cmake_minimum_required

Require a minimum version of cmake.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION <min>[...<max>] [FATAL_ERROR])

New in version 3.12: The optional <max> version.

Sets the minimum required version of cmake for a project. Also updates the policy settings as explained below.

<min> and the optional <max> are each CMake versions of the form major.minor[.patch[.tweak]], and the ... is literal.

If the running version of CMake is lower than the <min> required version it will stop processing the project and report an error. The optional <max> version, if specified, must be at least the <min> version and affects policy settings as described below. If the running version of CMake is older than 3.12, the extra ... dots will be seen as version component separators, resulting in the ...<max> part being ignored and preserving the pre-3.12 behavior of basing policies on <min>.

This command will set the value of the CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED_VERSION variable to <min>.

The FATAL_ERROR option is accepted but ignored by CMake 2.6 and higher. It should be specified so CMake versions 2.4 and lower fail with an error instead of just a warning.

Note

Call the cmake_minimum_required() command at the beginning of the top-level CMakeLists.txt file even before calling the project() command. It is important to establish version and policy settings before invoking other commands whose behavior they may affect. See also policy CMP0000.

Calling cmake_minimum_required() inside a function() limits some effects to the function scope when invoked. Such calls should not be made with the intention of having global effects.

Policy Settings

The cmake_minimum_required(VERSION) command implicitly invokes the cmake_policy(VERSION) command to specify that the current project code is written for the given range of CMake versions. All policies known to the running version of CMake and introduced in the <min> (or <max>, if specified) version or earlier will be set to use NEW behavior. All policies introduced in later versions will be unset. This effectively requests behavior preferred as of a given CMake version and tells newer CMake versions to warn about their new policies.

When a <min> version higher than 2.4 is specified the command implicitly invokes

cmake_policy(VERSION <min>[...<max>])

which sets CMake policies based on the range of versions specified. When a <min> version 2.4 or lower is given the command implicitly invokes

cmake_policy(VERSION 2.4[...<max>])

which enables compatibility features for CMake 2.4 and lower.