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researching the subject have difficulty determining which advice is up to date and which approaches have already been replaced by easier, better practices.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

How to find installed packages

Alright, let's say that you have decided to up your game with network communication or storing data at rest. Plaintext files, JSON, or even good old XML won't do. You want to serialize your data straight to binary format, preferably with a library known very well in the industry – say, protocol buffers (Protobuf) from Google. You find the documentation, install the dependencies in the system, and now what? How do we actually tell CMake to find and use this external dependency you're introducing? Luckily, there's a find_package() command. It works like a charm in most cases.

Let's rewind and start by setting the scene – we have to install the dependencies we want to use because find_package(), as the name suggests, is only about discovering packages in a system. We're assuming that dependencies are already installed or that users of our solution know how to install specific, necessary dependencies when prompted...