I am proud to announce the second CMake 3.19 release candidate.
https://cmake.org/download/
Documentation is available at:
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.19
Release notes appear below and are also published at
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.19/release/3.19.html
Some of the more significant changes in CMake 3.19 are:
-
“cmake(1)” and “cmake-gui(1)” now recognize “CMakePresets.json” and
“CMakeUserPresets.json” files (see “cmake-presets(7)”). -
The “Xcode” generator now uses the Xcode “new build system” when
generating for Xcode 12.0 or higher. See the
“CMAKE_XCODE_BUILD_SYSTEM” variable. One may use “-T buildsystem=1”
to switch to the legacy build system. -
The Visual Studio Generators for VS 2015 and above gained support
for the Visual Studio Tools for Android. One may now set
“CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME” to “Android” to generate “.vcxproj” files for
the Android tools. -
CMake learned to support “ISPC” as a first-class language that can
be enabled via the “project()” and “enable_language()” commands.
“ISPC” is currently supported by the Makefile Generators and the
“Ninja” generator on Linux, macOS, and Windows using the Intel ISPC
compiler. -
“CUDA” language support for Clang now supports separable compilation
(“CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION”) -
The “CMake GUI” now has an environment variable editor.
-
The “cmake_path()” command was added for operations on filesystem
paths. -
The “file(GENERATE)” command gained a new “TARGET” keyword to
support resolving target-dependent generator expressions. -
The “CMAKE_OPTIMIZE_DEPENDENCIES” variable was added to initialize
the new “OPTIMIZE_DEPENDENCIES” target property and avoid
unnecessarily building dependencies for a static library. -
The “CheckCompilerFlag” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCCompilerFlag” and “CheckCXXCompilerFlag” to more languages.
It also supports the “CUDA” and “ISPC” languages. -
The “CheckSourceCompiles” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCSourceCompiles” and “CheckCXXSourceCompiles” to more
languages. It also supports the “CUDA” and “ISPC” languages. -
The “CheckSourceRuns” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCSourceRuns” and “CheckCXXSourceRuns” to more languages. It
also supports the “CUDA” language. -
The “FindCUDAToolkit” module gained support for finding CUDA
toolkits that do not contain “nvcc”, as well as for finding
scattered toolkit installations when cross-compiling. -
Interface Libraries may now have source files added via
“add_library()” or “target_sources()”. Those with sources will be
generated as part of the build system. -
Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 2.8.12 is now
deprecated and will be removed from a future version. Calls to
“cmake_minimum_required()” or “cmake_policy()” that set the policy
version to an older value now issue a deprecation diagnostic.
CMake 3.19 Release Notes
Changes made since CMake 3.18 include the following.
New Features
Presets
- “cmake(1)” and “cmake-gui(1)” now recognize “CMakePresets.json” and
“CMakeUserPresets.json” files (see “cmake-presets(7)”).
Generators
-
The “Xcode” generator now uses the Xcode “new build system” when
generating for Xcode 12.0 or higher. See the
“CMAKE_XCODE_BUILD_SYSTEM” variable. One may use “-T buildsystem=1”
to switch to the legacy build system. -
The “Xcode” generator gained support for linking libraries and
frameworks via the Link Binaries With Libraries build phase
instead of always by embedding linker flags directly. This behavior
is controlled by a new “XCODE_LINK_BUILD_PHASE_MODE” target
property, which is initialized by a new
“CMAKE_XCODE_LINK_BUILD_PHASE_MODE” variable. -
The Visual Studio Generators for VS 2015 and above gained support
for the Visual Studio Tools for Android. One may now set
“CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME” to “Android” to generate “.vcxproj” files for
the Android tools.
Languages
-
CMake learned to support “ISPC” as a first-class language that can
be enabled via the “project()” and “enable_language()” commands.
“ISPC” is currently supported by the Makefile Generators and the
“Ninja” generator on Linux, macOS, and Windows using the Intel ISPC
compiler. -
“CUDA” language support for Clang now includes:
-
separable compilation (“CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION”), and
-
finding scattered toolkit installations when cross-compiling.
