[CMake] Example using ExternalProject for configure+make and/or Win32?

Brian Davis bitminer at gmail.com
Thu Aug 19 23:14:42 EDT 2010


I am posting this back to cmake so others can follow along.  I too use gmail
and often forget the reply all.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 9:11 PM, Clifford Yapp <cliffyapp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Um... if you mean "CMakeified" in the sense of them having CMake files
> for building, no... my understanding was that you don't really need
> ExternalProject logic if the source in question has a CMakeLists.txt
> file? - at least, I haven't needed it in those cases.  zlib and libpng
> I can both build and use to build other code in the same project with
> ADD_SUBDIRECTORY and some variable setting (a very cool feature!)
>
>
some do some do not has been my experience.  Some have forced me to use
add_subdirectory (boost) and others work best with ExternalProject_ADD (vtk
vtkedge itk).   Yes if source in question has CMakelist.txt then it is in my
terms "CMakeified".  I have used externalproject_add and add_subdirectory,
but my mileage has varied based on how it was written.  In my opinion
add_subdirectory and externalproject_add are effectively broken due



> I may be thinking about this wrong, but here's the specific situation
> which prompted the question:
>
> I have in my source tree local checkouts of tcl and tk:
>
> src/other/tcl
> src/other/tk
>
> These trees use autotools to build - they have no knowledge of CMake.
>


What I had hoped to do was use ExternalProject to trigger the
> ./configure process as part of the CMake configure and the make
> processes as a product of the CMake generated make files, or on WIN32
> incorporate the Microsoft Visual Studio project files into its own
> project output - have I mis-understood it's purpose?
>
>  from :

