Meta Build Tools

• "Build tool for build tools".

• Generate build files for other tools (do not compile directly).

• Allow cross-platform configuration (Linux, Windows, macOS).

• Use languages or DSLs (CMakeLists.txt, Meson.build, etc.).

• "Great for working with different compilers in different types of systems".

CMake

• CMake .

• Cross-platform.

• My version :

  • cmake-3.31.3-windows-x86_64.msi.

• Can use Make, Ninja, etc.

Commands

• cmake

  • Starts CMake.

• -S "./../"

  • Sets the source directory  where the CMakeLists.txt  is.

  • Here: The source directory is the parent of the current directory ( ./../ ).

• -B "vs2022_x64"

  • Sets the build directory  where CMake and Visual Studio generated files will be placed.

  • Here: vs2022_x64 .

• -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"

  • Specifies the generator, i.e., the type of project to generate.

  • Here: Solution for Visual Studio 2022.

• -A x64

  • Sets the build architecture .

  • Here: 64-bit.

• -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:String="SDK"

  • Sets the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX  variable to "SDK" .

    • Defines the installation path for project artifacts (e.g., when running cmake --install  or the INSTALL  target).

  • Here: "SDK"  will be the installation prefix.

  • Note: :String  is redundant here. CMake correctly interprets -DVAR=VALUE  without type.

• -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:String=Distribution

  • Sets CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE  to "Distribution" .

    • Single-config builds (like Makefile or Ninja).

  • Note : Ignored in multi-config generators like Visual Studio, where build type (Debug/Release/etc.) is selected in the IDE or via --config .

• %*

  • Inserts all arguments passed to the script/batch.

  • Allows passing additional arguments.

Breaking when moving

• CMakeCache.txt  stores absolute paths to source and build directories.

• Visual Studio project files generated by CMake (like .vcxproj ) also reference absolute paths.

• If you move the folder, these paths become invalid, causing build errors or inability to open in Visual Studio.

• Options :

  1. Recreate the build folder:

     • Delete the build folder (not the source folder).

     • Move the source folder to the new location.

     • Recreate the build directory in the new location:

       cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"
       

     • Open the generated .sln  file in Visual Studio again.

  2. Delete all CMake-generated files.

     • CMakeCache.txt

     • CMakeFiles/

     • All .vcxproj , .sln , .user , .filters , etc.

     • Move the folder to the new location.

     • Reconfigure with CMake:

       cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"
       

     • Not recommended :

       • Too many build artifacts (e.g., .o , .obj , .vcxproj , .sln , CMakeCache.txt , etc.) are placed inside the source directory.

       • Switching between different build systems or CMake options (e.g., different generators or toolchains) may cause conflicts.

       • Difficult to isolate multiple build configurations (e.g., Debug vs Release).

       • Some tools/scripts assume a clean separation of source and build.

  3. Use a separate build/  directory and always build out-of-source.

     • CMake documentation strongly encourages out-of-source builds.

Properties

• CMake Properties .

• CMake generates a .sln  and .vcxproj  with extra Visual Studio-specific information.

• Ex :

  # Use solution folders to organize projects
  set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY USE_FOLDERS ON)
  

Variables

• CMake Variables .

• Ex :

    # Configure CMake global variables
    set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
    set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
    set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)


    set(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES "Debug;Release;Distribution")

Meson

• Meson vs CMake .

  • Similar to CMake.

• Needs to be used from Visual Studio CMD.

• Modern alternative to CMake, generates Ninja  or Visual Studio .

Premake

• Generates Makefile , Visual Studio , Xcode  from Lua scripts.

autotools

• GNU.

• Uses configure  + Makefile.in  to generate Makefile  (old, but still used).