Simplified CMake: CMake for Minimalists

TLDR

SMake is a CMake framework to allow for quick, one-time setup for your projects without any of the maintenance. It gets rid of all the boilerplate required for modern C++ projects and puts them in neat little commands.

Example

Here's an example using SMake:

# Creates foo.exe using all the source files located in the current directory
s_project(foo EXEC IS_SIMPLE)

# Includes packages automagically using the current dependency manager
s_add_dependency(PRIVATE OpenSSL)
s_add_dependency(PRIVATE unofficial-breakpad)
s_add_dependency(PRIVATE libbacktrace)

Here's the equivalent CMake code:

add_executable(foo "main.cpp" "a.cpp" "b.cpp" "c/d.cpp" "c/e/f.cpp" ...)

find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE OpenSSL::SSL OpenSSL::Crypto)

# Breakpad requires CONFIG, while OpenSSL does not
find_package(unofficial-breakpad CONFIG REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE unofficial::breakpad::libbreakpad unofficial::breakpad::libbreakpad_client)

# vcpkg's libbacktrace doesn't support find_package and therefore has to be done manually
find_path(LIBBACKTRACE_INCLUDE_DIR "backtrace.h" REQUIRED)
find_library(LIBBACKTRACE_LIBRARY "backtrace" REQUIRED)
target_include_directories(foo PRIVATE ${LIBBACKTRACE_INCLUDE_DIR})
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE ${LIBBACKTRACE_LIBRARY})

Advanced Example

/deps/libA/CMakeLists.txt

s_project(foo::A STATIC_LIB IS_SIMPLE)

s_add_dependency(PRIVATE OpenSSL)

/deps/libB/CMakeLists.txt

L4_project(foo::B HEADER_LIB IS_SIMPLE)

/deps/libC/CMakeLists.txt

s_project(foo::C STATIC_LIB IS_SIMPLE)

s_link_libraries(PRIVATE foo::A)
s_link_libraries(PUBLIC foo::B)

/src/CMakeLists.txt

s_project(foo EXEC IS_SIMPLE)

s_link_libraries(PRIVATE foo::C)

/CMakeLists.txt

s_add_subdirectories_in(deps)
add_subdirectory(src)

Documentation

(TODO)

Features

SMake currently supports the following build targets:

• EXEC: An executable created with add_executable
• EXEC_WIN32: add_executable with the WIN32 subsystem
• HEADER_LIB: add_library with INTERFACE visibility. Dependents automatically include the right directory
• SHARED_LIB: add_library of SHARED type
• STATIC_LIB: add_library of STATIC type
• MODULE_LIB: add_library of MODULE type
• IMPORT_LIB: add_library of IMPORTED type for already built libraries

SMake currently supports:

• C++ style namespacing with :: separators for project names
  • s_project(foo::A::B ...)
• One-line dependency management with vcpkg
  • s_add_dependency(VISIBILITY LIBRARY_NAME)
• Automatic git version integration
  • s_retrieve_version_info()
  • Add macro support with s_add_version_defs(file.cpp)
• Cleaner property management with more expressive commands
  • s_set_cxx_standard(20)
  • s_enable_clang_tidy()
• Utility functions to reduce maintenance time
  • s_add_subdirectories_in(DIR_NAME)
  • s_add_dir(DIR_NAME RECURSIVE)
• Quick debugging support
  • s_project with IS_DISABLED
  • s_dump_variables()
• Quickly specificy platform-specific projects
  • s_project(... PLATFORMS lnx mac)

Planned

• Automatically grab vcpkg find_package dependency code if available
• Support other project target properties
• Support other package managers
• Untested: C++20 module support
• If possible, get rid of the s_end_sources() call when not using IS_SIMPLE
• DRIVER_LNX build type: KBuild Linux driver with signing and DKMS support
• Other project types (suggestions and PRs are open!)

Installation

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
  smake
  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/WorkingRobot/smake.git
  GIT_TAG        v2
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(smake)
include(${smake_SOURCE_DIR}/smake.cmake)