CMake 3.24.0-rc5 is ready for testing

July 28, 2022

I am proud to announce the fourth CMake 3.24 release candidate.
https://cmake.org/download/

Documentation is available at:
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.24

Release notes appear below and are also published at
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.24/release/3.24.html

Some of the more significant changes in CMake 3.24 are:

  • The “FetchContent” module and the “find_package()” command now
    support integration capabilities.
  • The “LINK_LIBRARY” generator expression was added to manage how
    libraries are specified during the link step.
  • The Visual Studio Generators now support “SYSTEM” headers when using
    VS 2019 Update 11 or later.
  • “cmake(1)” gained the “–fresh” command-line option to remove any
    existing “CMakeCache.txt” file and associated “CMakeFiles/”
    directory, when configuring a build tree, thus starting a new
    configuration as if the build tree were freshly created.
  • The “CMAKE_COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR” variable and corresponding
    “COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR” target property were added to enable
    compilation with a compiler-specific flag to treat warnings as
    errors, such as “-Werror”.
  • The “find_file()”, “find_path()”, “find_library()”,
    “find_program()”, and “find_package()” commands gained the
    “NO_CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX” option to control searching
    “CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX”.
  • The “find_file()”, “find_path()”, “find_library()”,
    “find_program()”, and “find_package()” commands gained the ability
    to specify which Windows Registry views must be queried.
CMake 3.24 Release Notes
************************

Changes made since CMake 3.23 include the following.

New Features
============

Presets
-------

* "cmake-presets(7)" files now support schema version "5".

* "cmake-presets(7)" files now support a "${pathListSep}" macro, which
  expands to ":" or ";" based on the platform.

* "cmake-presets(7)" files gained support for specifying a
  "testOutputTruncation" field in test presets, which specifies the
  truncation mode once the maximum test output size has been reached.

Generators
----------

* The "Green Hills MULTI" generator now generates build rules to re-
  run CMake if any CMake files are updated.

* The Visual Studio Generators now support "SYSTEM" headers when using
  VS 2019 Update 11 or later.

Command-Line
------------

* "cmake(1)" gained the "--fresh" command-line option to remove any
  existing "CMakeCache.txt" file and associated "CMakeFiles/"
  directory, when configuring a build tree, thus starting a new
  configuration as if the build tree were freshly created.

* "cmake(1)" gained the "--compile-no-warning-as-error" command-line
  option which causes the effects of the "COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR"
  target property and "CMAKE_COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR" variable to be
  ignored.

* The "cmake(1)" "--trace=json-v1" trace format gained fields
  "global_frame" and "line_end".

* The "cmake(1)" "-E" commands "cat" and "env" learned to respect a
  double dash ("--") argument that acts as a delimiter indicating the
  end of options. Any following arguments are treated as
  operands/positional arguments, even if they begin with a dash "-"
  character.

* The "cmake(1)" "-E tar" command gained the "--touch" option to keep
  the current local timestamp instead of extracting file timestamps
  from the archive.

Compilers
---------

* LLVM's flang Fortran compiler is now supported on some platforms,
  with compiler id "LLVMFlang".

* ADSP compiler support (SHARC and Blackfin) now covers both CCES and
  VDSP++ installations, with required configuration now done in the
  compiler module itself rather than the "Generic-ADSP" platform
  module.

Platforms
---------

* A dedicated "ADSP" platform has been added to replace the existing
  "Generic-ADSP" implementation. This features automatic detection of
  the latest CCES/VDSP++ install and compiler selection ("cc21k" vs.
  "ccblkfn") based off of the "CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR" variable.

Commands
--------

* The "cmake_host_system_information()" command, on Windows, gained a
  "QUERY WINDOWS_REGISTRY" mode. See its Query Windows registry
  section.

* The "cmake_language()" command gained a new
  "SET_DEPENDENCY_PROVIDER" sub-command.  When a dependency provider
  is set, calls to "find_package()" and "FetchContent_MakeAvailable()"
  can be redirected through a custom command, which can choose to
  fulfill the request directly, modify how the request is processed,
  or leave it to be fulfilled by the built-in implementation.  See
  Dependency Providers.

* The "file(DOWNLOAD)" command gained options "RANGE_START" and
  "RANGE_END" to specify a range of bytes to download.  This can be
  useful for downloading parts of big binary files.

* The "find_file()", "find_path()", "find_library()",
  "find_program()", and "find_package()" commands gained the
  "NO_CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX" option to control searching
  "CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX".

* The "find_file()", "find_path()", "find_library()",
  "find_program()", and "find_package()" commands gained the ability
  to specify which Windows Registry views must be queried.

* The "find_package()" command gained a "GLOBAL" option that allows
  for the promotion of imported targets to global scope for the
  duration of the "find_package()" call.

