# CMake 4.3.0-rc2 is ready for testing
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-4-3-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/15538
**Category:** Announcements
**Created:** [March 4, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-4-3-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/15538 "2026-03-04T00:14:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@johnwparent](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/johnwparent)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-4-3-0-rc2-is-ready-for-testing/15538/1 "2026-03-04T00:14:14Z")
I am proud to announce the second CMake 4.3 release candidate.
[https://cmake.org/download/](https://cmake.org/download/)
Documentation is available at:
[https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.3](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.3)
Release notes appear below and are also published at
[https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.3/release/4.3.html](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.3/release/4.3.html)
Release milestone is available at:
[release milestone](https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/milestones/185)
Some of the most significant changes in CMake 4.3 are:
- Support for importing and exporting packages described using the
Common Package Specification (CPS) was added.
- “cmake-instrumentation(7)” was added to enable collection of timing
data, target information, and system diagnostic information during
the configure, generate, build, test, and install steps of a CMake
project
- “cmake --build” now supports specifying a build directory and preset
together. The build preset will be used with the explicit build
directory substituted.
- The “cmake -E bin2c” command-line tool was added.
- CMake archive operations gained support for multithreading, compression
levels, and new compression methods.
- The “get\_property()” and “set\_property()” commands now support a
“FILE\_SET” scope for file set properties of a target.
- The “CMAKE\_\\_LINK\_FLAGS” and “CMAKE\_\\_LINK\_FLAGS\_\”
variables were added to support per-language link flags for all
target types.
- “$\” generator expressions were added for query,
generation, and transformation operations on strings.
CMake 4.3 Release Notes
* * *
Changes made since CMake 4.2 include the following.
# New Features
## Common Package Specification
- Support for importing and exporting packages described using the
Common Package Specification (CPS) was added. This improves build
system interoperability by allowing expressive, feature-rich package
descriptions to be exchanged in a format other than CMake Language.
## Instrumentation
- “cmake-instrumentation(7)” was added to enable collection of timing
data, target information, and system diagnostic information during
the configure, generate, build, test, and install steps of a CMake
project:
## Presets
- “cmake-presets(7)” files now support schema version “11”. The “jobs”
field under test presets now supports an empty string, to match the
behavior of “ctest --parallel” with the value omitted.
- The “jobs” field under both build and test presets no longer accept
negative integer values, regardless of the schema version.
## File-Based API
- The “cmake-file-api(7)” “codemodel” version 2 version field has been
updated to 2.10.
- The “cmake-file-api(7)” “codemodel” version 2 “target” object gained
a new “interfaceSources” array field, and the “sourceGroups” array
items gained a new “interfaceSourceIndexes” array field.
## Platforms
- “HIP” language code may now be compiled for SPIR-V targets, e.g.,
via chipStar. See the “CMAKE\_HIP\_PLATFORM” variable.
## Command-Line
- “cmake --version” now supports a “=json-v1” value to print detailed
version information in a JSON format.
- “cmake --build” now supports specifying a build directory and preset
together. The build preset will be used with the explicit build
directory substituted.
- The “cmake -E” commands “md5sum”, “sha1sum”, “sha224sum”,
“sha256sum”, “sha384sum”, and “sha512sum” now support reading from
standard input by passing “-”.
- The “cmake -E bin2c” command-line tool was added.
- The “cmake -E tar” command-line tool:
## Commands
- The “cmake\_instrumentation()” command was added to make project-
level instrumentation queries.
- The “file(ARCHIVE\_CREATE)” command:
- The “get\_property()” and “set\_property()” commands now support a
“FILE\_SET” scope for file set properties of a target.
- The “string(JSON)” command gained new “GET\_RAW” and “STRING\_ENCODE”
modes.
- The “source\_group()” command now supports “generator expressions”.
- The “cmake\_host\_system\_information()” command gained a
“LOCALE\_CHARSET” query for the expected “cmake-language(7)” script
encoding.
## Variables
- The “CMAKE\_\\_LINK\_FLAGS” and “CMAKE\_\\_LINK\_FLAGS\_\”
variables were added to support per-language link flags for all
target types. See policy “CMP0210”.
- The “CMAKE\_VERIFY\_PRIVATE\_HEADER\_SETS” variable and corresponding
“VERIFY\_PRIVATE\_HEADER\_SETS” target property were added to enable
build rules that verify all headers in private file sets can be used
on their own.
## Properties
- A “\\_PVS\_STUDIO” target property and supporting
“CMAKE\_\\_PVS\_STUDIO” variable were introduced to tell Makefile
Generators and Ninja Generators to run “pvs-studio-analyzer” with
the compiler for “C” and “CXX” languages.
- When “VERIFY\_INTERFACE\_HEADER\_SETS” is set to true on an executable
target, that target’s interface file sets are verified regardless of
its “ENABLE\_EXPORTS” property. See policy “CMP0209”.
- The “PRIVATE\_HEADER\_SETS\_TO\_VERIFY” target property was added to
customize which private file sets to verify when the target’s
“VERIFY\_PRIVATE\_HEADER\_SETS” property is true.
## Modules
- The “FindCUDAToolkit” module now creates a “CUDA::bin2c” imported
target for the bin2c utility.
