CMake C++ Project Template

This template is designed for organizing cross-platform C++ projects, aimed at solving the main issues of maintaining a clean project structure and convenient work using VSCode and MS VisualStudio.

Benefits and features

Based on CMakePresets.json.
The default release build now includes minimal debug info, that is useful for backtracing.
- RelWithDebInfo renamed to Release and cofigured, Release renamed to RelNoDebInfo.
Target binaries are placed separately from all other build artifacts.
- build/arch_type_platform/
CMake cache and other build artifacts are placed into separate directories to minimize rebuilding when the build type changes.
- build/.cmake/arch_type_platform/
A single shared working directory to minimize duplication of runtime resources.
- workdir/

add_metainfo that allows adding icon, version, and other information to binary files in different ways at the same time:

Universal: generated source code {application}.metainfo.h & c:

Example

add_metainfo(${PROJECT_NAME}
    VERSION 1.2.3.4-alpha5
    DESCRIPTION "Application Template"
    PRODUCT "CMake C++ Template"
    COMPANY "HOME Co."
    COPYRIGHT "© 2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved."
    ICON "icon"
)

const char* application_Version(); // "1.2.3.4-alpha5"
uint16_t application_VersionMajor(); // 1
uint16_t application_VersionMinor(); // 2
uint16_t application_VersionPatch(); // 3
uint16_t application_VersionBuild(); // 4
const char* application_VersionQualifier(); // "alpha5"
uint32_t application_VersionU32(); // if it fits into 4 bytes
uint64_t application_VersionU64(); // if it fits into 8 bytes

add_metainfo(${PROJECT_NAME}
    VERSION 3333-pre-release
)

const char* application_Version(); // "3333-pre-release"
uint16_t application_VersionMajor(); // 3333
uint16_t application_VersionMinor(); // 0
uint16_t application_VersionPatch(); // 0
uint16_t application_VersionBuild(); // 0
const char* application_VersionQualifier(); // "pre-release"
uint64_t application_VersionU64(); // 0x0D05'0000'0000'0000

Universal: embedded strings in non-strict according to SCCS.

Platform-specific: Windows-resource .rc, ELF-sections, MacOS-resource TODO:Info.plist.

Examples of working with SCCS and ELF-sections

$ grep --binary-files=text "@(#)" application
@(#) Version: v1.2.3.4-alpha5
@(#) Description: Application Template
@(#) Product Name: CMake C++ Template
@(#) Company Name: HOME Co.
@(#) Copyright: © 2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved.

$ grep --binary-files=text "\$Id:" application
$Id: v1.2.3.4-alpha5 | Application Template | CMake C++ Template | HOME Co. | © 2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved. $

$ readelf -p .note.version -p .note.description -p .note.product -p .note.company -p .note.copyright application

String dump of section '.note.company':
  [     c]  company
  [    14]  HOME Co.


String dump of section '.note.copyright':
  [     4]  +
  [     c]  copyright
  [    18]   2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved.


String dump of section '.note.description':
  [     c]  description
  [    18]  Application Template


String dump of section '.note.product':
  [     c]  product
  [    14]  CMake C++ Template


String dump of section '.note.version':
  [     c]  version
  [    14]  1.2.3.4-alpha5

$ readelf -n application

Displaying notes found in: .note.company
  Owner                Data size        Description
  company              0x00000009       NT_VERSION (version)
   description data: 48 4f 4d 45 20 43 6f 2e 00

Displaying notes found in: .note.copyright
  Owner                Data size        Description
  copyright            0x0000002b       NT_VERSION (version)
   description data: 20 32 30 30 37 2d 32 30 32 34 20 48 4f 4d 45 20 43 6f 2e 20 41 6c 6c 20 72 69 67 68 74 73 20 72 65 73 65 72 76 65 64 2e 00 00 00

Displaying notes found in: .note.description
  Owner                Data size        Description
  description          0x00000015       NT_VERSION (version)
   description data: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 54 65 6d 70 6c 61 74 65 00

Displaying notes found in: .note.product
  Owner                Data size        Description
  product              0x00000013       NT_VERSION (version)
   description data: 43 4d 61 6b 65 20 43 2b 2b 20 54 65 6d 70 6c 61 74 65 00

Displaying notes found in: .note.version
  Owner                Data size        Description
  1.2.3.4-alpha5       0x0000000f       NT_VERSION (version)
   description data: 2e 32 2e 33 2e 34 2d 61 6c 70 68 61 35 00 00

$ readelf -p .sccsid application

String dump of section '.sccsid':
  [     2]  @(#) Version: v1.2.3.4-alpha5\n
            @(#) Description: Application Template\n
            @(#) Product Name: CMake C++ Template\n
            @(#) Company Name: HOME Co.\n
            @(#) Copyright: � 2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved.\n
            $Id: v1.2.3.4-alpha5 | Application Template | CMake C++ Template | HOME Co. | � 2007-2024 HOME Co. All rights reserved. $\n

add_option as a better variant of set(...CACHE...) that has the next features:
- More simple and intuitive interface.
- 5 data types with some strict rules.
- All the options have OPTION_ prefix that simplifies working with CMakeCache when you have only a text editor.
- All the options are automatically defined as macros for desired targets.
Git utilities.
- fetch_git as a better variant of FetchContent_... that is useful for additional projects such as examples or tests (for main projects use classic git submodules or package managers) and has the next features:
  - More simple and intuitive interface.
  - Better work speed.
  - Aimed to work as classic git submodules.
- git_commits_count_by_regex & git_commits_count_by_tag.
Qt5 support.
- Autosearch (simple) for Qt5 libraries if Qt5_DIR is not specified.
- Custom qt5_create_ts_and_qm(...) that minimizes calls of lrelease if lupdate returns zero changes.
MS Visual Studio support.
- Generating of .vs/launch.vs.json.
  NOTE: You have to constantly choose the right debug target for the workdir and Qt libraries to work.
VSCode support.
- Lots of tweaks in .vscode/settings.json.

