CMake 4.4 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 4.3 include the following.

New Features

Diagnostics

• CMake diagnostic actions are now tracked in a new state type managed by the cmake_diagnostic() command. This replaces the old system which sometimes used variables to manage reporting actions and sometimes did not allow management beyond command-line options and presets. The new system also introduces several new diagnostic categories and significantly reduces the cost of adding additional categories in the future. See the cmake-diagnostics(7) manual for a list of available categories.

• The CMD_INSTALL_ABSOLUTE_DESTINATION diagnostic category was added to diagnose install() commands that specify an absolute DESTINATION. This diagnostic may be controlled with the -Winstall-absolute-destination command-line option, the installAbsoluteDestination field in a CMake Presets warnings object, or the cmake_diagnostic() command.

Presets

• cmake-presets(7) files now support schema version 12.

• cmake(1), ctest(1), and cpack(1) gained --presets-file arguments to support loading presets from the specified file instead of CMakePresets.json and/or CMakeUserPresets.json. See cmake --presets-file, cmake --build --presets-file, cmake --workflow --presets-file, ctest --presets-file, and cpack --presets-file for details.

• cmake-presets(7), in schema version 12 and above, now expand the ${fileDir} macro to the directory of the presets file containing the ${fileDir} macro, regardless of whether it is inherited by another preset in a different directory.

• cmake-presets(7) gained support for a testPassthroughArguments field in the test preset execution object for forwarding arguments to test executables via presets.

File-Based API

• The cmake-file-api(7) "codemodel" version 2 object has been updated to 2.11.

• The cmake-file-api(7) "codemodel" version 2 "target" object's "sources" and "interfaceSources" objects gained new fileSetIndexes fields to support sources belonging to multiple file sets. The fileSetIndex fields are maintained for backwards compatibility only, and users are advised to port to the new fields.

• The cmake-file-api(7) "codemodel" version 2 "target" object's "sources" object gained a new backtraces field to represent multiple command invocations which associate a single source for a given target with multiple file sets. The backtrace field is maintained for backwards compatibility only, and users are advised to port to the new field.

• The cmake-file-api(7) "codemodel" version 2 "installers" object's optional fileSetType field gained a new SOURCES value to incorporate the new SOURCES file set type in codemodel replies.

Instrumentation

• The cmake-instrumentation(7) data version has been updated to 1.1.

• cmake-instrumentation(7) gained a captureOutput option which collects the stdout and stderr of instrumented commands.

• cmake-instrumentation(7) gained a compileTrace option which records compiler-generated trace files (e.g., from Clang's -ftime-trace flag).

Generators

• The Ninja Generators now support generating a build target named test_prep/<test-name> for each test added by add_test(), which builds all dependencies for that test. Build dependencies are registered for an executable target invoked by the test, targets referenced in generator expressions in the test command, and explicit dependencies added using the new BUILD_DEPENDS option. This behavior is enabled by the new CMAKE_TEST_BUILD_DEPENDS variable. A test_prep/all target is also generated to depend on every test_prep/<test-name> target. Tests with names that are not valid target names are excluded from this behavior. If multiple tests in different directories share the same name, their dependencies are merged into one test_prep/<test-name> target.

Languages

• CUDA language level 23 (corresponding to C++ 23) is now supported with NVCC 13.3 and above.

Compilers

• C++ 20 named modules are now supported with clang-cl. See cmake-cxxmodules(7).

• The ibm-flang compiler is now supported with compiler id IBMFlang.

• The Pelles C toolchain is now supported with compiler id PellesC.

  The ASM_POASM language was added to support the Pelles Macro Assembler.

• The Open Watcom wlink linker is now identified with CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER_ID OpenWatcom.

• The wild linker is now supported with CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER_ID WILD.

Command-Line

• cmake(1) now supports --build <dir> --preset <pre> regardless of the current working directory.

• The cmake -D command-line option now populates a default HELPSTRING for variables known to CMake.

• cmake --install now supports installing multiple components.

• cmake --install now accepts -j<N> in addition to -j <N> for specifying the number of parallel jobs.

• The cmake -E commands copy_if_different, copy_if_newer, copy_directory, copy_directory_if_different, and copy_directory_if_newer gained support for the -t argument.

