK_IFW_PACKAGE_REMOVE_TARGET_DIRvariable to control if the target directory should not be deleted when uninstalling.
- The - CPack RPM Generatorlearned to enable enforcing of execute privileges on programs and shared libraries. See- CPACK_RPM_INSTALL_WITH_EXECvariable.
- A - CPACK_INSTALL_DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONSvariable was added which serves the same purpose during packaging (e.g.- make package) as the- CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_PERMISSIONSvariable serves during installation (e.g.- make install).
Other¶
- Alias Targets may now alias Imported Targets that are created with the - GLOBALoption to- add_library().
- Interface Libraries may now have custom properties set on them if they start with either an underscore ( - _) or a lowercase ASCII character. The original intention was to only allow properties which made sense for- INTERFACElibraries, but it also blocked usage of custom properties.
- The - cmake(1)- --open <dir>command-line option was added to open generated IDE projects like Visual Studio solutions or Xcode projects.
Deprecated and Removed Features¶
- An explicit deprecation diagnostic was added for policies - CMP0037through- CMP0054(- CMP0036and below were already deprecated). The- cmake-policies(7)manual explains that the OLD behaviors of all policies are deprecated and that projects should port to the NEW behaviors.
- The - KDevelop3generator has been removed.
Other Changes¶
- Policy - CMP0037no longer reserves target names associated with optional features, such as- testand- package, unless the corresponding feature is enabled.
- The - FindOpenGLmodule now prefers GLVND libraries if available. See policy- CMP0072.
- The minimum deployment target set in the - CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGETvariable used to be only applied for macOS regardless of the selected SDK. It is now properly set for the target platform selected by- CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT. For example, if the sysroot variable specifies an iOS SDK then the value in- CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGETis interpreted as minimum iOS version.
- The - Xcodegenerator behavior of generating one project file per- project()command may now be controlled with the- CMAKE_XCODE_GENERATE_TOP_LEVEL_PROJECT_ONLYvariable. This could be useful to speed up the CMake generation step for large projects and to work-around a bug in the- ZERO_CHECKlogic.
- Since the - CMakeCache.txtformat does not support newlines in values, values containing newlines are now truncated before writing to the file. In addition, a warning comment is written to the cache file, and a warning message is displayed to the user on the console.
Updates¶
Changes made since CMake 3.11.0 include the following.
3.11.1¶
- The - CheckIncludeFilemodule- check_include_filemacro,- CheckIncludeFileCXXmodule- check_include_file_cxxmacro, and- CheckIncludeFilesmodule- check_include_filesmacro were taught to honor the- CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIESvariable in CMake 3.11.0. This has been reverted due to changing behavior of checks for existing projects. It may be restored in the future with a policy for compatibility.
3.11.2¶
- Calling - add_library()to create an alias of an imported target that is not globally visible now causes an error again as it did prior to 3.11.0. This diagnostic was accidentally dropped from CMake 3.11.0 and 3.11.1 by the change to allow globally visible imported targets to be aliased.
- The - FindQt4module- qt4_wrap_cpp,- qt4_wrap_uiand- qt4_add_resourcesmacros now set- SKIP_AUTOMOCand- SKIP_AUTOUICon their generated files. These files never need to be processed by moc or uic, and we must say so explicitly to account for policy- CMP0071.
3.11.3¶
- CMake 3.11.0 introduced support for resolving symbolic links on Windows in code paths that typically do so on UNIX. This has been reverted due to breakage on - substdrives.
