[CMake] Using CMake for the first time on an established project

[timothylegg .]

Hello,

I have CMake installed via apt-get on a few Debian-derived operating
systems.  My question is version independent, and I haven't checked,
but I think version 2.8.0+ describes all the machines.

There is a software project that I am wanting to become involved in
that uses cmake, but I have never used makefiles of any sort within
the last 20 years.  I have a vague understanding of how they function
and what their goals are, it's just that I've never written anything
that had a level of complexity to require it.

I don't necessarily need to be able to create any kind of makefiles,
but I only need to know how to use them at compile time.  I could be
talked into authoring them in the future, but presently there is no
need.  The software project I am interested in has very few members
where forum questions can take several days to answer (there seems to
be only 1 or 2 active participants whom are mostly absent)

So lets get to the specifics, the project is open62541.org.  Somebody
wrote a wonderful PDF tutorial (link below) that suggests that
compilation flags, such as BUILD_SHARED_LIBS, UA_ENABLE_METHODCALLS,
or UA_ENABLE_AMALGAMATION, but fails to explain exactly how they are
enabled.  Would these be passed as parameters to cmake or would they
have to be inserted into a file that the CMake tool suite expects to
find upon execution of cmake?

Thanks,

Timothy D Legg



References:

  Documentation - refer to pages: 9-10 of 154, 13 of 154
  https://open62541.org/doc/open62541-0.2.pdf

  Mailing list question I posted two days ago:
  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/open62541/Ifkzrn-k-2s