Makefiles, CMake, and Build Systems

Makefiles

Makefiles are used by the make build automation tool to define a set of tasks to be executed. They are widely used in Unix-based systems for compiling and building software projects.

• Creating a Makefile: You can create a simple Makefile to compile a C++ project as follows:

all: main
 
main: main.o
g++ -o main main.o
 
main.o: main.cpp
g++ -c main.cpp
 
clean:
rm -f main.o main

• Using the Makefile: Run the following command to compile your project:

make

CMake

CMake is a cross-platform build system generator. It uses simple configuration files called CMakeLists.txt to generate build files for a variety of platforms and build systems.

• Creating a CMakeLists.txt: Here’s a basic CMakeLists.txt for a C++ project:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
 
# Set the project name
project(MyProject)
 
# Add an executable
add_executable(MyProject main.cpp)

• Building with CMake: To build your project with CMake, run the following commands:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

Build Systems

Build systems automate the process of converting source code into executable programs. They manage dependencies, compile code, and link binaries.

• Common Build Systems:
• Make: A classic build automation tool that uses Makefiles.
• CMake: A more modern tool that generates build files for various systems.
• Ninja: A small build system with a focus on speed, often used with CMake to generate Ninja build files.