Step 9: Installation Commands and Concepts — CMake 4.4.1 Documentation

# Step 9: Installation Commands and Concepts

Projects need to do more than build and test their code. They need to make it available to consumers. The layout of files in the build tree is unsuitable for consumption by other projects. Binaries are in unexpected places, header files are located far away in the source tree, and there's no clear way to discover what targets are provided or how to use them.

Moving artifacts from the source and build trees into a final layout suitable for consumption is known as installation. CMake supports a complete installation workflow as part of the project description, controlling both the layout of artifacts in the install tree and reconstructing targets for other CMake projects which want to consume the libraries provided by the install tree.

## Background

All CMake installation goes through a single command, `install()`, which is split into many subcommands responsible for various aspects of the installation process. For target-based CMake workflows, it is mostly sufficient to rely on installing targets themselves with `install(TARGETS)` instead of resorting to manually moving files with `install(FILES)` or `install(DIRECTORY)`.

Note

This is why we need to add `FILES` to header sets which are intended to be installed. CMake needs to be able to locate the files when their associated target is installed.

CMake divides target-based installation into various artifact kinds. The available artifact kinds (in CMake 3.23) are:

> `ARCHIVE`

>   Static libraries (`.a` / `.lib`), DLL import libraries (`.lib`), and a handful of other "archive-like" objects.

> `LIBRARY`

>   Shared libraries (`.so`), modules, and other dynamically loadable objects. Not Window's DLL files (`.dll`) or MacOS frameworks.

> `RUNTIME`

>   Executables of all kinds except MacOS bundles; and Window's DLLs (`.dll`).

> `OBJECT`

>   Objects from `OBJECT` libraries.

> `FRAMEWORK`

>   Both static and shared MacOS frameworks

> `BUNDLE`

>   MacOS bundle executables

> `PUBLIC_HEADER` / `PRIVATE_HEADER` / `RESOURCE`

>   Files described by the `PUBLIC_HEADER`, `PRIVATE_HEADER` and `RESOURCE` target properties, typically used with MacOS frameworks

> `FILE_SET <set-name>`

>   A file set associated with the target. This is how headers are typically installed.

Most important artifact kinds have known destinations which CMake will default to unless instructed to do otherwise. For example, `RUNTIME` will be installed to the location named by `CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR`, if the variable is available, otherwise they default to `bin`.

Just like we use `cmake -B` to control what build directory will be used by CMake, we have a variety of options for telling CMake where to install things. This location is generally referred to as the install prefix. To set this at configure time, so that every `cmake --install` performed using that build tree defaults to a given prefix, we can use any of:

- the `cmake --install-prefix` option;

- the installDir field in CMake presets; or

- the `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` variable.

Note

We have discouraged setting `CMAKE_` variables inside the project. Setting `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` is particularly bad practice without very good reasoning for doing so, since it prevents users from ever overriding it. When providing a default, projects should check `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX_INITIALIZED_TO_DEFAULT`.

Alternatively, we can use the `cmake --install --prefix` option to set the install prefix for a single install invocation.

The full list of artifact kind default destinations is described in the following table.

Target Type | Variable | Built-In Default
--- | --- | ---
`RUNTIME` | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}` | `bin`
`LIBRARY` | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}` | `lib`
`ARCHIVE` | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}` | `lib`
`PRIVATE_HEADER` | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}` | `include`
`PUBLIC_HEADER` | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}` | `include`
`FILE_SET` (type `HEADERS`) | `${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}` | `include`

For the most part, projects should leave the defaults alone unless they need to install to a specific subdirectory of a default location.

CMake does not define the `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` variables by default. If a project wishes to dictate installing to a subdirectory of one of these locations, it is necessary to include the `GNUInstallDirs` module, which will provide values for all `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` variables that have not already been defined.

## Exercise 1 - Installing Artifacts

For modern, target-based CMake projects installation of artifacts is trivial and consists of a single call to `install(targets)`.

    install(
      TARGETS MyApp MyLib

      FILE_SET HEADERS
      FILE_SET anotherHeaderFileSet
    )

Most artifact kinds are installed by default and do not need to be listed in the `install()` command. However, `FILE_SET`s must be named to let CMake know you want to install. In the above example we install two file sets, one named `HEADERS` and another named `anotherHeaderFileSet`.