Steps terminology

№	Step	Participants
1	prepare	git, etc
2	configure	cmake, git
3	compile	compilers, cmake
4	run	applications

TODO

Clang, TODO

Multiprocessor compilation

Tool	Compiler	Platform	Parameter
VSCode	GCC	Linux	`.vscode/settings.json`: `"cmake.parallelJobs": N`
VSCode	Clang	Linux	TODO
VSCode	MSVC	Windows	TODO
VSCode	Clang	Windows	TODO
MSVS	MSVC	Windows	`CMakeUtils.cmake`: `target_compile_options /MP`
MSVS	Clang	Windows	TODO
cmake	GCC	Linux	`make -jN`, `ninja -jN`
cmake	Clang	Linux	`make -jN`, `ninja -jN`

Program's arguments

Tool	Platform	Parameter
VSCode	Linux	`.vscode/settings.json`: `"args": []`
MSVS	Windows	`init_project("client --ip=localhost" "server")`
VSCode	Windows	TODO

NOTE: VSCode: workdir can't be configured when running target without debugging

Cross-compilation with Docker

Prepare a copy of target sysroot. For example:

rsync -az --progress login@ip:/etc sysroot
rsync -az --progress login@ip:/lib sysroot
rsync -az --progress login@ip:/usr/include sysroot/usr
rsync -az --progress login@ip:/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu sysroot/usr/lib
rsync -az --progress login@ip:/usr/lib/qt5 sysroot/usr/lib
rm -rf sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/dri
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/riscv/riscv-poky/master/scripts/sysroot-relativelinks.py sysroot
tar cf - sysroot -P | gzip > sysroot.tar.gz

Example of a Dockerfile:

# GCC 10.5, GCC 12.3, CMake 3.22
FROM ubuntu:22.04
# GCC 10.5, GCC 13, CMake 3.25
#FROM ubuntu:23.04

RUN mkdir /sysroot
ADD sysroot.tar.gz /

# Optional, for dumping debug symbols
ADD --chmod=755 breakpad_dump_syms /usr/local/bin/

RUN apt update \
 && apt -y install --no-install-recommends \
    cmake \
    xz-utils \
    wget \
    ninja-build \
    git \
    ssh \
    sshpass \
    pkg-config \
    libudev-dev \
    build-essential \
    binutils-aarch64-linux-gnu \
    gcc-12-aarch64-linux-gnu \
    g++-12-aarch64-linux-gnu \
    g++-12 \
    qtbase5-dev \
 && apt clean \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
 && mv /sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/ \
       /sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin.arm/ \
 && cp -RL /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/ \
           /sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/qt5/ \
 && mv /sysroot/usr/lib/qt5/bin/ \
       /sysroot/usr/lib/qt5/bin.arm/ \
 && cp -RL /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/bin/ \
           /sysroot/usr/lib/qt5/bin/ \
 \
 && git config --global http.sslverify false \
 && git config --global --add safe.directory "*" \
 \
# https://github.com/rui314/mold/blob/main/dist.sh
 && git clone --branch v2.4.0 --filter=tree:0 --recurse-submodules https://github.com/rui314/mold.git /mold \
 && cd /mold \
 && cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DMOLD_MOSTLY_STATIC=On . \
 && cmake --build . -j$(nproc) \
 && cmake --install . --strip \
 && rm -rf /mold \
 && ln -s /usr/local/bin/mold /usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-ld.mold \
 \
 && apt -y purge g++-12

RUN echo "#!/usr/bin/bash\n\
cmake \$@ \
-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ARCHITECTURE_ID=aarch64 \
-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-g++-12 \
-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc-12 \
-DCMAKE_STRIP=/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-strip \
-DCMAKE_SYSROOT=/sysroot \
-DQt5_DIR=/sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/cmake/Qt5 \
-DBREAKPAD_DUMP_SYMS=/usr/local/bin/breakpad_dump_syms \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_RPATH=\"\
/sysroot/usr/lib;\
/sysroot/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu;\
/sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu\
\"" \
    > /usr/bin/crosscmake.sh \
 && chmod +x /usr/bin/crosscmake.sh

Run crosscmake.sh in build/.cmake/{configuration} on the root of your project:

from ntpath import join
import os, sys

args = "../../.. "
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    args += " ".join(sys.argv[1:])

os.system("docker run"
    " --rm"
    " -v " + os.getcwd() + ":/project"
    " -w /project/build/.cmake/arm64-Release-Linux"
    " my_docker_image_crosscompiler:latest"
    " /usr/bin/crosscmake.sh -G Ninja -DBUILD_ARCH=arm64 "
    + args)

Build:

import os

os.system("docker run"
    " --rm"
    " -t"
    " -v " + os.getcwd() + ":/project"
    " -w /project/build/.cmake/arm64-Release-Linux"
    " my_docker_image_crosscompiler:latest"
    " ninja")

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 21 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
application		application
deps		deps
tests		tests
workdir		workdir
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
CMakeLists.txt		CMakeLists.txt
CMakePresets.json		CMakePresets.json
CMakeUtils.cmake		CMakeUtils.cmake
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md

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CMake C++ Project Template

Benefits and features

Steps terminology

TODO

Multiprocessor compilation

Program's arguments

Cross-compilation with Docker

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yurablok/cmake-cpp-template

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CMake C++ Project Template

Benefits and features

Steps terminology

TODO

Multiprocessor compilation

Program's arguments

Cross-compilation with Docker

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