3/23/2023 0 Comments Cmake configureThis prevents source code getting polluted with build related artifacts like object files. During the CMake build process it is customary to create a folder named `build` that keeps all the build artifacts. Unlike Make, CMake’s two stage build process lets the programmer work with platform’s debugging tools if necessary. This is the best possible reuse without incurring the cost of unnecessary inheritance baggage from Make. CMake effectively composes Make as a build system within itself. Then the platform’s native toolchain is used for the actual building. In the first stage, standard build files are created from CMakeLists.txt. The CMake Build ProcessĪ program (or a library) is built using CMake in two stages. Before we do, learn more about what is CMake. But any magic – not just advanced technology – can be understood if we break it into stages. All these from the same base – a single CMakeLists.txt file. ![]() CMake is a generator of build systems that can produce Makefiles for Unix like systems, Visual Studio Solutions for Windows and XCode projects for Mac OS. ![]() What if there was a tool that generates build systems from a single starting point – akin to a Makefile? Enter CMake. Make vs Make: CMake – the Cross-Platform Makeįrom the previous exposition it is clear that setting up a cross platform build system is no child’s play. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Efforts to further automate the process by introducing tools like automake, autoconf and m4 increased the complexity. Setting up a build system the right way became extremely difficult with configure and Makefile.in. ? When configure.ac and automake were introduced to compile a mere ten-line program the problem of too many (layers) was apparent. But of course, all problems in computer science can be solved by another layer of indirection except for the problem of too many layers of indirection. They did what they best knew – introduce the extra level of indirection. When the configure scripts stated to get bigger than the actual program, programmers knew they had to do something. Complexity: The Party PooperĬreating and maintaining the configure script and Makefile.in were difficult due to their complexity. This came to be popularly known as the build dance as it involved the configuring, building and installing steps. Given the source and the Makefile.in, programmer instinctively opened a terminal and now wrote: It is the responsibility of the configure script to take the Makfile.in and produce a customized Makefile specific to the system. They applied the fundamental theorem of Software Engineering and introduced the extra level of indirection – Makefile.in Programmers being programmers wanted these customizations to be done automatically. The Makefile had to be customized specific to the system. Programmers wanted to compile the same source across these diverse systems but the Makefile was a constraint. Enter ConfigureĪs times went by systems started to get diverse. The system worked flawlessly because it was built by programmers to be used by programmers. Failure mostly meant fixing compilation errors which programmers were adept at anyway. ![]() Success meant the program or library was immediately available for use. Given the source and the Makefile, programmer instinctively opened a terminal and wrote: Hence it was easy for programmers to create a Makefile, define the standard targets and expect Make to take care of the rest. Every self-respecting Unix system had a version of Make bundled with it. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”Īny library or executable that was made compiling more than a couple of source files involved Make.
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