CMake Tutorial

1. Introduction to CMake

CMake is a cross-platform build tool, which can generate:

• Makefile for Linux/Unix

• Project files for <span>Visual Studio</span> on Windows

• Project files for <span>Xcode</span> on macOS

  without manually writing build scripts for different platforms.

2. Installing CMake

• Windows: Download the installer from cmake.org/download

• Linux: <span>sudo apt install cmake</span> (Debian/Ubuntu)

• macOS: <span>brew install cmake</span>

Verify installation:

cmake --version  # Output similar to CMake 3.31.6

3. Basic Usage

1. Minimal Project

Assuming the project structure is as follows:

my_project/  ├── CMakeLists.txt  └── main.cpp

The content of <span>CMakeLists.txt</span> is:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)    # Minimum CMake versionproject(MyProject)                      # Project nameadd_executable(my_app main.cpp)         # Generate executable

Content of main.cpp:

#include <iostream>#include <limits> // Used to clear input buffervoid wait_for_key() {    std::cout << "\nPress Enter to continue...";    std::cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), '\n');    std::cin.get(); // Wait for user to press Enter}int main() {    std::cout << "Hello from my_app!" << std::endl;    wait_for_key(); // Call pause function    return 0;}

2. Building the Project

mkdir build && cd build       # Create build directory (recommended)cmake .. -G "Unix Makefiles"  # Generate build system (e.g., Makefile)make                          # Execute build

The generated binary file is located in the <span>build</span> directory by default. Double-clicking to execute my_app.exe will yield the following result: