# CMake 3.31.0-rc2 is ready for testing

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-3-31-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/12800
**Category:** Announcements
**Created:** [October 18, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-3-31-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/12800 "2024-10-18T23:22:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![johnwparent](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/johnwparent/32/2179_2.png) [@johnwparent](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/johnwparent)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-3-31-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/12800/1 "2024-10-18T23:22:20Z")

</div>

I am proud to announce the second CMake 3.31 release candidate.  
[https://cmake.org/download/](https://cmake.org/download/)

Documentation is available at:  
[https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.31](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.31)

Release notes appear below and are also published at  
[https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.31/release/3.31.html](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.31/release/3.31.html)

Release milestone is available at:  
[release milestone](https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/milestones/150)

Some of the most significant changes in CMake 3.31 are:

- “cmake-presets(7)” files may now include comments using the key  
“$comment” at any level within the JSON object to provide  
documentation.

- The Ninja Generators and Makefile Generators now produce a “codegen”  
build target. See policy “CMP0171”. It drives a subset of the  
build graph sufficient to run custom commands created with  
“add\_custom\_command()”'s new “CODEGEN” option.

- The “CMAKE\_LINK\_LIBRARIES\_STRATEGY” variable and corresponding  
“LINK\_LIBRARIES\_STRATEGY” target property were added to optionally  
specify the strategy CMake uses to generate link lines.

- The “CMAKE\_AIX\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ARCHIVE” variable and corresponding  
“AIX\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ARCHIVE” target property were added to create  
shared libraries on AIX as shared library archives.

- The “CMAKE\_EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” variable, a corresponding  
“CMAKE\_EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” environment variable, and an  
“EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” target property, were added to enable  
exporting C++ module compile commands. This is only supported with  
Ninja Generators.

- The “CMAKE\_\<LANG\>_HOST\_COMPILER\_ID" and  
"CMAKE_\<LANG\>_HOST\_COMPILER\_VERSION" variables were added, where  
“\<LANG\>” is either “CUDA” or “HIP”. They are populated when  
"CMAKE_\<LANG\>\_COMPILER\_ID” is “NVIDIA” to identify NVCC’s host  
compiler.

- Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 3.10 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.

- When static libraries on link lines are de-duplicated (by policy  
“CMP0156”), the first occurrence is now kept on all platforms. See  
policy “CMP0179”.

- The “file(DOWNLOAD)” and “file(UPLOAD)” commands now verify TLS  
server certificates for connections to “https://” URLs by default.  
See the “CMAKE\_TLS\_VERIFY” variable for details. This change was  
made without a policy so that users are protected even when building  
projects that have not been updated. Users may set the  
“CMAKE\_TLS\_VERIFY” environment variable to “0” to restore the old  
default.

CMake 3.31 Release Notes

* * *

Changes made since CMake 3.30 include the following.

# New Features

## Presets

- “cmake-presets(7)” files may now include comments using the key  
“$comment” at any level within the JSON object to provide  
documentation.

- “cmake-presets(7)” files may now request graphviz output using the  
“graphviz” key in a configure preset.

## Generators

- The Ninja Generators and Makefile Generators now produce a “codegen”  
build target. See policy “CMP0171”. It drives a subset of the  
build graph sufficient to run custom commands created with  
“add\_custom\_command()”'s new “CODEGEN” option.

## Command-Line

- The “cmake --workflow” mode now accepts a preset name as the first  
argument, allowing the simpler command line “cmake --workflow  
\<preset\>”.

- The “cmake -LR[A][H]” option was added to list cache entries whose  
names match a regular expression.

## Compilers

- The LFortran compiler is now supported with “compiler id”  
“LFortran”.

## Commands

- The “add\_custom\_command()” command gained a “CODEGEN” option to mark  
a custom command’s outputs as dependencies of a “codegen” target.  
See policy “CMP0171”.

- The “cmake\_pkg\_config()” command was added as an endpoint for using  
CMake’s native pkg-config format parser. The only supported option  
in this release is “EXTRACT”, which provides low-level access to the  
values produced by parsing a pkg-config file. For most users, this  
is not yet a suitable replacement for the “FindPkgConfig” module.

- The “file(ARCHIVE\_CREATE)” command gained a “WORKING\_DIRECTORY”  
option to specify a working directory for the archiving process.

- The “file(MAKE\_DIRECTORY)” command gained a “RESULT” option to  
capture failure in a result variable.

- The “install(FILES)” and “install(DIRECTORY)” commands’ “TYPE”  
argument gained support for a “LIBEXEC” type.

## Variables

- The “CMAKE\_AIX\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ARCHIVE” variable and corresponding  
“AIX\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ARCHIVE” target property were added to create  
shared libraries on AIX as shared library archives.

- The “CMAKE\_EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” variable, a corresponding  
“CMAKE\_EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” environment variable, and an  
“EXPORT\_BUILD\_DATABASE” target property, were added to enable  
exporting C++ module compile commands. This is only supported with  
Ninja Generators.

- The “CMAKE\_HOST\_EXECUTABLE\_SUFFIX” variable was added to provide the  
suffix for executable names on the host platform.

- The “CMAKE\_\<LANG\>_HOST\_COMPILER\_ID" and  
"CMAKE_\<LANG\>_HOST\_COMPILER\_VERSION" variables were added, where  
“\<LANG\>” is either “CUDA” or “HIP”. They are populated when  
"CMAKE_\<LANG\>\_COMPILER\_ID” is “NVIDIA” to identify NVCC’s host  
compiler.

