try_compile — CMake 4.0.2 Documentation (original) (raw)

Contents

Try building some code.

Try Compiling Whole Projects

try_compile( PROJECT SOURCE_DIR [BINARY_DIR ] [TARGET ] [LOG_DESCRIPTION ] [NO_CACHE] [NO_LOG] [CMAKE_FLAGS ...] [OUTPUT_VARIABLE ])

Added in version 3.25.

Try building a project. Build success returns TRUE and build failure returns FALSE in <compileResultVar>.

In this form, <srcdir> should contain a complete CMake project with aCMakeLists.txt file and all sources. The <bindir> and <srcdir>will not be deleted after this command is run. Specify <targetName> to build a specific target instead of the all or ALL_BUILD target. See below for the meaning of other options.

Changed in version 3.24: CMake variables describing platform settings, and those listed by theCMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_PLATFORM_VARIABLES variable, are propagated into the project's build configuration. See policy CMP0137. Previously this was only done by thesource file signature.

This command supports an alternate signature for CMake older than 3.25. The signature above is recommended for clarity.

try_compile( [] [CMAKE_FLAGS ...] [OUTPUT_VARIABLE ])

Try Compiling Source Files

try_compile( [SOURCES_TYPE ] <SOURCES <srcfile...> | SOURCE_FROM_CONTENT | SOURCE_FROM_VAR | SOURCE_FROM_FILE >... [LOG_DESCRIPTION ] [NO_CACHE] [NO_LOG] [CMAKE_FLAGS ...] [COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ...] [LINK_OPTIONS ...] [LINK_LIBRARIES ...] [LINKER_LANGUAGE ] [OUTPUT_VARIABLE ] [COPY_FILE [COPY_FILE_ERROR ]] [_STANDARD ] [_STANDARD_REQUIRED ] [_EXTENSIONS ] )

Added in version 3.25.

Try building an executable or static library from one or more source files. The binary type is determined by variableCMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE. Build success returns boolean true and build failure returns booleanfalse in <compileResultVar> (cached unless NO_CACHE is specified).

In this form, one or more source files must be provided. Additionally, one ofSOURCES and/or SOURCE_FROM_* must precede other keywords.

If CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE is unset or is set toEXECUTABLE, the sources must include a definition for main and CMake will create a CMakeLists.txt file to build the source(s) as an executable. If CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE is set to STATIC_LIBRARY, a static library will be built instead and no definition for main is required. For an executable, the generated CMakeLists.txt file would contain something like the following:

add_definitions() include_directories(${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES}) link_directories(${LINK_DIRECTORIES}) add_executable(cmTryCompileExec ...) target_link_options(cmTryCompileExec PRIVATE ) target_link_libraries(cmTryCompileExec ${LINK_LIBRARIES})

CMake automatically generates, for each try_compile operation, a unique directory under ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/CMakeFiles/CMakeScratchwith an unspecified name. These directories are cleaned automatically unless--debug-trycompile is passed to cmake. Such directories from previous runs are also unconditionally cleaned at the beginning of any cmake execution.

This command supports an alternate signature for CMake older than 3.25. The signature above is recommended for clarity.

try_compile( <srcfile|SOURCES srcfile...> [CMAKE_FLAGS ...] [COMPILE_DEFINITIONS ...] [LINK_OPTIONS ...] [LINK_LIBRARIES ...] [OUTPUT_VARIABLE ] [COPY_FILE [COPY_FILE_ERROR ]] [_STANDARD ] [_STANDARD_REQUIRED ] [_EXTENSIONS ] )

In this version, try_compile will use <bindir>/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp for its operation, and all such files will be cleaned automatically. For debugging, --debug-trycompile can be passed to cmake to avoid this clean. However, multiple sequentialtry_compile operations, if given the same <bindir>, will reuse this single output directory, such that you can only debug one such try_compilecall at a time. Use of the newer signature is recommended to simplify debugging of multiple try_compile operations.

Options

The options for the above signatures are:

CMAKE_FLAGS <flags>...

Specify flags of the form -DVAR:TYPE=VALUE to be passed to the cmake(1) command-line used to drive the test build. The above example shows how values for variablesCOMPILE_DEFINITIONS, INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES, LINK_DIRECTORIES,LINK_LIBRARIES, and LINK_OPTIONS are used. Compiler options can be passed in like CMAKE_FLAGS -DCOMPILE_DEFINITIONS=-Werror.

COMPILE_DEFINITIONS <defs>...

Specify -Ddefinition arguments to pass to add_definitions()in the generated test project.

COPY_FILE <fileName>

Copy the built executable or static library to the given <fileName>.

COPY_FILE_ERROR <var>

Use after COPY_FILE to capture into variable <var> any error message encountered while trying to copy the file.

LINK_LIBRARIES <libs>...

Specify libraries to be linked in the generated project. The list of libraries may refer to system libraries and toImported Targets from the calling project.

If this option is specified, any -DLINK_LIBRARIES=... value given to the CMAKE_FLAGS option will be ignored.