• The cmake -E tar command-line tool gained the --cmake-tar-encoding flag to specify the pathname encoding used in archives.

Commands

• The block() command can now create a DIAGNOSTICS scope.

• The cmake_diagnostic() command was added to manipulate CMake's diagnostic state.

• The cmake_parse_arguments() command gained a new PARSE_ARGN signature that starts parsing after the last named argument of the calling function and works exactly like PARSE_ARGV with <N> being the number of parameters in the function definition.

• The discover_tests() command was added to support registering tests discovered at test time by ctest(1). It runs a user-provided discovery command, parses its output, and generates test names, arguments, and properties from regular-expression captures.

• The execute_process() command gained ENVIRONMENT and ENVIRONMENT_MODIFICATION options to run child processes with a modified environment.

• The file(ARCHIVE_CREATE) and file(ARCHIVE_EXTRACT) commands gained an ENCODING option to specify the encoding of the archive pathnames. The default is now UTF-8. See policy CMP0213.

• The file(READ_SYMLINK) command gained a RESULT option to capture errors without failing.

• The include() command now has a NO_DIAGNOSTIC_SCOPE option.

• The list(FILTER) command gained a new PREDICATE mode that invokes a user-defined function() to decide which elements are included or excluded, complementing the existing REGEX mode.

• The list(SORT) command gained a new COMPARATOR keyword that invokes a user-defined function() to compare elements, complementing the built-in COMPARE methods.

• The list(TRANSFORM) command gained a new APPLY action that invokes a user-defined function() for each element of the list, enabling arbitrary per-element transformations.

• The list(TRANSFORM) command gained a new PREDICATE selector that invokes a user-defined function() to decide which elements are transformed.

• The string(JSON ... PARTIAL_EQUAL) command was added to compare two JSON values using partial equality.

File Sets

• A SOURCES file set type was added to specify a target's source files via file sets.

• The CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES file set property was added to control whether a file set's sources are scanned for C++ modules.

• The INDEPENDENT_FILES file set property was added to specify that a file set's sources do not depend on any generated files.

• The JOB_POOL_COMPILE file set property was added to assign a file set's sources to a specific Ninja job pool.

• The SCOPE, TYPE, BASE_DIRS, SOURCES, and INTERFACE_SOURCES file set properties were added to provide the declared details of a file set.

• The SKIP_LINTING file set property was added to exclude a file set's sources from target-wide code checks.

• The SKIP_PRECOMPILE_HEADERS file set property was added to avoid using precompiled headers for a file set's sources.

• The SKIP_UNITY_BUILD_INCLUSION file set property was added to exclude a file set's sources from inclusion in unity builds.

Variables

• The CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME variable gained support for a special <PROJECT_NAME> placeholder value. It tells each install() invocation to take a default component name from the current PROJECT_NAME variable value.

Environment Variables

• The CMAKE_DISABLE_PRECOMPILE_HEADERS environment variable was added to disable precompiled headers by default.

Properties

• The VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS and VERIFY_PRIVATE_HEADER_SETS target properties now always create the per-target verification target and the aggregate all_verify_interface_header_sets, all_verify_private_header_sets, and all_verify_header_sets targets when the property is enabled, even if the target has no matching header sets.

• The VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS and VERIFY_PRIVATE_HEADER_SETS target properties now support OBJC and OBJCXX languages in addition to C and CXX.

• The VS_SOLUTION_DEPLOY target property is now implemented for targets created by add_custom_target().

Modules

• The CMakePackageConfigHelpers module's write_basic_package_version_file() command now supports SamePatchVersion, SameFullVersion, and SemanticVersion compatibility modes. The older ExactVersion mode is now documented as deprecated in favor of the more explicit SamePatchVersion and SameFullVersion modes. The SemanticVersion mode treats 0.y.z versions more strictly than 1.y.z and later versions.

• The ExternalData module gained an ExternalData_LINK_MODE variable to select an ordered list of file materialization modes for hard links, symbolic links, and copies.

• The ExternalData module gained an ExternalData_STATE_ROOT variable to store hash records outside ExternalData_BINARY_ROOT.