http://public.kitware.com/pipermail/cmake/2010-January/034908.html

specifically

-snip-
> as:
>
>
C:\projects\NIH2009\source\branches\trunk\platform\tools\cmake-2.8.0-win32-x86\bin>cmake
> --help-module ExternalProject
>
> cmake version 2.8.0
>   ExternalProject
>        Create custom targets to build projects in external trees
>
>        The 'ExternalProject_Add' function creates a custom target to drive
>        download, update/patch, configure, build, install and test steps of
> an
>        external project:
>
>          ExternalProject_Add(<name>    # Name for custom target
>            [DEPENDS projects...]       # Targets on which the project
> depends
>            [PREFIX dir]                # Root dir for entire project
>            [LIST_SEPARATOR sep]        # Sep to be replaced by ; in cmd
> lines
>            [TMP_DIR dir]               # Directory to store temporary
files
>            [STAMP_DIR dir]             # Directory to store step
timestamps
>           #--Download step--------------
>            [DOWNLOAD_DIR dir]          # Directory to store downloaded
> files
>            [DOWNLOAD_COMMAND cmd...]   # Command to download source tree
>            [CVS_REPOSITORY cvsroot]    # CVSROOT of CVS repository
>            [CVS_MODULE mod]            # Module to checkout from CVS repo
>            [CVS_TAG tag]               # Tag to checkout from CVS repo
>            [SVN_REPOSITORY url]        # URL of Subversion repo
>            [SVN_REVISION rev]          # Revision to checkout from
> Subversion repo
>            [URL /.../src.tgz]          # Full path or URL of source
>           #--Update/Patch step----------
>            [UPDATE_COMMAND cmd...]     # Source work-tree update command
>            [PATCH_COMMAND cmd...]      # Command to patch downloaded
source
>           #--Configure step-------------
>            [SOURCE_DIR dir]            # Source dir to be used for build
>            [CONFIGURE_COMMAND cmd...]  # Build tree configuration command
>            [CMAKE_COMMAND /.../cmake]  # Specify alternative cmake
> executable
>            [CMAKE_GENERATOR gen]       # Specify generator for native
build
>            [CMAKE_ARGS args...]        # Arguments to CMake command line
>           #--Build step-----------------
>            [BINARY_DIR dir]            # Specify build dir location
>            [BUILD_COMMAND cmd...]      # Command to drive the native build
>            [BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1]         # Use source dir for build dir
>           #--Install step---------------
>            [INSTALL_DIR dir]           # Installation prefix
>            [INSTALL_COMMAND cmd...]    # Command to drive install after
> build
>           #--Test step---------------
>            [TEST_BEFORE_INSTALL 1]     # Add test step executed before
> install step
>            [TEST_AFTER_INSTALL 1]      # Add test step executed after
> install step
>            [TEST_COMMAND cmd...]       # Command to drive test
>            )
>
>        The *_DIR options specify directories for the project, with default
>        directories computed as follows.  If the PREFIX option is given to
>        ExternalProject_Add() or the EP_PREFIX directory property is set,
> then
>        an external project is built and installed under the specified
> prefix:
>
>           TMP_DIR      = <prefix>/tmp
>           STAMP_DIR    = <prefix>/src/<name>-stamp
>           DOWNLOAD_DIR = <prefix>/src
>           SOURCE_DIR   = <prefix>/src/<name>
>           BINARY_DIR   = <prefix>/src/<name>-build
>           INSTALL_DIR  = <prefix>
>
>        Otherwise, if the EP_BASE directory property is set then components
> of
>        an external project are stored under the specified base:
>
>           TMP_DIR      = <base>/tmp/<name>
>           STAMP_DIR    = <base>/Stamp/<name>
>           DOWNLOAD_DIR = <base>/Download/<name>
>           SOURCE_DIR   = <base>/Source/<name>
>           BINARY_DIR   = <base>/Build/<name>
>           INSTALL_DIR  = <base>/Install/<name>
>
>        If no PREFIX, EP_PREFIX, or EP_BASE is specified then the default
is
>        to set PREFIX to "<name>-prefix".  Relative paths are interpreted
> with
>        respect to the build directory corresponding to the source
directory
>        in which ExternalProject_Add is invoked.
>
>        If SOURCE_DIR is explicitly set to an existing directory the
project
>        will be built from it.  Otherwise a download step must be specified
>        using one of the DOWNLOAD_COMMAND, CVS_*, SVN_*, or URL options.
> The
>        URL option may refer locally to a directory or source tarball, or
>        refer to a remote tarball (e.g.  http://.../src.tgz).
>
>        The 'ExternalProject_Add_Step' function adds a custom step to an
>        external project:
>
>          ExternalProject_Add_Step(<name> <step> # Names of project and
> custom step
>            [COMMAND cmd...]        # Command line invoked by this step
>            [COMMENT "text..."]     # Text printed when step executes
>            [DEPENDEES steps...]    # Steps on which this step depends
>            [DEPENDERS steps...]    # Steps that depend on this step
>            [DEPENDS files...]      # Files on which this step depends
>            [ALWAYS 1]              # No stamp file, step always runs
>            [WORKING_DIRECTORY dir] # Working directory for command
>            )
>
>        The command line, comment, and working directory of every standard
> and
>        custom step is processed to replace tokens <SOURCE_DIR>,
> <BINARY_DIR>,
>        <INSTALL_DIR>, and <TMP_DIR> with corresponding property values.
>
>        The 'ExternalProject_Get_Property' function retrieves external
> project
>        target properties:
>
>          ExternalProject_Get_Property(<name> [prop1 [prop2 [...]]])
>
>        It stores property values in variables of the same name.  Property
>        names correspond to the keyword argument names of
>        'ExternalProject_Add'.
>


-end snip--


there is :

>            [CONFIGURE_COMMAND cmd...]  # Build tree configuration command

so may be this works.  I have not used it so I can not speak to it.

problem will be if on Windows systems is finding an autotools that would
work such as cygwin or msys.

As far a documentation on ExternalProject_ADD, the fact that we must use the
command line to get documentation speaks volumes how difficult it can be to
learn this command.  There is also a kitware pdf (
http://www.kitware.com/products/archive/kitware_quarterly1009.pdf) which
made some vague refrences to ExternalProject_ADD.  I hope others could chime
in that know the command better.   If stuck do what I do and look through
the CMake source code... best documentation there is... on how it *realy*
works.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/attachments/20100819/c57f55b5/attachment-0001.htm>


More information about the CMake mailing list