-
File-Based API
-
The “cmake-file-api(7)” “codemodel” version 2 “version” field has
been updated to 2.2. -
The “cmake-file-api(7)” “codemodel” version 2 “target” object gained
a new “languageStandard” field in the “compileGroups” objects.
Command-Line
-
The “cmake(1)” command-line tool’s “–install” mode gained a “–
default-directory-permissions” option. -
“cmake(1)” gained a “-E create_hardlink” command-line tool that can
be used to create hardlinks between files.
GUI
- The “CMake GUI” now has an environment variable editor.
Commands
-
The “add_test()” command now (officially) supports whitespace and
other special characters in the name for the test it creates. See
policy “CMP0110”. -
The “cmake_language()” command gained a “DEFER” mode to schedule
command calls to occur at the end of processing a directory. -
The “cmake_path()” command was added for operations on filesystem
paths. -
The “configure_file()” command gained a “NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS”
option to suppress copying the input file’s permissions to the
output file. -
The “execute_process()” command gained a “COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL”
option to specify a fatal error. -
The “file(ARCHIVE_CREATE)” command gained a “COMPRESSION_LEVEL”
option to specify the compression level. -
The “file(CHMOD)” and “file(CHMOD_RECURSE)” subcommands were added
to set permissions of files and directories. -
The “file(DOWNLOAD)” command “” argument is now optional. If
it is not specified, the file is not saved. -
The “file(GENERATE)” command gained a new “TARGET” keyword to
support resolving target-dependent generator expressions. -
The “file()” command gained a new “REAL_PATH” sub-command to compute
a path with symlinks resolved. -
The “find_package()” command learned to handle a version range.
-
The “separate_arguments()” command gained a new “PROGRAM” option. It
allows the arguments to be treated as a program invocation and will
resolve the executable to a full path if it can be found. -
The “DIRECTORY” option of the “set_property()”, “get_property()”,
and “get_directory_property()” commands now accepts references to
binary directory paths, such as the value of
“CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR”. -
The “string()” command gained a set of new “JSON” sub commands that
provide JSON parsing capabilities.
Variables
-
The “CMAKE_CLANG_VFS_OVERLAY” variable was added to tell Clang to
use a VFS overlay to support the Windows SDK when cross-compiling
from hosts with case-sensitive filesystems. -
The “CMAKE_MFC_FLAG” variable now supports generator expressions.
-
The “CMAKE_OPTIMIZE_DEPENDENCIES” variable was added to initialize
the new “OPTIMIZE_DEPENDENCIES” target property and avoid
unnecessarily building dependencies for a static library. -
The “CMAKE_PCH_INSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES” variable was added to
initialize the new “PCH_INSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES” target property. -
The “CMAKE_VS_WINDOWS_TARGET_PLATFORM_VERSION_MAXIMUM” variable was
added to tell the Visual Studio Generators what maximum version of
the Windows SDK to choose.
Properties
-
The “EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL” target property now supports “generator
expressions”. -
The “OPTIMIZE_DEPENDENCIES” target property was added to avoid
unnecessarily building dependencies for a static library. -
The “PCH_INSTANTIATE_TEMPLATES” target property was added to enable
template instantiation in the precompiled header. This is enabled by
default and may significantly improve compile times. Currently only
supported for Clang (version 11 or later). -
The “WIN32_EXECUTABLE” target property now supports “generator
expressions”.
Modules
-
The “CheckCompilerFlag” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCCompilerFlag” and “CheckCXXCompilerFlag” to more languages.
It also supports the “CUDA” and “ISPC” languages. -
The “CheckLinkerFlag” module now supports the “CUDA” language.
-
The “CheckSourceCompiles” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCSourceCompiles” and “CheckCXXSourceCompiles” to more
languages. It also supports the “CUDA” and “ISPC” languages. -
The “CheckSourceRuns” module has been added to generalize
“CheckCSourceRuns” and “CheckCXXSourceRuns” to more languages. It
also supports the “CUDA” language. -
The “CMakePackageConfigHelpers” module gained support for version
ranges. -
The “FindCUDAToolkit” module gained support for finding CUDA
toolkits that do not contain “nvcc”, as well as for finding
scattered toolkit installations when cross-compiling. -
The “FindPackageHandleStandardArgs” module learned to handle version
ranges. It also gained the “find_package_check_version()” command to
check the validity of a version against version-related arguments of
“find_package()” command. -
The “FindPython3”, “FindPython2” and “FindPython” modules gained the
ability to handle a version range. -
The “FindPython3”, “FindPython2” and “FindPython” modules provide,
respectively, the variable “Python3_LINK_OPTIONS”,
“Python2_LINK_OPTIONS” and “Python_LINK_OPTIONS” for link options. -
The “FindSDL” module now provides:
-
An imported target “SDL::SDL”.
