Modern CMake Examples

This module demonstrates CMake best practices through anti-pattern vs best-practice comparisons.

Contents

• anti-patterns/ - Common CMake mistakes to avoid
• best-practices/ - Modern CMake approaches

Key Concepts

Target-Based Commands

Anti-pattern:

include_directories(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
link_libraries(some_lib)

Best practice:

target_include_directories(my_target PRIVATE ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
target_link_libraries(my_target PRIVATE some_lib)

Why Target-Based is Better

1. Encapsulation - Dependencies don't leak to other targets
2. Transitivity - PUBLIC/PRIVATE/INTERFACE control propagation
3. Scalability - Works correctly in large projects
4. IDE Support - Better integration with modern IDEs

Dependency Management

Use FetchContent for automatic dependency download:

include(FetchContent)

FetchContent_Declare(
    benchmark
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/benchmark.git
    GIT_TAG v1.8.3
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(benchmark)

CMake Presets

Use CMakePresets.json for reproducible builds:

cmake --preset=release
cmake --build build/release

Building

# From project root
cmake --preset=release
cmake --build build/release --target cmake_anti_patterns cmake_best_practices

Further Reading

• Modern CMake
• CMake Documentation