- The “FindLibXml2” module gained a “LibXml2\_USE\_STATIC\_LIBS” hint to
select static libraries.
- The “FindRuby” module now provides imported targets.
- The “FindSQLite3” module now provides imported targets with the
“SQLite3::” prefix.
- The “UseJava” module’s “add\_jar()” command now accepts a new
“INCLUDE\_MODULES” option that adds its arguments to the “–module-
path” argument to the Java compiler. This allows building JAR files
that use JPMS modules in their build.
## Generator Expressions
- String Comparison generator expressions were added.
- “$\” generator expressions were added for query,
generation, and transformation operations on strings.
- The “$\” and “$\” generator
expressions were added to query file set existence and properties.
- The “$\” and “$\” generator
expressions were added to query source file existence and
properties.
## CTest
- The “CTestCoverageCollectGCOV” module:
## CPack
- “CPack” gained the “CPACK\_COMPRESSION\_LEVEL” variable to control the
compression level used when creating packages.
- The “CPack Archive Generator”:
- The “CPack DEB Generator” gained a new
“CPACK\_DEBIAN\_COMPRESSION\_LEVEL” variable to control the compression
level used when creating Debian packages.
- The “CPack WIX Generator” now supports per-user installers by
setting “CPACK\_WIX\_INSTALL\_SCOPE” to “perUser”.
# Deprecated and Removed Features
- The “CMAKE\_ENABLE\_EXPORTS” variable is deprecated in favor of the
“CMAKE\_EXECUTABLE\_ENABLE\_EXPORTS” and
“CMAKE\_SHARED\_LIBRARY\_ENABLE\_EXPORTS” variables.
- The “export(EXPORT)” command no longer allows certain arguments to
be missing or empty. See policy “CMP0208”.
# Other Changes
- The “cmake -E tar” command-line tool and the “file(ARCHIVE\_EXTRACT)”
command now reject archive entries whose paths are absolute or
contain “..” path traversal components.
- The family of “cmake --trace” and related commands now print “end”
commands for control structures: “endblock()”, “endforeach()”,
“endfunction()”, “endif()”, “endmacro()”, and “endwhile()”.
- The “file(CREATE\_LINK)” command’s “COPY\_ON\_ERROR” option, when used
with a directory, now copies directory content. See policy
“CMP0205”.
- The “file(GET\_RUNTIME\_DEPENDENCIES)” and
“install(RUNTIME\_DEPENDENCY\_SET)” commands now normalize paths
before matching filters. See policy “CMP0207”.
- The precompiled Linux “aarch64” binaries provided on [cmake.org](http://cmake.org) now
require GLIBC 2.28 or higher.
- The precompiled macOS binary provided on “[cmake.org](http://cmake.org)” for macOS
10.13+ now requires macOS 12 or newer for the “cmake-gui(1)”
application. The command-line tools still run on macOS 10.13.
- The precompiled Windows binaries provided on [cmake.org](http://cmake.org) now require
Windows 10 or higher.
* * *
Changes made since CMake 4.3.0-rc1:
Alex Turbov (1):
- pre-commit: version bump `typos` hook + fix found typo
Ben Boeckel (3):
- Modules/\*Compiler: reword errors about invalid variable settings
- cmExportInstallFileGenerator: fix error message construction
- c++modules: Revert partial implementation of per-importer BMIs for 4.3
Brad King (11):
- FindVulkan: Use ENV{VULKAN\_SDK} only if it exists
- FindVulkan: Do not search bin directories for libraries
- FindVulkan: Drop support for 32-bit SDK on Windows
- FindVulkan: Add support for cross-compiling between Windows x64/ARM64
- Tests/RunCMake/ParseImplicitData: Fix Windows+CUDA sample naming convention
- cmNinjaTargetGenerator: Factor out helper for shell path arguments
- c++modules: Fix scanning with spaces in subdirectory name
- Experimental: Restore documentation link to CPS
- Experimental: Restore `import std` gate
- ci: Enable `import std` tests in Fedora GCC jobs
- CMake 4.3.0-rc2
Eduard Voronkin (1):
- FASTBuild: fix iface targets with private sources
Kyle Edwards (1):
- Help: Clarify that bin2c placeholders are like configure\_file()
Marc Chevrier (2):
- FindPython: enhance ARCHITECTURE detection
- FindPython: Ensure sysconfig paths are in CMake format
Martin Duffy (1):
- instrumentation: Test shell redirection in instrumented custom commands
Matthew Woehlke (4):
- CPS: Fix C features
- Help: Update CPS release notes for 4.3
- CPS: Fix crash on bad paths in `.cps` file
- Help: Tweak CMAKE\_INSTALL\_EXPORTS\_AS\_PACKAGE\_INFO
Michael Ferrari (1):
- c++modules: Fix clang `*.modules.json` path on Windows
Nuno Nobre (1):
- Help: Clarify what policies a “policy version” sets to NEW
Peter Kokot (1):
- Help: Fix install(SBOM) argument typo
Tyler Yankee (3):
- Help: Add 4.3 version tags for string JSON operations
- Help: Update presets release notes for 4.3
- presets: Correct version-agnostic negative jobs