CMake

This tutorial link shows how to autogenerate header files that contain variables whose values get populated by CMake. These autogenerated header files go into the source folder.

Here is the most basic CMakeLists.txt file which contains the minimum needed for successful compilation.

cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 2.6)
project (Tutorial)
add_executable(Tutorial tutorial.cxx)

We make use of the configure_file CMake function which takes in an input file and generates an output file whereever we want. You write the input file with variables that you want to get fleshed out by CMake. The variable syntax is @VAR@ or ${VAR}.

Add a libary by adding code in its own directory. I then added a CMakeLists.txt file in that directory which has one line that says

add_library(MathFunctions mysqrt.cxx)

By making use of a cool CMake feature we can set libraries to be optional, and create c++ code that selectively compiles with blocks of code by us simply flipping switches in the CMake configurations. We do this by my making use of CMake's ability to generate header files. We then use conditionals in our blocks of code that rely on whether or not something has been defined.

We also use #cmakedefine to conditionally define stuff in our header depending on an option was set in CMake configuration. Really cool shit.

We will make install rules by setting up the library and header files to be installed by adding the install rules in the CMakeLists.txt file.

To make a CMake debugabe target put this in the CMake lists file:

set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Debug)