Added in version 3.29: Alias targets to imported libraries are also supported.

LINK_OPTIONS <options>...

Added in version 3.14.

Specify link step options to pass to target_link_options() or to set the STATIC_LIBRARY_OPTIONS target property in the generated project, depending on the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE variable.

LINKER_LANGUAGE <lang>

Added in version 3.29.

Specify the LINKER_LANGUAGE target property of the generated project. When using multiple source files with different languages, set this to the language of the source file containing the program entry point, e.g., main.

LOG_DESCRIPTION <text>

Added in version 3.26.

Specify a non-empty text description of the purpose of the check. This is recorded in the cmake-configure-log(7) entry.

NO_CACHE

Added in version 3.25.

<compileResultVar> will be stored in a normal variable rather than a cache entry.

<compileResultVar> is normally cached so that a simple pattern can be used to avoid repeating the test on subsequent executions of CMake:

if(NOT DEFINED RESULTVAR)

...(check-specific setup code)...

try_compile(RESULTVAR ...)

...(check-specific logging and cleanup code)...

endif()

If the guard variable and result variable are not the same (for example, if the test is part of a larger inspection), NO_CACHE may be useful to avoid leaking the intermediate result variable into the cache.

NO_LOG

Added in version 3.26.

Do not record a cmake-configure-log(7) entry for this call.

OUTPUT_VARIABLE <var>

Store the output from the build process in the given variable.

SOURCE_FROM_CONTENT <name> <content>

Added in version 3.25.

Write <content> to a file named <name> in the operation directory. This can be used to bypass the need to separately write a source file when the contents of the file are dynamically specified. The specified <name>is not allowed to contain path components.

SOURCE_FROM_CONTENT may be specified multiple times.

SOURCE_FROM_FILE <name> <path>

Added in version 3.25.

Copy <path> to a file named <name> in the operation directory. This can be used to consolidate files into the operation directory, which may be useful if a source which already exists (i.e. as a stand-alone file in a project's source repository) needs to refer to other file(s) created bySOURCE_FROM_*. (Otherwise, SOURCES is usually more convenient.) The specified <name> is not allowed to contain path components.

SOURCE_FROM_VAR <name> <var>

Added in version 3.25.

Write the contents of <var> to a file named <name> in the operation directory. This is the same as SOURCE_FROM_CONTENT, but takes the contents from the specified CMake variable, rather than directly, which may be useful when passing arguments through a function which wrapstry_compile. The specified <name> is not allowed to contain path components.

SOURCE_FROM_VAR may be specified multiple times.

SOURCES_TYPE <type>

Added in version 3.28.

Sources may be classified using the SOURCES_TYPE argument. Once specified, all subsequent sources specified will be treated as that type until another SOURCES_TYPE is given. Available types are:

NORMAL

Sources are not added to any FILE_SET in the generated project.

CXX_MODULE

Added in version 3.28.

Sources are added to a FILE_SET of type CXX_MODULES in the generated project.

The default type of sources is NORMAL.

<LANG>_STANDARD <std>

Added in version 3.8.

Specify the C_STANDARD, CXX_STANDARD,OBJC_STANDARD, OBJCXX_STANDARD, or CUDA_STANDARD target property of the generated project.

<LANG>_STANDARD_REQUIRED <bool>

Added in version 3.8.

Specify the C_STANDARD_REQUIRED,CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED, OBJC_STANDARD_REQUIRED,OBJCXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED,or CUDA_STANDARD_REQUIREDtarget property of the generated project.

<LANG>_EXTENSIONS <bool>

Added in version 3.8.

Specify the C_EXTENSIONS, CXX_EXTENSIONS,OBJC_EXTENSIONS, OBJCXX_EXTENSIONS, or CUDA_EXTENSIONS target property of the generated project.

Other Behavior Settings

Changed in version 3.14: If CMP0083 is set to NEW, then in order to obtain correct behavior at link time, the check_pie_supported() command from theCheckPIESupported module must be called before using thetry_compile command.

Some policies are set automatically in the generated test project as needed to honor the state of the calling project:

Added in version 4.0: The current setting of CMP0181 policy is propagated through to the generated test project.

Set variable CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_CONFIGURATION to choose a build configuration:

Added in version 3.6: Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_TARGET_TYPE variable to specify the type of target used for the source file signature.

Added in version 3.6: Set the CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_PLATFORM_VARIABLES variable to specify variables that must be propagated into the test project. This variable is meant for use only in toolchain files and is only honored by thetry_compile() command for the source files form, not when given a whole project.

Changed in version 3.14: For the [Green Hills MULTI](../generator/Green%20Hills%20MULTI.html#generator:Green Hills MULTI "Green Hills MULTI") generator, the GHS toolset and target system customization cache variables are also propagated into the test project.

Added in version 4.0: If CMP0184 is set to NEW, one can useCMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_CHECKS to specify the enabled MSVC runtime checks.

See Also