- The “CMAKE\_\<LANG\>\_STANDARD\_LINK\_DIRECTORIES” variable was added.  
Toolchain files can set this variable to control which link library  
directory paths are always passed to the compiler for the specified  
language.

- The “CMAKE\_LINK\_LIBRARIES\_STRATEGY” variable and corresponding  
“LINK\_LIBRARIES\_STRATEGY” target property were added to optionally  
specify the strategy CMake uses to generate link lines.

## Properties

- The “MACOSX\_FRAMEWORK\_BUNDLE\_NAME” target property was added to set  
the “CFBundleName” key in an Apple “FRAMEWORK”'s “Info.plist” file.

- The “UNITY\_BUILD” target property now supports the “CUDA” language.

- The “VS\_FRAMEWORK\_REFERENCES” target property was added to tell  
Visual Studio Generators to add framework references.

## Modules

- Check modules now support a “CMAKE\_REQUIRED\_LINK\_DIRECTORIES”  
variable. The following modules gained this support:

- The “CMakePackageConfigHelpers” module’s  
“generate\_apple\_platform\_selection\_file()” function gained support  
for iOS Mac Catalyst.

- The “GoogleTest” module “gtest\_discover\_tests()” command gained a  
new “DISCOVERY\_EXTRA\_ARGS” keyword. It allows extra arguments to be  
appended to the command line when querying for the list of tests.

- The “FindCUDAToolkit” module now provides a “CUDA::nvml\_static”  
target.

- The “FindOpenMP” module gained support for the “CUDA” language.

## CTest

- The “ctest\_submit()” command and “ctest -T Submit” step now verify  
TLS server certificates for connections to “https://” URLs by  
default. See the “CTEST\_TLS\_VERIFY” variable for details.

- The “ctest\_submit()” command and “ctest -T Submit” step now require  
TLS 1.2 or higher for connections to “https://” URLs by default.  
See the “CTEST\_TLS\_VERSION” variable for details.

## CPack

- The “CPack DEB Generator” gained a “CPACK\_DEBIAN\_PACKAGE\_MULTIARCH”  
option to support multi-arch packages.

- The “CPack IFW Generator” gained the new  
“CPACK\_IFW\_PACKAGE\_PRODUCT\_IMAGE\_URLS” variable to specify images  
associated with entries of “CPACK\_IFW\_PACKAGE\_PRODUCT\_IMAGES”. This  
feature is available for QtIFW 4.0 and newer.

- The “CPack RPM Generator” gained support for “zstd” as a  
“CPACK\_RPM\_COMPRESSION\_TYPE” value.

- The “CPack” module enables per-machine installation by default in  
the “CPack WIX Generator”. See policy “CMP0172” and the  
“CPACK\_WIX\_INSTALL\_SCOPE” variable.

# Deprecated and Removed Features

- Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 3.10 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.

- The “CMakeFindFrameworks” module has been deprecated via “CMP0173”.  
Projects should use “find\_library()” instead.

- The “Visual Studio 12 2013” generator has been removed.

# Other Changes

- When static libraries on link lines are de-duplicated (by policy  
“CMP0156”), the first occurrence is now kept on all platforms. See  
policy “CMP0179”.

- Empty list elements in the “TEST\_LAUNCHER” and  
“CROSSCOMPILING\_EMULATOR” target properties are now preserved by:

- The “execute\_process()” command’s “ENCODING” option, meaningful on  
Windows, now defaults to “UTF-8”. See policy “CMP0176”.

- The “file(DOWNLOAD)” and “file(UPLOAD)” commands now verify TLS  
server certificates for connections to “https://” URLs by default.  
See the “CMAKE\_TLS\_VERIFY” variable for details. This change was  
made without a policy so that users are protected even when building  
projects that have not been updated. Users may set the  
“CMAKE\_TLS\_VERIFY” environment variable to “0” to restore the old  
default.

- The “file(DOWNLOAD)” and “file(UPLOAD)” commands now require TLS 1.2  
or higher for connections to “https://” URLs by default. See the  
“CMAKE\_TLS\_VERSION” variable for details.

- The “file(GET\_RUNTIME\_DEPENDENCIES)” command was updated to more  
closely match the dynamic loader’s behavior on Linux.

- The “install()” command’s “DESTINATION” arguments are now  
normalized, with the exception of “INCLUDES DESTINATION” arguments  
in “install(TARGETS)”. See policy “CMP0177”.

- The “project()” command now always sets “\<PROJECT-NAME\>\_SOURCE\_DIR”,  
“\<PROJECT-NAME\>\_BINARY\_DIR”, and “\<PROJECT-NAME\>\_IS\_TOP\_LEVEL” as  
both normal variables and cache entries. See policy “CMP0180”.

* * *

Changes made since CMake 3.31.0-rc1:

Aditya Vidyadhar Kamath (1):

- AIX: Enable versioned shared objects with CMAKE\_AIX\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ARCHIVE

Brad King (6):

- cmGeneratorTarget: Simplify ComputeVersionedName signature
- cmGeneratorTarget: Simplify AIX shared library archive name computation
- Xcode: Use ad-hoc signing during compiler id for iOS Mac Catalyst
- Tests/RunCMake/CMP0156: Match expected results more precisely Revert “Ensure imported targets in sibling dirs are deduplicated”
- CMake 3.31.0-rc2

Pavel Liavonau (1):

- VS: Honor INTERPROCEDURAL\_OPTIMIZATION for Fortran targets

Peter Kokot (1):

- Help: Add 3.31 release note for file(MAKE\_DIRECTORY)'s RESULT option

Robert Maynard (1):

- FindCUDAToolkit: nvrtc shouldn’t hard depend on nvJitLink