-
Result variables “SDL_LIBRARIES” and “SDL_INCLUDE_DIRS”.
-
Version variables “SDL_VERSION”, “SDL_VERSION_MAJOR”,
“SDL_VERSION_MINOR”, and “SDL_VERSION_PATCH”.
-
-
The “FindSWIG” module gained the ability to handle a version range.
-
The “FindTIFF” module gained a “CXX” component to find the “tiffxx”
library containing C++ bindings. -
The “FindVulkan” module now provides a “Vulkan::glslc” imported
target and associated “Vulkan_GLSLC_EXECUTABLE” variable which
contain the path to the GLSL SPIR-V compiler. -
The “UseSWIG” module gained support for new source file properties
“OUTPUT_DIR” and “OUTFILE_DIR” to manage output directories on a
per-source basis.
CTest
- “ctest(1)” now supports the CUDA “compute-sanitizer” checker
(previously known as “cuda-memcheck”) as the
“CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND”. The different tools (“memcheck”,
“racecheck”, “synccheck” and “initcheck”) supported by “compute-
sanitizer” can be selected by adding appropriate flags to the
“CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND_OPTIONS” variable. The default flags are
“–tool memcheck --leak-check full”.
CPack
-
CPack gained the “CPACK_PRE_BUILD_SCRIPTS”,
“CPACK_POST_BUILD_SCRIPTS”, and “CPACK_PACKAGE_FILES” variables. -
The “CPack External Generator” gained the
“CPACK_EXTERNAL_BUILT_PACKAGES” variable. -
The “CPack WIX Generator” gained a “CPACK_WIX_CUSTOM_XMLNS” option
to specify custom XML namespaces.
Other
- Interface Libraries may now have source files added via
“add_library()” or “target_sources()”. Those with sources will be
generated as part of the build system.
Deprecated and Removed Features
-
Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 2.8.12 is now
deprecated and will be removed from a future version. Calls to
“cmake_minimum_required()” or “cmake_policy()” that set the policy
version to an older value now issue a deprecation diagnostic. -
An explicit deprecation diagnostic was added for policy “CMP0071”
(“CMP0071” and 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. -
macOS SDKs older than 10.5 are no longer supported.
-
“cmake-gui(1)” now requires Qt5. Support for compiling with Qt4 has
been removed. -
The “cmake(1)” command-line option “–warn-unused-vars” has been
removed and is now silently ignored. The option has not worked
correctly since CMake 3.3.
Documentation
The following guides have been added:
-
“IDE Integration Guide”
-
“Importing and Exporting Guide”
Other Changes
-
Building for macOS will now use the latest SDK available on the
system, unless the user has explicitly chosen a SDK using
“CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT”. The deployment target or system macOS version
will not affect the choice of SDK. -
The “CMAKE__COMPILER” variable may now be used to store
“mandatory” compiler flags like the “CC” and other environment
variables. -
The “CMAKE_FLAGS_INIT" variable will now be considered during
the compiler identification check if other sources like
"CMAKE_FLAGS” or “CFLAGS” are not set. -
The “find_program()” command now requires permission to execute but
not to read the file found. See policy “CMP0109”. -
An imported target missing its location property fails during
generation if the location is used. See policy “CMP0111”. -
The following target-based generator expressions that query for
directory or file name components no longer add a dependency on the
evaluated target. See policy “CMP0112”.-
“TARGET_FILE_DIR”
-
“TARGET_LINKER_FILE_BASE_NAME”
-
“TARGET_LINKER_FILE_NAME”
-
“TARGET_LINKER_FILE_DIR”
-
“TARGET_SONAME_FILE_NAME”
-
“TARGET_SONAME_FILE_DIR”
-
“TARGET_PDB_FILE_NAME”
-
“TARGET_PDB_FILE_DIR”
-
“TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR”
-
“TARGET_BUNDLE_CONTENT_DIR”
-
-
Makefile Generators no longer repeat custom commands from target
dependencies. See policy “CMP0113”. -
The “ExternalProject” module handling of step target dependencies
has been revised. See policy “CMP0114”. -
The “OSX_ARCHITECTURES” target property is now respected for the
“ASM” language. -
If “CUDA” compiler detection fails with user-specified
“CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES” or “CMAKE_CUDA_HOST_COMPILER”, an error
is raised.
