Passing c-style string to sources in CMakeList.txt - cmake

I'm trying to have a definition with a string value: "v1.1.1"
However, when I tried the following command:
add_definitions(-DVERSION="v1.1.1")
//or set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS -DVERSION=\"v1.1.1\")
//as well as set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS -DVERSION="\"v1.1.1\"")
and used v1.1.1 in my source file, in a command like printf("%s\n", v1.1.1)
I got v1.1.1 in my c/c++ sources code without the quotes, which is not a valid string literal.
how do I define this correctly in a CMakeList.txt file?

Related

Dealing with lots and lots of escaped characters in add_custom_command

I have a file that contains a bunch of data. I want to turn it into a C++ string literal, because I need to compile this data into the binary - I cannot read it from disk.
One way of doing this is to just generate a C++ source file that declares a string literal with a known name. The CMake code to do this is straightforward, if somewhat awful:
function(make_literal_from_file dest_file source_file literal_name)
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT ${dest_file}
COMMAND printf \'char const* ${literal_name} = R\"\#\(\' > ${dest_file}
COMMAND cat ${source_file} >> ${dest_file}
COMMAND printf \'\)\#\"\;\' >> ${dest_file}
DEPENDS ${source_file})
endfunction()
This works and does what I want (printf is necessary to avoid a new line after the raw string introducer). However, the amount of escaping going on here makes it very difficult to see what's going on. Is there a way to write this function such that it's actually readable?
Note that I cannot use a file(READ ...)/configure_file(...) combo here because source_file could be something that is generated by CMake at build time and so may not be present at configuration time.
I would recommend writing a script to do this. You could write it in CMake, but I personally prefer a better language such as Python:
# Untested, just to show roughly how to do it
import sys
dest_file, source_file, literal_name = sys.argv[1:]
with open(dest_file) as dest, open(source_file) as source:
literal_contents = source.read()
dest.write(f'char const* {literal_name} = R"({literal_contents})";\n')
Corresponding CMake code:
# String interpolation came in Python 3.6, thus the requirement on 3.6.
# If using CMake < 3.12, use find_package(PythonInterp) instead.
find_package(Python3 3.6 COMPONENTS Interpreter)
# Make sure this resolves correctly. ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR} is helpful;
# it's the directory containing the current file (this cmake file)
set(make_literal_from_file_script "path/to/make_literal_from_file.py")
function(make_literal_from_file dest_file source_file literal_name)
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT "${dest_file}"
COMMAND
"${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" "${make_literal_from_file_script}"
"${dest_file}"
"${source_file}"
"${literal_name}"
DEPENDS "${source_file}")
endfunction()
If you don't want the dependency on Python, you could use C++ (only the CMake code shown):
add_executable(make_literal_from_file_exe
path/to/cpp/file.cpp
)
function(make_literal_from_file dest_file source_file literal_name)
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT "${dest_file}"
COMMAND
make_literal_from_file_exe
"${dest_file}"
"${source_file}"
"${literal_name}"
DEPENDS "${source_file}")
endfunction()

CMake's objects output folder variable

How "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/CMakeFiles/project.dir/", the place object files resulted from compilation will be placed on, can be un-hardcoded?
Going straightly to the problem, we have some tests that check objects resulted from compilation on harfbuzz cmake and we use a hardcoded string there but that doesn't seem right and I hope some ${} or $<> exist for that.
I'm afraid you're out of luck here. CMake keeps this as an internal implementation detail, by design.
I'd say it's unlikely to change, but if you want to be absolutely future-proof, you could use a workaround of creating a static library out of the object files and then manually unpacking it back into object files (using the appropriate archiver/librarian) as part of the test. If the object files are also used by another target, and linking to that static library wouldn't work for that target, you can make an object library out of the files and then use that in both the original target and the for-test static library.
Here's an example of how you might achieve this workaround:
add_library(MyObjectLib OBJECT src/a.cpp src/b.cpp)
add_executable(Main src/main.cpp $<TARGET_OBJECTS:MyObjectLib>)
add_library(LibForTesting STATIC $<TARGET_OBJECTS:MyObjectLib>)
add_test(
NAME check-static-inits.sh
COMMAND ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/prepare-and-check-static-inits.sh $<TARGET_FILE:LibForTesting>
)
And here's what the script prepare-and-check-static-inits.sh would look like (pseudo-code):
ar -x $1 -o some_dir
./check-static-inits.sh some_dir
Turning my comment into an answer
There is at the moment no variable or generator expression to get the list of object files used for linking a archive or library target.
But you could append compiler/archiver/linker calls with any program/script and utilize CMake's expansion rules inside those calls.
Note: That will only work CMake's Command-Line Build Tool Generators. And the list(APPEND ...) calls only have to be there once in your CMake code after your project() call.
Examples
Generate a symbolic link to <OBJECT_DIR> with <TARGET_NAME>
project(MyLib)
list(
APPEND CMAKE_CXX_ARCHIVE_FINISH
"\"${CMAKE_COMMAND}\" -E create_symlink \"<OBJECT_DIR>\" \"<TARGET_NAME>\""
)
[...]
add_library(MyLib STATIC src/a.cpp src/b.cpp)
Call some program to do something with the <OBJECTS> list (e.g. echo or write to a file)
project(MyExe)
list(
APPEND CMAKE_CXX_LINK_EXECUTABLE
"\"${CMAKE_COMMAND}\" -E echo \"<OBJECTS>\""
)
[...]
add_executable(MyExe main.cpp)
Directly do something after each object file is generated. In your case where you want to call objdump for each object file it would e.g. be:
list(
APPEND CMAKE_CXX_COMPILE_OBJECT
"${CMAKE_OBJDUMP} -t \"<OBJECT>\" > $(notdir <OBJECT>.dump)"
)
Unfortunately there is no expansion rule for "output file name" hence the platform/make specific trick with $(notdir ...).
References
CMAKE_<LANG>_ARCHIVE_FINISH
CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_EXECUTABLE
CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILE_OBJECT
How to get path to object files with CMake for both multiconfiguration generator and makefile based ones?

