135 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
135 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<!--#include virtual="/CMake/HTML/Head.html"-->
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" leftmargin=0 topmargin=0 text="black" link="#FFFFFF"
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vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">
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<!--#include virtual="/CMake/HTML/Table.html"-->
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<tr>
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<!--#include virtual="/CMake/HTML/SideBar.html"-->
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<td width="550" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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<div align="left">
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<font size=5>CMake </font> is an extensible, open-source system that
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manages the build process in an operating system and compiler independent
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manner. Unlike many cross-platform systems, CMake is designed to be used
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in conjunction with the native build environment. Simple configuration
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files placed in each source directory (called CMakeLists.txt files) are
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used to generate standard build files (e.g., makefiles on Unix and
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projects/workspaces in Windows MSVC) which are used in the usual
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way. CMake can compile source code, create libraries, generate wrappers,
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and build executables in arbitrary combinations. CMake supports in-place
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and out-of-place builds, and can therefore support multiple builds from a
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single source tree. CMake also supports static and dynamic library
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builds. Another nice feature of CMake is that it generates a cache file
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that is designed to be used with a graphical editor. For example, when
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CMake runs, it locates include files, libraries, and executable, and may
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encounter optional build directives. This information is gathered into
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the cache, which may be changed by the user prior to the generation of
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the native build files. (The following figure is the CMake cache GUI in
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the Windows MSVC environment.)
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<P>
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CMake is designed to support complex directory hierarchies and
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applications dependent on several libraries. For example, CMake supports
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projects consisting of multiple toolkits (i.e., libraries), where each
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toolkit might contain several directories, and the application depends on
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the toolkits plus additional code. CMake can also handle situations where
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executables must be built in order to generate code that is then compiled
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and linked into a final application. Because CMake is open source, and has
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a simple, extensible design, CMake can be extended as necessary to support
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new features.
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<P>
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Using CMake is simple. The build process is controlled by creating one or
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more CMakeLists.txt files in each directory (including subdirectories)
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that make up a project. Each CMakeLists.txt consists of one or more
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commands. Each command has the form COMMAND (args...) where COMMAND is
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the name of the command, and args is a white-space separated list of
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arguments. CMake provides many pre-defined commands, but if you need to,
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you can add your own commands. In addition, the advanced user can add
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other makefile generators for a particular compiler/OS combination.
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(While Unix and MSVC++ is supported currently, other developers are
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adding other compiler/OS support.) You may wish to study the
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<a href="/CMake/HTML/Examples.html">examples</a> page to see more
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details.
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<h3>A Summary Of Features</h3>
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CMake has several powerful features. These include:
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<ul>
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<li>Supports complex, large build environments. CMake has been
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proven in several large projects.
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<li>Generates native build files (e.g., makefiles on Unix;
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workspaces/projects on MS Visual C++). Therefore standard
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tools can be used on any platform/compiler configuration.
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<li>Has powerful commands include the ability to locate
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include files, libraries, executables; include external
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CMake files that encapsulate standard functionality;
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interfaces to testing systems; supports recursive
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directory traversal with variable inheritance; can run
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external programs; supports conditional builds; supports
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regular expression expansion; and so on.
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<li>Supports in-place and out-of-place builds. Multiple
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compilation trees are possible from a single source tree.
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<li>Can be easily extended to add new features.
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<li>CMake is open source.
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<li>CMake operates with a cache designed to be interfaced with
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a graphical editor. The cache provides optional interaction
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to conditionally control the build process.
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</ul>
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<h3>The Origins of CMake</h3> CMake was created in response to the need
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for a powerful, cross-platform build environment for the Insight
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Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK) funded by NLM as part of the
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Visible Human Project. It grew out of an earlier system called
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<b>pcmaker</b> created by Ken Martin and other developers to support the
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<a href="http://public.kitware.com/vtk.html">Visualization Toolkit
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(VTK)</a> open source 3D graphics and visualization system. To create
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CMake, Bill Hoffman at Kitware incorporated some key ideas from pcmaker,
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with the thought to adopt some of the functionality of the Unix
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<b>configure</b> tool. The initial CMake implementation was mid-2000,
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with acclerated development occuring in early 2001. Many improvements
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were due to the influences of other developers incorporating CMake into
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their own systems. For example, the
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<a href="http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vxl/">VXL</a> software community
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adopted CMake as their build environment, contributing many essential
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features. Brad King added several features in order to support the CABLE
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automated wrapping environment and
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<a href="http://public.kitware.com/GCC_XML">gcc-XML</a>, and
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GE Corporate R&D required support of their testing infrastructure
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(the <a href="http://public.kitware.com/Insight/Testing/HTML/TestingResults/Dashboard/MostRecentResults-Nightly/Dashboard.html">quality dashboard</a>). Other
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features were added by Ken Martin to support the transition of VTK's
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build environment to CMake, and to support ParaView, a parallel
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visualization system to support the
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<a href="http://www.acl.lanl.gov/">Advanced Computing Lab</a> at Los Alamos
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National Laboratory.
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<h3>How Do I Learn CMake?</h3> CMake is a young and rapidly growing
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system. It has already seen extensive use in very large software systems
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such as VTK, VXL, and ITK, and is therefore, quite
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stable. Unfortuneately, the pace of development has outstripped the pace
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of documentation. As a result, the best way to learn about CMake is to
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study existing CMake installations, and to rely on the CMake mailing
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list. There is some existing documentation, but until later in 2001 the
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documentation should be treated with caution. Please go to the
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<a href="/CMake/HTML/Documentation.html">documentation</a> for more
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information.
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</div>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</body>
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</html>
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