Changes made since CMake 3.19.0-rc1:
Ben Boeckel (3):
- ci: use a patched sccache on macOS
- ci: update to use CMake 3.18.4
- ci: update to Qt 5.15.1
Ben McMorran (1):
- Help: Add JSON schema for CMakePresets.json
Brad King (12):
- cmake-gui: Attach icons only to main GUI executables
- clang-format: Fix include block order in ctest.cxx and cpack.cxx
- cmConsoleBuf: Factor out cout/cerr console buffer management
- Tests: Add cases for CheckSource{Compiles,Runs} bad arguments
- Fix regression in test/install/package configuration selection
- CMP0111: Clarify that the new error is on a missing property setting
- find_package: Fix regression in searching root prefix
- ci: add Python to PATH on Windows
- FindBoost: Honor Boost_NO_SYSTEM_PATHS when finding upstream BoostConfig
- FindBoost: Honor BOOST_ROOT when finding upstream BoostConfig
- FindRuby: Restore compatibility variable RUBY_VENDORLIB_DIR
- CMake 3.19.0-rc2
Craig Scott (1):
- Help: Cleanup typos and grammar for the 3.19 release
Cristian Adam (1):
- file(CONFIGURE): Allow angle brackets in content
Deniz Bahadir (1):
- add_custom_command: Properly recognize if sources depend on config
Felipe Torrezan (1):
- IAR: Use .o object file extension with IAR-Ilink toolchains
Gusts Kaksis (1):
- Xcode: Fix regression that automatically links libraries in source list
Issam E. Maghni (2):
- bootstrap: add samu as known ninja processors
- bootstrap: add smake as known make processors
Johnny Jazeix (1):
- cmake: Fix ‘-E cat’ command for binary files on Windows
Kyle Edwards (21):
- Help: Fix invalid code-block in cmake(1) manual
- CMake GUI: Disable preset fields instead of hiding them
- Help: Move CMakePresets.json documentation into a separate file
- Help: s/unusedVars/unusedCli/
- Help: Move vendor field into example
- Help: Show multiple ways of doing cacheVariables
- Help: Show environment field
- Help: Add documentation for debug field
- Help: Add inheritance to CMakePresets.json example
- Help: Make architecture and toolset descriptions generic
- Help: Clarify purpose of warnings and errors
- Tests: Add JSON schema validation to CMakePresets.json tests
- CI: Install jsonschema for schema testing
- CMakePresets.json: Properly report macro expansion errors
- CMakePresets.json: Allow boolean for cache variable value
- CMakePresets.json: Add ${sourceDirName} macro
- CMakePresets.json: Split cmakeGeneratorConfig field
- CMakePresets.json: Rework how --preset argument is handled
- Ninja Multi-Config: Don’t try to calculate dependencies for “all”
- ccmake: Don’t list --preset in --help
- CMake GUI: Add --browse-manual argument
Marc Chevrier (2):
- FindPython: Add support of version 3.10
- cmake_path: Enhance documentation
Michael Hirsch (1):
- CheckSource{Runs,Compiles}: Fix default Fortran source extension
Raul Tambre (1):
- VS: Don’t compute CUDA options unless necessary
Robert Bozzetto (1):
- separate_arguments: Fix crash on *_COMMAND with no arguments
Robert Maynard (3):
- cmake: command arguments which use ‘=’ behave consistently
- Modules: Do not implicitly add new functions via old Check Modules
- CUDA: Use MSVC version to determine supported C++ standard levels
Volker Jacht (1):
- VS: Remove flag table entries for Fortran /Z* flags