* The "if()" command gained the capability to compare paths by using
  the "PATH_EQUAL" operator.  See policy "CMP0139".

Variables
---------

* The "CMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS" variable was added to control color
  diagnostics generated by compilers.  This variable also controls
  color build system messages with Makefile Generators, replacing
  "CMAKE_COLOR_MAKEFILE".

  The "CMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS" environment variable was added to set
  a default value for "CMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS".

* The "CMAKE_COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR" variable and corresponding
  "COMPILE_WARNING_AS_ERROR" target property were added to enable
  compilation with a compiler-specific flag to treat warnings as
  errors, such as "-Werror".

* The "CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES" variable and associated
  "CUDA_ARCHITECTURES" target property now support the special
  "native" value to compile for the architectures(s) of the host's
  GPU(s).

* The "CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_TARGETS_GLOBAL" variable was added to toggle
  behavior of the "find_package()" command's new "GLOBAL" option.

* The "CMAKE_FIND_USE_INSTALL_PREFIX" variable was added to toggle
  behavior of the "find_file()", "find_library()", "find_path()",
  "find_package()", and "find_program()" commands' new
  "NO_CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX" option.

* The "CMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES" variable was added to allow
  injecting custom code at the site of the first "project()" call,
  after the host and target platform details have been determined.

* The "CMAKE_TRY_COMPILE_NO_PLATFORM_VARIABLES" variable was added to
  tell the "try_compile()" command not to pass any platform variables
  to the test project.

* The "CMAKE_VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS" variable and corresponding
  "VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS" target property were added to enable
  build rules that verify all headers in header sets can be used on
  their own.

* The "CMAKE_VS_NO_COMPILE_BATCHING" variable and corresponding
  "VS_NO_COMPILE_BATCHING" target property were added to tell Visual
  Studio Generators whether to disable compiler parallelism and call
  the compiler with one source file at a time.

* The "CMAKE_WATCOM_RUNTIME_LIBRARY" variable and
  "WATCOM_RUNTIME_LIBRARY" target property were introduced to select
  the runtime library used by compilers targeting the Watcom ABI. See
  policy "CMP0136".

* The "CMAKE_XCODE_XCCONFIG" variable and corresponding
  "XCODE_XCCONFIG" target property were added to tell the "Xcode"
  generator to handle "xcconfig" files.

Properties
----------

* The "INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT" and
  "INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT_EXCLUDE" target properties were
  added to express usage requirements affecting a consumer's direct
  link dependencies.

* The "INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS_TO_VERIFY" target property was added to
  specify which header sets should be verified by
  "VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS".

* The "LINK_LIBRARIES" target property now supports the
  "$    " generator expression. See policy "CMP0131".

* The "VS_DOTNET_STARTUP_OBJECT" target property was added to tell
  Visual Studio Generators which startup class shall be used when the
  program or project is executed. This is necessary when more than one
  "static void Main(string[])" function signature is available in a
  managed .NET project.

Modules
-------

* The "ExternalProject" module "ExternalProject_Add()" command gained
  a new "DOWNLOAD_EXTRACT_TIMESTAMP" option for controlling whether
  the timestamps of extracted contents are set to match those in the
  archive when the "URL" download method is used. Policy "CMP0135" was
  added to enable the option by default.

* The "FetchContent" module and the "find_package()" command now
  support integration capabilities:

  * "FetchContent_MakeAvailable()" can now try to satisfy a dependency
    by calling "find_package()" first.  A new
    "FETCHCONTENT_TRY_FIND_PACKAGE_MODE" variable controls whether
    this is done by default for all dependencies, is opt-in per
    dependency, or is disabled entirely.

  * "find_package()" can be re-routed to call
    "FetchContent_MakeAvailable()" instead.  A new read-only
    "CMAKE_FIND_PACKAGE_REDIRECTS_DIR" variable points to a directory
    where config package files can be located to facilitate these re-
    routed calls.

* The "FindJNI" module now provides imported targets.

* The "FindMatlab" module "matlab_add_mex()" function gained a
  "NO_IMPLICIT_LINK_TO_MATLAB_LIBRARIES" option to disable automatic
  linking of MATLAB libraries.

* The "FindVulkan" module now supports components to select which
  VulkanSDK tool and libraries to find in addition to the Vulkan SDK
  headers and library.

* The "FindZLIB" gained a new "ZLIB_USE_STATIC_LIBS" variable to
  search only for static libraries.

Generator Expressions
---------------------

* The "LINK_LIBRARY" generator expression was added to manage how
  libraries are specified during the link step. The
  "CMAKE__LINK_LIBRARY_USING_" and
  "CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_" variables are used to define
  features usable by the "LINK_LIBRARY" generator expression.
  Moreover, the "LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE" and
  "LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE_   " target properties are available to
  resolve incompatible features.

