CMake 2016

Introduction

CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software. CMake is used to control the software compilation process using simple platform and compiler independent configuration files, and generate native makefiles and workspaces that can be used in the compiler environment of your choice. The suite of CMake tools were created by Kitware in response to the need for a powerful, cross-platform build environment for open-source projects such as ITK and VTK. ¹

Installed version(s)

The following versions are installed and currently available...

... on envirnoment hpc-uniol-env:

• CMake/2.8.12
• CMake/3.6.2
• CMake/3.5.2-gimpi-6.2016
• CMake/3.6.1-gimpi-6.2016

... on environment hpc-env/6.4:

• CMake/3.9.1-GCCcore-6.4.0
• CMake/3.9.5-GCCcore-6.4.0
• CMake/3.12.1-GCCcore-6.4.0
• CMake/3.13.3-GCCcore-6.4.0
• CMake/3.15.2-GCCcore-6.4.0

... on environment hpc-env/8.3:

• CMake/3.9.6
• CMake/3.15.3-GCCcore-8.3.0
• CMake/3.18.4

Loading CMake

To load the desired version of the module, use the module load command, e.g.

module load hpc-env/8.3
module load CMake 

Always remember: this commands are case sensitive!

Using CMake

The most common use case for using CMake is to configure a CMake-compatible software package from source and thereby creating a Makefile file to call make on. To do so, it is usually common to unpack the source file, cd into it, and create a folder called build. As a next step, cd into build and call

<cmake + options> ..

CMake will initialize and create temporary and log files within the current folder build. If CMake does not find any serious errors, it will create the Makefile in the current directory to which you now can call

<make + options>

To find out on how to use CMake you can just type in cmake --help after loading the module to print out a help text to get you started:

$ cmake --help
Usage

  cmake [options] <path-to-source>
  cmake [options] <path-to-existing-build>
  cmake [options] -S <path-to-source> -B <path-to-build>

Specify a source directory to (re-)generate a build system for it in the
current working directory.  Specify an existing build directory to
re-generate its build system.

Options
  -S <path-to-source>          = Explicitly specify a source directory.
  -B <path-to-build>           = Explicitly specify a build directory.
  -C <initial-cache>           = Pre-load a script to populate the cache.
  -D <var>[:<type>]=<value>    = Create or update a cmake cache entry.
  -U <globbing_expr>           = Remove matching entries from CMake cache.
  -G <generator-name>          = Specify a build system generator.
  -T <toolset-name>            = Specify toolset name if supported by
                                 generator.
  -A <platform-name>           = Specify platform name if supported by
                                 generator.
  -Wdev                        = Enable developer warnings.
  -Wno-dev                     = Suppress developer warnings.
  -Werror=dev                  = Make developer warnings errors.
  -Wno-error=dev               = Make developer warnings not errors.
  -Wdeprecated                 = Enable deprecation warnings.
  -Wno-deprecated              = Suppress deprecation warnings.
  -Werror=deprecated           = Make deprecated macro and function warnings
                                 errors.
  -Wno-error=deprecated        = Make deprecated macro and function warnings
                                 not errors.
  -E                           = CMake command mode.
  -L[A][H]                     = List non-advanced cached variables.
  --build <dir>                = Build a CMake-generated project binary tree.
  --install <dir>              = Install a CMake-generated project binary
                                 tree.
  --open <dir>                 = Open generated project in the associated
                                 application.
  -N                           = View mode only.
  -P <file>                    = Process script mode.
  --find-package               = Run in pkg-config like mode.
  --graphviz=[file]            = Generate graphviz of dependencies, see
                                 CMakeGraphVizOptions.cmake for more.
  --system-information [file]  = Dump information about this system.
  --log-level=<ERROR|WARNING|NOTICE|STATUS|VERBOSE|DEBUG|TRACE>
                               = Set the verbosity of messages from CMake
                                 files.  --loglevel is also accepted for
                                 backward compatibility reasons.
  --log-context                = Prepend log messages with context, if given
  --debug-trycompile           = Do not delete the try_compile build tree.
                                 Only useful on one try_compile at a time.
  --debug-output               = Put cmake in a debug mode.
  --debug-find                 = Put cmake find in a debug mode.
  --trace                      = Put cmake in trace mode.
  --trace-expand               = Put cmake in trace mode with variable
                                 expansion.
  --trace-format=<human|json-v1>
                               = Set the output format of the trace.
  --trace-source=<file>        = Trace only this CMake file/module.  Multiple
                                 options allowed.
  --trace-redirect=<file>      = Redirect trace output to a file instead of
                                 stderr.
  --warn-uninitialized         = Warn about uninitialized values.
  --warn-unused-vars           = Warn about unused variables.
  --no-warn-unused-cli         = Don't warn about command line options.
  --check-system-vars          = Find problems with variable usage in system
                                 files.
  --profiling-format=<fmt>     = Output data for profiling CMake scripts.
                                 Supported formats: google-trace
  --profiling-output=<file>    = Select an output path for the profiling data
                                 enabled through --profiling-format.
  --help,-help,-usage,-h,-H,/? = Print usage information and exit.
  --version,-version,/V [<f>]  = Print version number and exit.
  --help-full [<f>]            = Print all help manuals and exit.
  --help-manual <man> [<f>]    = Print one help manual and exit.
  --help-manual-list [<f>]     = List help manuals available and exit.
  --help-command <cmd> [<f>]   = Print help for one command and exit.
  --help-command-list [<f>]    = List commands with help available and exit.
  --help-commands [<f>]        = Print cmake-commands manual and exit.
  --help-module <mod> [<f>]    = Print help for one module and exit.
  --help-module-list [<f>]     = List modules with help available and exit.
  --help-modules [<f>]         = Print cmake-modules manual and exit.
  --help-policy <cmp> [<f>]    = Print help for one policy and exit.
  --help-policy-list [<f>]     = List policies with help available and exit.
  --help-policies [<f>]        = Print cmake-policies manual and exit.
  --help-property <prop> [<f>] = Print help for one property and exit.
  --help-property-list [<f>]   = List properties with help available and
                                 exit.
  --help-properties [<f>]      = Print cmake-properties manual and exit.
  --help-variable var [<f>]    = Print help for one variable and exit.
  --help-variable-list [<f>]   = List variables with help available and exit.
  --help-variables [<f>]       = Print cmake-variables manual and exit.

Generators

The following generators are available on this platform (* marks default):
* Unix Makefiles               = Generates standard UNIX makefiles.
  Green Hills MULTI            = Generates Green Hills MULTI files
                                 (experimental, work-in-progress).
  Ninja                        = Generates build.ninja files.
  Ninja Multi-Config           = Generates build-<Config>.ninja files.
  Watcom WMake                 = Generates Watcom WMake makefiles.
  CodeBlocks - Ninja           = Generates CodeBlocks project files.
  CodeBlocks - Unix Makefiles  = Generates CodeBlocks project files.
  CodeLite - Ninja             = Generates CodeLite project files.
  CodeLite - Unix Makefiles    = Generates CodeLite project files.
  Sublime Text 2 - Ninja       = Generates Sublime Text 2 project files.
  Sublime Text 2 - Unix Makefiles
                               = Generates Sublime Text 2 project files.
  Kate - Ninja                 = Generates Kate project files.
  Kate - Unix Makefiles        = Generates Kate project files.
  Eclipse CDT4 - Ninja         = Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.
  Eclipse CDT4 - Unix Makefiles= Generates Eclipse CDT 4.0 project files.

Documentation

The full documentation can be found here.