Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

By : Rafał Świdziński
5 (2)
Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

5 (2)
By: Rafał Świdziński

Overview of this book

Creating top-notch software is an extremely difficult undertaking. Developers researching the subject have difficulty determining which advice is up to date and which approaches have already been replaced by easier, better practices. At the same time, most online resources offer limited explanation, while also lacking the proper context and structure. This book offers a simpler, more comprehensive, experience as it treats the subject of building C++ solutions holistically. Modern CMake for C++ is an end-to-end guide to the automatization of complex tasks, including building, testing, and packaging. You'll not only learn how to use the CMake language in CMake projects, but also discover what makes them maintainable, elegant, and clean. The book also focuses on the structure of source directories, building targets, and packages. As you progress, you’ll learn how to compile and link executables and libraries, how those processes work, and how to optimize builds in CMake for the best results. You'll understand how to use external dependencies in your project – third-party libraries, testing frameworks, program analysis tools, and documentation generators. Finally, you'll get to grips with exporting, installing, and packaging for internal and external purposes. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to use CMake confidently on a professional level.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introducing CMake
5
Section 2: Building With CMake
10
Section 3: Automating With CMake

Project layout

To build any project, we should start with a clear understanding of what logical targets are going to be created in it. In this case, we'll follow the structure shown in Figure 12.2:

Figure 12.2 – A structure of logical targets

Let's explore the structure by following the build order. First, we'll compile calc_obj, which is an object library. We did mention object libraries a few times in the book, but we didn't actually introduce them as a concept. Let's do this now.

Object libraries

Object libraries are used to group multiple source files under a single logical target and are compiled into the (.o) object files during a build. To create an object library, we use the same method as with other libraries with the OBJECT keyword:

add_library(<target> OBJECT <sources>)

Object files produced during the build can be added as compiled elements to other targets with the $<TARGET_OBJECTS:objlib...