• The ExternalProject and FetchContent modules gained CMAKE_EP_GIT_CLONE_RETRY_COUNT and CMAKE_EP_GIT_CLONE_RETRY_DELAY variables to control git clone retries.

• The FindCUDAToolkit module now creates a CUDA::sanitizer target for the compute-sanitizer library.

• The FindCUDAToolkit module now provides an imported target for cufilt in CUDA 11.4 and above.

• FindPython and FindPython3 modules gained the support of the Stable ABI for Free Threaded Python (SABIT) as specified by PEP 803.

Generator Expressions

• The TARGET_OBJECTS generator expression now has an optional SOURCE_FILES:... argument, which can take one or more source files as arguments, and will filter its output to only include objects built from those source files.

Swift

• The Ninja Generators gained the Swift_SEPARATE_MODULE_EMISSION target property, initialized by the CMAKE_Swift_SEPARATE_MODULE_EMISSION variable, to control whether importable Swift targets emit .swiftmodule from a dedicated build edge. Policy CMP0215 enables this by default.

• The default Swift_MODULE_NAME now replaces hyphens with underscores, since hyphens are not valid in Swift module identifiers.

• Swift targets now have a package name by default. See policy CMP0216.

• The Swift_PACKAGE_NAME target property was added to specify a Swift package name.

• Swift targets on Windows now support the $<TARGET_PDB_FILE:...> family of generator expressions.

CTest

• ctest(1) gained support for forwarding extra arguments to test executables using a -- separator.

• ctest(1) gained a CoverageTool option in Dashboard Client mode to configure tests for coverage collection by llvm-cov.

• The ctest_configure(), ctest_build(), ctest_test(), and ctest_memcheck() commands gained PRESET and PRESETS_FILE arguments to support using presets for their Dashboard Client steps.

  The CTEST_CONFIGURE_PRESET, CTEST_BUILD_PRESET, CTEST_TEST_PRESET, CTEST_PRESET, and CTEST_PRESETS_FILE variables may be used to specify preset arguments to the above commands in a Dashboard Client script or on the ctest command line via the -D option.

• ctest(1) gained support for a CTEST_SUBMIT_PARTS variable that restricts which parts are uploaded when operating in Dashboard Client mode.

• The ctest_update() command gained VERSION_ONLY and VERSION_OVERRIDE options to select or report a source revision without requiring the corresponding CTEST_UPDATE_VERSION_ONLY or CTEST_UPDATE_VERSION_OVERRIDE dashboard script variables.

CPack

• The CPack Archive Generator gained the CPACK_ARCHIVE_ENCODING variable to specify the pathname encoding used in package archives.

• The CPack NSIS Generator gained a new variable CPACK_NSIS_IGNORE_COMPONENTS_PAGE to ignore the component selection page in the installer.

• The CPACK_RPM_SPEC_MORE_DEFINE variable now supports a list of definitions.

Deprecated and Removed Features

• The -W[no-][error=]dev command-line options are deprecated. The new spelling is -W[no-][error=]author.

• The --warn-uninitialized command-line option is deprecated. The new spelling is -Wuninitialized.

• The --no-warn-unused-cli command-line option is deprecated. The new spelling is -Wno-unused-cli.

• The CMAKE_WARN_DEPRECATED and CMAKE_ERROR_DEPRECATED variables are deprecated. The new cmake_diagnostic() command should be used instead.

• The MACROS directory property does not exist anymore. See policy CMP0217.

Other Changes

• A file may belong to at most one non-HEADERS file set in a target. See policy CMP0211.

• macro() invocations now preserve backslashes in arguments. See policy CMP0219.

• variable_watch() callback command arguments preserve backslashes. See policy CMP0219.

• ctest(1) now exits with non-zero if invoked with no arguments and no test input file exists.

• Test drivers generated by the create_test_sourcelist() command now support the -N option to list all tests, one per line. This is useful in combination with the new discover_tests() command.

• Names of executables given to the DEPENDS argument of add_custom_command() no longer have .exe suffixes stripped to establish target-level dependencies. See policy CMP0212.

• Targets which provide C++ modules may now be consumed by targets with different compile features and options than the provider.