Things I Learnt While Trying to Avoid Becoming a CMake Expert

Explore CMake fundamentals and advanced techniques in this comprehensive conference talk from ACCU 2022. Learn best practices, patterns, and pitfalls encountered while maintaining popular CMake modules. Begin with a simple project demonstration explaining basics and progress to more powerful constructs, including variables, functions, and macros. Discover surprising behaviors of the CMake language and how to leverage sophisticated configure-time functionality. Gain insights from CB Bailey's experience at Bloomberg, covering optimal software practices, build systems, and integration techniques for robust application development.

Syllabus

Introduction
Welcome
What is CMake
Why use CMake
Configuration
Build
CMake List
Demo
Naming Targets
Target Link Libraries
Demo Time Linking
Linking Errors
Rerun the Build
Target Include Directory
Generated Print
Types of Variables
Regular Variables
Dynamic Scopes
Cache Scopes
Environment Variables
Cache Bad Values