how to set multiple element variable for CMakefile

I can pass defined variable for cmake like below(for example when I want to set PYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH=dir1).
cmake -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH=dir1 ..
But what if I want to set multiple paths for this PYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH? I tried
cmake -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH='dir1 dir2 dir3'
or should it be
cmake -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_PATH='dir1:dir2:dir3' (or , instead of :)
But I'm not sure it's valid. (see some other error so I am not sure yet if it's correct or not.)
I saw I can also set these defines in .cmake file like set(VARIABLE,VALUE) like below.
set(OpenCV_CUDA_VERSION 7.5)
Then what's the corresponding syntax for this set(..) form when the variable has multiple elements?
use the following syntax:
cmake -DLIST_VAR="one;two;three" ...
you can play w/ the following CMakeLists.txt:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
foreach(v IN LISTS LIST_VAR)
message(STATUS "${v}")
endforeach()

Get full C++ compiler command line

In CMake, the flags for the C++ compiler can be influenced in various ways: setting CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS manually, using add_definitions(), forcing a certain C++ standard, and so forth.
In order to compile a target in the same project with different rules (a precompiled header, in my case), I need to reproduce the exact command that is used to compile files added by a command like add_executable() in this directory.
Reading CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS only returns the value set to it explicitly, CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG and siblings only list default Debug/Release options. There is a special functions to retrieve the flags from add_definitions() and add_compiler_options(), but none seem to be able to return the final command line.
How can I get all flags passed to the compiler into a CMake variable?
To answer my own question: It seems like the only way of getting all compiler flags is to reconstruct them from the various sources. The code I'm working with now is the following (for GCC):
macro (GET_COMPILER_FLAGS TARGET VAR)
if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
set(COMPILER_FLAGS "")
# Get flags form add_definitions, re-escape quotes
get_target_property(TARGET_DEFS ${TARGET} COMPILE_DEFINITIONS)
get_directory_property(DIRECTORY_DEFS COMPILE_DEFINITIONS)
foreach (DEF ${TARGET_DEFS} ${DIRECTORY_DEFS})
if (DEF)
string(REPLACE "\"" "\\\"" DEF "${DEF}")
list(APPEND COMPILER_FLAGS "-D${DEF}")
endif ()
endforeach ()
# Get flags form include_directories()
get_target_property(TARGET_INCLUDEDIRS ${TARGET} INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
foreach (DIR ${TARGET_INCLUDEDIRS})
if (DIR)
list(APPEND COMPILER_FLAGS "-I${DIR}")
endif ()
endforeach ()
# Get build-type specific flags
string(TOUPPER ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} BUILD_TYPE_SUFFIX)
separate_arguments(GLOBAL_FLAGS UNIX_COMMAND
"${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_${BUILD_TYPE_SUFFIX}}")
list(APPEND COMPILER_FLAGS ${GLOBAL_FLAGS})
# Add -std= flag if appropriate
get_target_property(STANDARD ${TARGET} CXX_STANDARD)
if ((NOT "${STANDARD}" STREQUAL NOTFOUND) AND (NOT "${STANDARD}" STREQUAL ""))
list(APPEND COMPILER_FLAGS "-std=gnu++${STANDARD}")
endif ()
endif ()
set(${VAR} "${COMPILER_FLAGS}")
endmacro ()
This could be extended to also include options induced by add_compiler_options() and more.
Easiest way is to use make VERBOSE=1 when compiling.
cd my-build-dir
cmake path-to-my-sources
make VERBOSE=1
This will do a single-threaded build, and make will print every shell command it runs just before it runs it. So you'll see output like:
[ 0%] Building CXX object Whatever.cpp.o
<huge scary build command it used to build Whatever.cpp>
There actually is a fairly clean way to do this at compile time using CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER:
If you have a script print_args.py
#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import argparse
print(" ".join(sys.argv[1:]))
# we need to produce an output file so that the link step does not fail
p = argparse.ArgumentParser()
p.add_argument("-o")
args, _ = p.parse_known_args()
with open(args.o, "w") as f:
f.write("")
You can set the target's properties as follows:
add_library(${TARGET_NAME} ${SOURCES})
set_target_properties(${TARGET_NAME} PROPERTIES
CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/print_args.py
)
# this tells the linker to not actually link. Which would fail because output file is empty
set_target_properties(${TARGET_NAME} PROPERTIES
LINK_FLAGS
-E
)
This will print the exact compilation command at compile time.
Short answer
It's not possible to assign final value of compiler command line to variable in CMake script, working in all use cases.
Long answer
Unfortunately, even solution accepted as answer still not gets all compiler flags. As gets noted in comments, there are Transitive Usage Requirements. It's a modern and proper way to write CMake files, getting more and more popular. Also you may have some compile options defined using generator expressions (they look like variable references but will not expand when needed).
