[CMake] Using CMake for the first time on an established project

[timothylegg .]

Thanks for the great tips, and I welcome more suggestions too from others.

I saw the ccmake command in the tutorial, but not having ccmake, I
thought it was a typo in the documentation.

I am eager to reproduce this.  Thank you very much!

Timothy D Legg

On Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 8:50 AM, Albrecht Schlosser
<AlbrechtS.fltk at online.de> wrote:
> On 08.07.2017 15:06 timothylegg . wrote:
>
>> I have CMake installed via apt-get on a few Debian-derived operating
>> systems.  My question is version independent, and I haven't checked,
>> but I think version 2.8.0+ describes all the machines.
>>
>> There is a software project that I am wanting to become involved in
>> that uses cmake, but I have never used makefiles of any sort within
>> the last 20 years.  I have a vague understanding of how they function
>> and what their goals are, it's just that I've never written anything
>> that had a level of complexity to require it.
>
>
> First thing to know here is that CMake is not another kind of make. It's a
> build system generator that can - among others - generate Makefiles for you
> to run 'make' to build your project.
>
>> So lets get to the specifics, the project is open62541.org.  Somebody
>> wrote a wonderful PDF tutorial (link below) that suggests that
>> compilation flags, such as BUILD_SHARED_LIBS, UA_ENABLE_METHODCALLS,
>> or UA_ENABLE_AMALGAMATION, but fails to explain exactly how they are
>> enabled.  Would these be passed as parameters to cmake or would they
>> have to be inserted into a file that the CMake tool suite expects to
>> find upon execution of cmake?
>
>
> These are CMake options (aka "cache variables") that can either be specified
> on the cmake command line [1] or changed later in one of the GUI tools that
> come with CMake. On page 7 in the mentioned PDF file you can see (for Linux
> builds):
>
> # select additional features
> ccmake ..
> make
>
> So you need ccmake to be installed with cmake. On Ubuntu the package name is
> "cmake-curses-gui", so if you can't run 'ccmake' you need to install this.
> Another option is mentioned under the "Windows" section in the tutorial, but
> this is also availabel under Linux: cmake-gui (Ubuntu package name:
> "cmake-qt-gui").
>
> Once you launch one of these GUI tools (after running the initial 'cmake'
> command, but optionally before 'make' you'll see the mentioned CMake
> options/variables and can change them interactively. After changing
> variables, be sure to run 'configure' and 'generate' within cmake-gui or
> ccmake.
>
> Then, exit the GUI and run 'make'.
>
> [1] to specify CMake options on the command line use this syntax:
>
> cmake -D"OPTION=value" -D"OTHER_OPTION=other_value" ..
> --
>
> Powered by www.kitware.com
>
> Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at:
> http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ
>
> Kitware offers various services to support the CMake community. For more
> information on each offering, please visit:
>
> CMake Support: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/support.html
> CMake Consulting: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/consulting.html
> CMake Training Courses: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/training.html
>
> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at
> http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html
>
> Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://public.kitware.com/mailman/listinfo/cmake