cmake build disregards CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE for the Visual Studio generator

Usage
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1

I tried building via the command line interface:

cmake ../path_to_source -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release 
cmake --build .

But when I ran the built target I got some strange dll errors. II discovered that the built executable was the debug version of my application, even though I specified -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release.

To actually build the release version of the executable I had to specify the config when triggering the build:

cmake --build . --config Release

The documentation for the build command do not mention this. Maybe it should be amended with this information:
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/build_command.html

2

I think the documentation of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE already explains that behavior:

Specifies the build type on single-configuration generators.

This variable is only meaningful to single-configuration generators (such as Makefile Generators and Ninja) i.e. those which choose a single configuration when CMake runs to generate a build tree as opposed to multi-configuration generators which offer selection of the build configuration within the generated build environment.

3

Maybe the documentation for the CMake build command should be amended with similar information as well. Maybe something along the lines of:

“Note that multi-configuration generators will not use the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE variable and hence default to a debug configuration unless another configuration is specified with the --config option.”