CMake install dynamic generated list of files - cmake

I have a cmake project that upon installing it will invoke a python script which will output for me a list of files that I must also install.
I use this output and pass it to FILE(INSTALL ${output}) but this command doesnt put the files at the right place.
How can I install a list of file that is a output of a command? (Note that the command depends on the built target)

Make a target which generates this list to get it during the build step. With the list of files written somewhere, use install(SCRIPT <file>) to run a CMake script which uses the file to copy/modify/whatever the files into the right place. The script itself will likely need to have configure_file used to get the install directory and the generated file path correct (I don't see a way to pass arguments to the cmake command which runs the script).

Related

CMake custom command always executes

In my CMakeLists.txt, I define a custom target and command:
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/input.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output1.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output2.csv
COMMAND python3
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/genVectors.py)
add_custom_target(TEST_VECTORS
DEPENDS
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/input.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output1.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output2.csv)
add_executable(VectorTest tests/VectorTest.cpp)
add_dependencies(VectorTest TEST_VECTORS)
It always generates new CSV files even though the files exist. I only need to generate the vectors (with genVectors.py python file) if they do not exist. Is that something wrong with my configuration?
The OUTPUT option of add_custom_command does not guarantee that the generated files are placed here; it just tells CMake that the generated files are expected to be placed there. It is likely that your python script is generating files at a relative path, so they are just being placed somewhere in your CMake binary directory (your build folder). So while your files may be generated correctly, your custom target doesn't see them because it is looking in CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR. Thus, the custom target will always trigger the custom command to re-run.
CMake runs add_custom_command from the CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR by default, but you can change it to run from CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR by adding the WORKING_DIRECTORY option. This way, the generated files will be placed at the expected location, and achieve your desired behavior. Try something like this:
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/input.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output1.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output2.csv
COMMAND python3
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/genVectors.py
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
add_custom_target(TEST_VECTORS
DEPENDS
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/input.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output1.csv
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/output2.csv)
add_executable(VectorTest tests/VectorTest.cpp)
add_dependencies(VectorTest TEST_VECTORS)
You can try to generate your file at time of configuration(i.e. while calling cmake). By this way it will created only once.
You can remove add_custom_command and use execute_process to create your files.

How to find the CMake command line I used for the build?

This is what typically happens. I get source code that has cmake build scripts. I create a build subdirectory, change to it, run cmake <options> ... Depending upon the project and its dependencies I have to repeat the last step until it finds all necessary dependencies and generates makefiles. I successfully build and use the project. Few days pass, I forget about this installation. Then one day I'm trying to setup the same project on another machine and now I can't recall what exact CMake command line I used in the past to get things working.
I still have the old build directory on the old machine. Can I find the cmake command line I used in the past, by looking into some of the autogenerated files in the build directory? I was expecting CMake would just put the exact command line I used in one of these files in commented form. But if it does so, I haven't found it yet.
How can I find the original CMake command line I used?
You can't.
Original CMake command can be guessed from analysis of CMakeCache.txt
As a workaround, you could always create a simple wrapper to store the original command line used. Something along these lines:
#!/bin/bash
echo "$#" > cmake_command.log
$#

Is there way to tell CMake to generate several install rules?

Using CMake to generate GNU/Makefile as an example, I would like to be able to run different install rules, say make install and make install-doc.
Is there a way to tell CMake to generate this ?
You can add a custom target which invokes the cmake_install.cmake script in the outermost binary directory. This script is also invoked when you run the default install target.
add_custom_target(install-doc
COMMAND "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" "-DBUILD_TYPE=$<CONFIGURATION>"
"-DCOMPONENT=doc" "-P" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/cmake_install.cmake"
WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}")
The desired installation component has to be passed as the CMake variable COMPONENT. The build configuration can be set with the variable BUILD_TYPE. $<CONFIGURATION> is a generator expression which will be replaced by the currently active build configuration.

Compile-time wildcards in cmake install targets

I'm new to cmake and I'm finding it very frustrating. I am trying to use wildcards in file paths that are evaluated when the build runs, not when the build is generated.
I have created a build that uses SWIG to generate Java wrappers for some C++ code. I can write the commands to generate the native code, compile it, and produce a working shared library, and even use the INSTALL command to install that shared library correctly. What I can't figure out how to do is to write an INSTALL command that can copy all *.java files generated by SWIG into that same install location.
It seems that cmake's FILE GLOB command does the globbing when cmake is executed, and not when the build actually runs. Of course, when cmake is executed, SWIG hasn't run yet, and the Java files don't exist.
Is there a way to do what I want? Am I going about things wrong? It seems like this is such a fundamental part of what Makefiles need to do, I'm really surprised not to find an easy way to do it.
Assuming that the Java wrappers are located in the current binary directory, you can use the following install command to copy the Java files upon install:
install(
CODE "file( GLOB _GeneratedJavaSources \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/*.java\" )"
CODE "file( INSTALL \${_GeneratedJavaSources} DESTINATION \"$ENV{HOME}\" )"
)
The CODE form of the install command is used to execute two CMake commands upon running the install target. The first one collects all generated Java files in a helper variable. The second one uses the INSTALL form of the file command to copy the files.
you can use install(SCRIPT swigInstaller.cmake) or install(DIRECTORY) both of which supports doing file globing at install time. You can read more about the install command at:
http://cmake.org/cmake/help/cmake-2-8-docs.html#command:install

CMake Configure File Build Rule

I'm using CMake for my build system and in the project, we will have a bunch of configuration files. Some of them will just need to be copied over, some will need to be modified per computer. I'm currently using CMake's "configure_file" command to copy/replace parts of the file. This works great, and I love how I can use any variable from CMake in the configure routine.
But if you change the original file, CMake will not pick this up and you have to rerun cmake for it to configure the directory. When I run "make", I want it to pick up that I've changed the file and rerun configure.
It will also reconfigure files always, even if the file it is overwriting is newer. I want it to act like a custom target.
I think I can do this with add_custom_command, but I don't think I can run a CMake command from add_custom_command. So is there anyway to duplicate the behaviour that configure_file does in CMake?
I recently upgraded to CMake 2.8. It seems like it automatically has the exact behavior I wanted.
I do not think this has an easy answer. I see two options:
To trigger a re-run of cmake if an input changes, you might be able to make your input file depend on CMakeLists.txt.
To run a cmake command as part of and add_custom_command, there is the variable ${CMAKE_COMMAND}, which will give you the path to the running cmake. You could, as part of the configure step, generate a fragment of CMake code (that calls configure_file) that is invoked using the -P option. Either pass substitutions on the command line using -D, or write them to the CMake fragment.