[CMake] how to define current working directory of command line tool

Jochen Wilhelmy j.wilhelmy at arcor.de
Mon Oct 11 04:07:58 EDT 2010


Hi!
>>>> Is it possible to define the current working directory of a command line
>>>> tool
>>>> that is built with cmake? since the build is usually out-of-source I have
>>>> to set the current working directory in the ide, e.g visual studio or
>>>> xcode. more convenient would be to set it in cmake.
>>>>
>>>>          
>>> Do you mean in add_custom_command()/add_custom_target() ?
>>> Both have an optional WORKING_DIRECTORY argument.
>>>
>>>        
>> no, i mean add_executable. when I build and start the directory I'd like to set the
>> working directory that the executable is started in.
>>
>> -Jochen
>>      
> I think that you have a misconception with respect to the concept of "working directory".
>
> In a Unix-style environment, the "working directory" is determined by the "shell" command line interpreter. The actual value is determined only at execution-time. It is not something "built-in" to the executable.
>    
No, I mean this very unix-style working directory. Of course this is 
only a debug setting, i.e. it does not influence the
build result. But if I write a command line tool, e.g. a copy, then I 
have some test files to copy and need some arguments
for the copy tool to tell it which files to copy. Therefore it is 
possible to set the working directory and command line
arguments in an ide (visual studio or xcode). For xcode there is even 
the effect that after cmake runs the current
setting is lost which is not the case for visual studio since these 
settings are stored in a separate file.

-Jochen



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