CMake Example

Reusable example CMake setup for C/C++ projects.

This is a simple example project to demonstrate a reusable CMake setup with a C++ application and a C library.

Directory Structure

cmake-example/
+-- CMakeLists.txt
+-- app/
¦   +-- CMakeLists.txt
¦   +-- include/
¦   ¦   +-- app.hpp
¦   +-- src/
¦       +-- main.cpp
+-- lib/
¦   +-- crc16/
¦       +-- CMakeLists.txt
¦       +-- include/
¦       ¦   +-- crc16.h
¦       +-- src/
¦           +-- crc16.c
+-- README.md

What is CMake?

CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test, and package software. CMake is used to control the software compilation process using simple platform and compiler-independent configuration files, and it generates native makefiles and workspaces that can be used in the compiler environment of your choice.

Installing CMake

On Ubuntu

To install CMake on Ubuntu, you can use the package manager:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake

On Windows

To install CMake on Windows, follow these steps:

1. Go to the CMake download page.
2. Download the Windows installer (e.g., cmake-<version>-windows-x86_64.msi).
3. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.

After installation, make sure to add CMake to your system's PATH during the installation process, or manually add the CMake bin directory to your PATH environment variable.

Building the Project

Clone the Repository

First, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/diffstorm/cmake-example.git
cd cmake-example

Create a Build Directory

Create a directory to hold the build files:

mkdir build
cd build

Configure the Project

Run CMake to configure the project:

cmake ..

Build the Project

Compile the project using CMake:

cmake --build .

Build Types

CMake supports different build types. The main build types are:

• Debug: Includes debug information and disables optimization.
• Release: Includes optimization but no debug information.
• MinSizeRel: Optimizes for the smallest binary size.

Specify a Build Type

You can specify the build type when configuring the project. For example, to use the Debug build type:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
cmake --build .

For a Release build type:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
cmake --build .

For a MinSizeRel build type:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=MinSizeRel ..
cmake --build .

Running the Application

After building the project, you can run the application. Use the --file or -f argument to specify the file for which you want to calculate the CRC16-CCITT checksum.

./app --file <filename>

or

./app -f <filename>

This will calculate the CRC16-CCITT checksum of the specified file.

Usage Log

$ git clone https://github.com/diffstorm/cmake-example.git

$ cd cmake-example

cmake-example$ mkdir build

cmake-example$ cd build/

cmake-example/build$ cmake ..
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 11.4.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 11.4.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: cmake-example/build

cmake-example/build$ cmake --build .
[ 25%] Building C object lib/crc16/CMakeFiles/crc16.dir/src/crc16.c.o
[ 50%] Linking C static library libcrc16.a
[ 50%] Built target crc16
[ 75%] Building CXX object app/CMakeFiles/app.dir/src/main.cpp.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable app
[100%] Built target app

cmake-example/build$ ./app/app -f CMakeCache.txt
CRC16-CCITT of file CMakeCache.txt is 6cfb

cmake-example/build$ ./app/app -v
App version 1.0

cmake-example/build$ ./app/app -h
Usage: app [options]
Options:
  --file, -f <filename>   Calculate CRC16-CCITT of the specified file
  --help, -h              Show this help message
  --version, -v           Show version information

⛄ Author

Eray Öztürk (@diffstorm)