When named, an artifact kind can be given various options, such as a destination.

    include(GNUInstallDirs)

    install(
      TARGETS MyApp MyLib

      RUNTIME
        DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}/Subfolder

      FILE_SET HEADERS
    )

This will install the `MyApp` target to `bin/Subfolder` (if the packager hasn't changed `CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR`).

Importantly, if the `OBJECT` artifact kind is never given a destination, it will act like an `INTERFACE` library, only installing its headers.

### Goal

Install the artifacts for the libraries and executables (except tests) described in the tutorial project.

### Helpful Resources

- `install()`

- `cmake --install-prefix`

- `cmake --install --prefix`

### Files to Edit

- `CMakeLists.txt`

### Getting Started

The `Help/guide/tutorial/Step9` directory contains the complete, recommended solution to `Step8`. Complete `TODO 1` and `TODO 2`.

### Build and Run

No special configuration is needed, configure and build as usual.

    cmake --preset tutorial
    cmake --build build

We can verify the installation is correct with `cmake --install`.

Note

As with CTest, when using a multi-config generator such as Visual Studio, it will be necessary to specify a configuration like `Debug` or `Release` using `cmake --install --config`. This is true whenever using a multi-config generator, and won't be called out specifically in future commands.

    cmake --install build --prefix install

The `install` folder should be populated correctly for our artifacts.

### Solution

First we add an `install(TARGETS)` for the conditionally built, thus conditionally installed, `Tutorial` executable.

TODO 1 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 1: CMakeLists.txt

    if(TUTORIAL_BUILD_UTILITIES)
      add_subdirectory(Tutorial)
      install(
        TARGETS Tutorial
      )
    endif()

Then we can install the rest of the targets.

TODO 2 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 2: CMakeLists.txt

    install(
      TARGETS MathFunctions OpAdd OpMul OpSub MathLogger SqrtTable
      FILE_SET HEADERS
    )

Note

We could add `install(TARGETS)` commands locally to each subfolder where the targets are defined. This would be typical in very large projects where keeping track of all the installable targets is difficult.

It might seem unnecessary to install the `SqrtTable` and `MathLogger`, and it is at this stage. Due to how CMake models target relationships, when we reconstruct the target model in the next exercise we will need these targets to be available.

## Exercise 2 - Exporting Targets

This raw collection of installed files is a good start, but we lose the CMake target model. These are effectively no better than the pre-compiled vendored libraries we discussed in `Step 4`. We need some way for other projects to reconstruct our targets from what we have provided in the install tree.

The mechanism CMake provides to solve this is a CMakeLang file known as a "target export file". It is created by the `install(EXPORT)` command.

    install(
      TARGETS MyApp MyLib
      EXPORT MyProjectTargets
    )

    include(GNUInstallDirs)

    install(
      EXPORT MyProjectTargets
      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/MyProject
      NAMESPACE MyProject::
    )

There are several parts to the above example. Firstly the `install(TARGETS)` command takes an export name, basically a list to add the installed targets to.

Later, the `install(EXPORT)` command consumes this list of targets to generate the target export file. This will be a file named `<ExportName>.cmake` located in the provided `DESTINATION`. The `DESTINATION` provided in this example is the conventional one, but any location searched by the `find_package()` command is valid.

Finally, the targets created by the target export file will be prefixed with the `NAMESPACE` string, ie they will be of the form `<NAMESPACE><TargetName>`. It is conventional for this to be the project name followed by two colons.

For reasons that will become more obvious in future steps, we typically don't consume this file directly. Instead we have a file named `<ProjectName>Config.cmake` consume it via `include()`.

    include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/MyProjectTargets.cmake)

Note

The `CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR` variable names the directory that the currently running CMake Language file is inside of, regardless of how that file was included or launched.

Then this file is installed alongside the target export with `install(FILES)`.

    install(
      FILES
        cmake/MyProjectConfig.cmake
      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/MyProject
    )

Note

The name of this file and its location are dictated by the discovery semantics of the `find_package()` command, which we will discuss more in the next step.

### Goal

Export the Tutorial project targets so other projects may consume them.

