CMake

Purpose

Guide agents through modern (target-first) CMake for C/C++ projects: out-of-source builds, dependency management, generator selection, and integration with CI and IDEs.

Triggers

• "How do I write a CMakeLists.txt for my project?"
• "How do I add an external library with CMake?"
• "CMake can't find my package / library"
• "How do I enable sanitizers in CMake?"
• "How do I cross-compile with CMake?"
• "How do I use CMake Presets?"

Workflow

1. Modern CMake principles

• Define targets, not variables. Use target_* commands.
• Use PUBLIC/PRIVATE/INTERFACE to control property propagation.
• Never use include_directories() or link_libraries() (legacy).
• Minimum CMake version: cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20) for most features.

2. Minimal project

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(MyApp VERSION 1.0 LANGUAGES C CXX)

set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 11)
set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

add_executable(myapp
    src/main.c
    src/utils.c
)

target_include_directories(myapp PRIVATE include)
target_compile_options(myapp PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)

3. Static / shared libraries

# Static library
add_library(mylib STATIC lib/foo.c lib/bar.c)
target_include_directories(mylib
    PUBLIC  include      # consumers get this include path
    PRIVATE src          # only mylib itself sees this
)

# Shared library
add_library(myshared SHARED lib/foo.c)
set_target_properties(myshared PROPERTIES
    VERSION   1.0.0
    SOVERSION 1
)

# Link executable against library
add_executable(myapp src/main.c)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE mylib)

4. Configure and build

# Out-of-source build (always do this)
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

# With generator
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja
cmake --build build -- -j$(nproc)

# Debug build
cmake -S . -B build-debug -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build-debug

# Release
cmake -S . -B build-release -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build-release

# Install
cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local

Build types: Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, MinSizeRel.

5. External dependencies

find_package (system-installed libraries)

find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE OpenSSL::SSL OpenSSL::Crypto)

find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE Threads::Threads)

find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE ZLIB::ZLIB)

FetchContent (download and build dependency)

include(FetchContent)

FetchContent_Declare(
    googletest
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
    GIT_TAG        v1.14.0
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)

add_executable(mytest test/test_foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(mytest PRIVATE GTest::gtest_main mylib)

pkg-config fallback

find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(LIBFOO REQUIRED libfoo>=1.2)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE ${LIBFOO_LIBRARIES})
target_include_directories(myapp PRIVATE ${LIBFOO_INCLUDE_DIRS})

6. Compiler options by configuration

target_compile_options(myapp PRIVATE
    $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-g -Og -fsanitize=address>
    $<$<CONFIG:Release>:-O2 -DNDEBUG>
    $<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:GNU>:-fanalyzer>
    $<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:Clang>:-Weverything>
)

target_link_options(myapp PRIVATE
    $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-fsanitize=address>
)

Generator expressions: $<condition:value> evaluated at build time.

7. Enable sanitizers

option(ENABLE_ASAN "Enable AddressSanitizer" OFF)

if(ENABLE_ASAN)
    target_compile_options(myapp PRIVATE -fsanitize=address -fno-omit-frame-pointer -g -O1)
    target_link_options(myapp PRIVATE -fsanitize=address)
endif()

Build: cmake -DENABLE_ASAN=ON -S . -B build-asan && cmake --build build-asan

8. Cross-compilation toolchain file

# toolchain-aarch64.cmake
set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Linux)
set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR aarch64)
set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER   aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc)
set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER aarch64-linux-gnu-g++)
set(CMAKE_SYSROOT /opt/aarch64-sysroot)
set(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM NEVER)
set(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY ONLY)
set(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE ONLY)

cmake -S . -B build-arm -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=toolchain-aarch64.cmake

9. CMake Presets (CMake 3.20+)

{
  "version": 6,
  "configurePresets": [
    {
      "name": "release",
      "displayName": "Release",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build/release",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": "Release",
        "CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS": "ON"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "debug",
      "displayName": "Debug",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build/debug",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": "Debug",
        "ENABLE_ASAN": "ON"
      }
    }
  ],
  "buildPresets": [
    { "name": "release", "configurePreset": "release" },
    { "name": "debug",   "configurePreset": "debug" }
  ]
}

cmake --preset release
cmake --build --preset release

10. Common errors

Error	Cause	Fix
Could not find package Foo	Package not installed or wrong prefix	Install dev package; set CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
No CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER	No C++ compiler found	Install g++/clang++; check PATH
target_link_libraries called with wrong number of arguments	Missing PUBLIC/PRIVATE/INTERFACE	Add the keyword
Cannot find source file	Typo or wrong relative path	Check path relative to CMakeLists.txt
generator expression error	Wrong $<> syntax	Check CMake docs for expression name

For a complete CMakeLists.txt template, see references/templates.md.

Related skills

• Use skills/build-systems/ninja for Ninja generator details
• Use skills/build-systems/make for Make generator
• Use skills/compilers/cross-gcc for cross-compilation toolchain setup
• Use skills/runtimes/sanitizers for sanitizer integration details