Consider having following example:
add_executable(myexe ...);
target_compile_definitions(myexe PRIVATE "PLATFORM_$<PLATFORM_ID>");
add_library(mylib ...);
target_compile_definitions(mylib INTERFACE USING_MY_LIB);
target_link_libraries(myexe PUBLIC mylib);
If you try to call proposed GET_COMPILER_FLAGS macro with myexe target, you will get resulting output -DPLATFORM_$<PLATFORM_ID> instead of expected -DPLATFORM_Linux -DUSING_MY_LIB.
This is because there are two stages between invoking CMake and getting build system generated:
Processing. At this stage CMake reads and executes commands from cmake script(s), particularly, variable values getting evaluated and assigned. At this moment CMake just collecting all required info and being prepared to generate build system (makefiles).
Generating. CMake uses values of special variables and properties, being left at end of processed scripts to finally decide and form generated output. This is where it constructs final command line for compiler according to its internal algorithm, not avaliable for scripting.
Target properties which might be retrieved at processing stage with get_target_property(...) or get_property(... TARGET ...) aren't complete (even when invoked at the end of script). At generating stage CMake walks through each target dependency tree (recursively) and appends properties values according to transitive usage requirements (PUBLIC and INTERFACE tagged values gets propagated).
Although, there are workarounds, depending on what final result you aiming to achieve. This is possible by applying generator expressions, which allows use final values of properties of any target (defined at processing stage)... but later!
Two general possibilites are avaliable:
Generate any output file based on template, which content contains variable references and/or generator expressions, and defined as either string variable value, or input file. It's not flexible due to very limited support of conditional logic (i.e. you cannot use complex concatenations available only with nested foreach() loops), but has advantages, that no further actions required and content described in platform-independent way. Use file(GENERATE ...) command variant. Note, that it behaves differently from file (WRITE ...) variant.
Add custom target (and/or custom command) which implements further usage of expanded value. It's platform dependent and requires user to additionally invoke make (either with some special target, or include to all target), but has advantage, that it's flexible enough because you may implement shell script (but without executable bit).
Example demonstrating solution with combining these options:
set(target_name "myexe")
file(GENERATE OUTPUT script.sh CONTENT "#!/bin/sh\n echo \"${target_name} compile definitions: $<TARGET_PROPERTY:${target_name},COMPILE_DEFINITIONS>\"")
add_custom_target(mycustomtarget
COMMAND echo "\"Platform: $<PLATFORM_ID>\""
COMMAND /bin/sh -s < script.sh
)
After calling CMake build directory will contain file script.sh and invoking make mycustomtarget will print to console:
Platform: Linux
myexe compile definitions: PLATFORM_Linux USING_MY_LIB
Use
set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS true)
and get compile_commands.json

CMake generator expression is not evaluated

I cannot understand what I'm doing wrong.
I'm always getting the string "$<TARGET_FILE:tgt1>" instead of the path to the library.
I've created the dummy project.
Here is my root CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.0) # also tried 2.8 with the same result
set(PROJECT_NAME CMP0026)
add_subdirectory(src)
set(TGT_PATH $<TARGET_FILE:tgt1>)
message(STATUS "${TGT_PATH}")
Here is my src/CMakeLists.txt
add_library(tgt1 a.c)
File a.c is created and is empty
I've tried the following generators: Visual Studio 2013 Win64, Ninja and MingW Makefile. I've used Android toolchain for the last two, downloaded from here
I expect that the last message(STATUS command would print full path to the library. However, all variants print the string $<TARGET_FILE:tgt1>.
Generator expressions are not evaluated at configure time (when CMake is parsing CMakeLists, executing commands like add_target() or message() etc.). At this time, a generator expression is just a literal string - the character $ followed by <, then T, then ...
Evaluation of generator expressions happens at generate time (that's why they are called "generator expressions"). Generate time occurs after all CMake code is parsed and processed, and CMake is starting to act on the data therein to produce buildsystem files. Only then does it have all the information necessary to evaluate generator expressions.
So you can only really use generator expressions for things which occur at generate time or later (such as build time). A contrived example would be this:
add_custom_target(
GenexDemo
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo "$<TARGET_FILE:tgt1>"
VERBATIM
)
At configure time, CMake will record the literal string $<TARGET_FILE:tgt1> as the argument of COMMAND. Then at generate time (when the location of tgt1 is known for each configuration and guaranteed not to change any more), it will substitute it for the generator expression.