### Helpful Resources

- `install()`

- `GNUInstallDirs`

- `CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR`

### Files to Edit

- `CMakeLists.txt`

- `cmake/TutorialConfig.cmake`

### Getting Started

Continue editing the files in the `Help/guide/tutorial/Step9` directory. Complete `TODO 3` through `TODO 8`.

### Build and Run

The build command is sufficient to reconfigure the project.

    cmake --build build

We can verify the installation is correct with `cmake --install`.

    cmake --install build --prefix install

Note

CMake won't update files which have not changed, only installing new or updated files from the build and source trees.

The `install` folder should be populated correctly for our artifacts and export files. We'll demonstrate how to use these files in the next step.

### Solution

First we add the `Tutorial` target to the `TutorialTargets` export.

TODO 3 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 3: CMakeLists.txt

      install(
        TARGETS Tutorial
        EXPORT TutorialTargets
      )

Soon we will need access to the `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` variables, so next we include the `GNUInstallDirs` module.

TODO 4 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 4: CMakeLists.txt

    include(GNUInstallDirs)

Now we add the rest of our targets to the `TutorialTargets` export.

TODO 5 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 5: CMakeLists.txt

    install(
      TARGETS MathFunctions OpAdd OpMul OpSub MathLogger SqrtTable
      EXPORT TutorialTargets
      FILE_SET HEADERS
    )

Next we install the export itself, to generate our target export file.

TODO 6 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 6: CMakeLists.txt

    install(
      EXPORT TutorialTargets
      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/Tutorial
      NAMESPACE Tutorial::
    )

And then we install our "config" file, which we will use to include our target export file.

TODO 7 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 7: CMakeLists.txt

    install(
      FILES
        cmake/TutorialConfig.cmake
      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/Tutorial
    )

Finally we can add the necessary `include()` command to the config file.

TODO 8 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 8: cmake/TutorialConfig.cmake

    include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/TutorialTargets.cmake)

## Exercise 3 - Exporting a Version File

When importing CMake targets from a target export file, there is no way to "bail out" or "undo" the operation. If it turns out a package is a wrong or incompatible version for the one we requested, we'll be stuck with any side-effects incurred while we learned that version information.

The answer CMake provides for this problem is a lightweight version file which only describes this version compatibility information, which can be checked before CMake commits to fully importing the file.

CMake provides helper modules and scripts for generating these version files, namely the `CMakePackageConfigHelpers` module.

    include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)

    write_basic_package_version_file(
      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/MyProjectConfigVersion.cmake
      COMPATIBILITY ExactVersion
    )

The available versions are:

- `AnyNewerVersion`

- `SameMajorVersion`

- `SameMinorVersion`

- `ExactVersion`

Additionally packages can mark themselves as `ARCH_INDEPENDENT`, intended for packages which ship no binaries which would tie them to a specific machine architecture.

By default, the `VERSION` used by `write_basic_package_version_file()` is the `VERSION` number given to the `project()` command.

### Goal

Export a version file for the Tutorial project.

### Helpful Resources

- `project()`

- `install()`

- `CMakePackageConfigHelpers`

- `PROJECT_VERSION`

### Files to Edit

- `CMakeLists.txt`

### Getting Started

Continue editing the files in the `Help/guide/tutorial/Step9` directory. Complete `TODO 9` through `TODO 12`.

### Build and Run

Rebuild and install as done previously.

    cmake --build build
    cmake --install build --prefix install

The `install` folder should be populated correctly with our newly generated and installed version file.

### Solution

First we add a `VERSION` parameter to the `project()` command.

TODO 9 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 9: CMakeLists.txt

    project(Tutorial
      VERSION 1.0.0
    )

Next we include the `CMakePackageConfigHelpers` modules and use it to generate the config version file.

TODO 10-11 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 10-11: CMakeLists.txt

    include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)

    write_basic_package_version_file(
      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/TutorialConfigVersion.cmake
      COMPATIBILITY ExactVersion
    )

Finally we add the config version file to the list of files to be installed.

TODO 12 Click to show/hide answer
TODO 12: CMakeLists.txt

    install(
      FILES
        cmake/TutorialConfig.cmake
        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/TutorialConfigVersion.cmake
      DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/cmake/Tutorial
    )