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How to Use Cmake to Install?

5 minutes read

To use CMake to install a project, start by creating a CMakeLists.txt file in the root directory of your project. In this file, specify the project name, version, and any required dependencies. Use the install command to specify which files or targets should be installed, along with the destination directory. You can also specify installation requirements, such as permissions or whether to skip certain components. Once you have defined your installation rules in the CMakeLists.txt file, run the cmake and make install commands in your project's build directory to trigger the installation process. This will copy the specified files or targets to the designated installation directory, making your project accessible for use system-wide.


How to use cmake to install software?

To use CMake to install software, follow these steps:

  1. Create a CMakeLists.txt file in the root directory of the software project. This file will contain instructions on how to build and install the software.
  2. Open a terminal and navigate to the root directory of the software project.
  3. Run the following command to create a build directory: 
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mkdir build
cd build


  1. Run the following command to generate the build files using CMake:
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cmake ..


  1. Run the following command to build the software:
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make


  1. Run the following command to install the software:
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sudo make install


  1. If you want to specify a different installation directory, you can use the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX option when running CMake. For example:
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cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/install/directory


  1. Once the software is installed, you can run it from the installation directory.


Remember to have the necessary permissions to install software on your system, as using sudo make install requires root privileges.


How to update cmake to the latest version?

To update CMake to the latest version, you can follow these steps:

  1. Visit the CMake website at https://cmake.org/download/ and download the latest version of CMake for your operating system.
  2. Once the download is complete, follow the installation instructions for your operating system. This typically involves running an installer or extracting the files from a compressed archive.
  3. Check the version of CMake that is currently installed on your system by opening a terminal and running the command cmake --version.
  4. If the version displayed is not the latest version you just downloaded, you may need to update your system's PATH environment variable to point to the location of the new CMake executable.
  5. To update the PATH variable, you will need to determine the installation directory of the new CMake version and add it to the PATH. This can be done by editing your system's PATH variable in the System Properties on Windows or the .bashrc or .bash_profile file in your home directory on Linux or macOS.
  6. After updating the PATH variable, open a new terminal window and run the cmake --version command again to verify that the update was successful.


That's it! You should now have the latest version of CMake installed on your system.


How to create a cmake project?

To create a CMake project, follow these steps:

  1. Create a new directory for your project and navigate into it.
  2. Create a CMakeLists.txt file in the project directory. This file is used to specify the project's build configuration.
  3. In the CMakeLists.txt file, include the minimum required CMake version by adding the following line:
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cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)


  1. Specify the project name by adding the following line:
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project(MyProject)


Replace "MyProject" with the name of your project.

  1. Add any source files (e.g., .cpp, .h) to the project by using the add_executable or add_library CMake commands. For example, to create an executable, use:
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add_executable(MyExecutable source1.cpp source2.cpp)


Replace "MyExecutable" with the name of your executable and "source1.cpp" and "source2.cpp" with your source files.

  1. If your project requires external libraries, use the find_package or find_library CMake commands to locate and link them to your project.
  2. Set any compilation options or flags by using the target_compile_options command.
  3. Add any include directories or libraries using the target_include_directories and target_link_libraries commands.
  4. Finally, run CMake to generate the build files. Open a terminal in your project directory and run: 
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cmake .


This will generate the necessary build files (e.g., Makefiles, Visual Studio project files) in the project directory.

  1. Build your project using the generated build files. Run a build command (e.g., make or cmake --build .) in the terminal to compile and build your project.


Your CMake project is now created and ready to be built and executed.


How to use cmake to generate Visual Studio project files?

To use CMake to generate Visual Studio project files, follow these steps:

  1. Create a new directory for your project and navigate to it in a terminal or command prompt.
  2. Run the following command to generate Visual Studio project files: 
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cmake -G "Visual Studio" path/to/source


Replace path/to/source with the path to the root directory of your project.

  1. CMake will generate Visual Studio solution files (.sln), project files (.vcxproj), and other necessary files in the same directory where you ran the command.
  2. Open the generated .sln file in Visual Studio to start working on your project.
  3. You can also specify the version of Visual Studio by adding a flag to the cmake command, for example: 
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cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" path/to/source


This will generate project files for Visual Studio 2019.


That's it! You can now use CMake to generate Visual Studio project files for your project.


How to run cmake from command line?

To run CMake from the command line, follow these steps:

  1. Open a terminal or command prompt on your computer.
  2. Navigate to the directory where your CMake project is located using the cd command.
  3. Once you are in the project directory, you can run CMake by entering the following command:
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cmake .


This will generate the necessary build files for your project in the current directory.

  1. If you want to specify a different build directory, you can run CMake with the -B flag followed by the path to the build directory, like this:
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cmake -B <build-directory>


  1. After running CMake, you can then use a build system like make on Unix-based systems or Visual Studio on Windows to build your project.


Note: Make sure you have CMake installed on your system before running it from the command line.

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