  The "LINK_LIBRARY" generator expression can link frameworks in
  various ways when targeting "Apple" platforms. The following
  features were added:

  * "FRAMEWORK"

  * "NEEDED_FRAMEWORK"

  * "REEXPORT_FRAMEWORK"

  * "WEAK_FRAMEWORK"

  The "LINK_LIBRARY" generator expression can link libraries in
  various ways when targeting "Apple" platforms. The following
  features were added:

  * "NEEDED_LIBRARY"

  * "REEXPORT_LIBRARY"

  * "WEAK_LIBRARY"

  The "LINK_LIBRARY" generator expression gained the feature
  "WHOLE_ARCHIVE" to force load of all members in a static library.
  This feature is supported on the following target platforms:

  * all "Apple" variants

  * "Linux"

  * all "BSD" variants

  * "SunOS"

  * "Windows"

  * "CYGWIN"

  * "MSYS"

* The "LINK_GROUP" generator expression was added to manage the
  grouping of libraries during the link step.  The
  "CMAKE__LINK_GROUP_USING_" and
  "CMAKE_LINK_GROUP_USING_" variables are used to define
  features usable with the "LINK_GROUP" generator expression. This
  release defines the "RESCAN" feature, which can be used to handle
  circular references among static libraries when using toolchains for
  Linux, BSD, SunOS and GNU toolchains for Windows.

* The "PATH" generator expression was added to manage paths.

* The "PATH_EQUAL" generator expression was added to manage path
  comparisons.

* The "TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR_NAME" generator expression was added to
  evaluate to the name of the bundle directory for a given bundle
  target.

CTest
-----

* "ctest(1)" gained a "--test-output-truncation" option (and
  corresponding "CTEST_CUSTOM_TEST_OUTPUT_TRUNCATION" variable) to
  specify the truncation mode once the maximum test output size has
  been reached. Possible values are "tail" (default), "middle" or
  "head".

CPack
-----

* The "CPack WIX Generator" gained a new variable,
  "CPACK_WIX_ARCHITECTURE", to specify the installer architecture in
  order to support computers running Windows for ARM.

* CPack now supports the "CPACK_THREADS" option for "zstd" compression
  when compiled with libarchive 3.6 or higher.  It is supported by
  official CMake binaries available on cmake.org.

Deprecated and Removed Features
===============================

* The "CPack" module no longer enables the SLA by default in the
  "CPack DragNDrop Generator".  See policy "CMP0133" and the
  "CPACK_DMG_SLA_USE_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE" variable.

* The deprecated "CPack PackageMaker Generator" has been removed.

* The "FindGLUT" module no longer provides the undocumented
  "GLUT_LIBRARY" and "GLUT_INCLUDE_PATH" result variables.

Other Changes
=============

* CMake no longer sets environment variables like "CC", "CXX", etc.
  when enabling the corresponding language during the first CMake run
  in a build directory.  See policy "CMP0132".

* The "CheckIPOSupported" module "check_ipo_supported()" command now
  uses the caller's "CMAKE__FLAGS" and
  "CMAKE__FLAGS_" values. See policy "CMP0138".

* The "MSYS Makefiles" and "MinGW Makefiles" generators, when a
  compiler is not explicitly specified, now select the first compiler
  (of any name) found in directories listed by the "PATH" environment
  variable.

* The "try_compile()" command whole-project signature now propagates
  platform variables.  See policy "CMP0137".

* The "while()" command now diagnoses errors during condition
  evaluation.  See policy "CMP0130".

* The precompiled macOS binaries provided on cmake.org no longer
  attach a SLA to the ".dmg" packages.  This was removed because macOS
  12 deprecated the tools used to attach ".dmg" resources.

* A precompiled Windows "arm64" binary is now provided on cmake.org.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes made since CMake 3.24.0-rc4

Brad King (8):
  Help: Clarify execute_process OS-specific command-line encoding
  AUTOUIC: Revert "Fix internal paths of generated ui_foo.h files"
  VS: Revert "Write ZERO_CHECK.proj for VS19 and above"
  FindVulkan: Format component documentation as definition list
  cmSystemTools: Factor out method to get Windows OS version
  VS: Detect ARM64 host architecture at runtime
  gitlab-ci: update macOS jobs to use Xcode 13.4
  CMake 3.24.0-rc5

Craig Scott (5):
  Help: Minor grammar fix for the Using Dependencies manual
  Help: Document BYPASS_PROVIDER keyword for find_package()
  Help: Clarify behavior of path-based equality conditions
  Help: CMP0097 applies to FetchContent as well
  Help: Fix wrong syntax for $

Kyle Edwards (4):
  Help: Clarify that VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS supports
  interface libraries
  cmTarget: Factor out FinalizeTargetCompileInfo()
  VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS: Finalize compile info for verify targets
  VERIFY_INTERFACE_HEADER_SETS: Fall back to global languages

MACHIZAUD Andréa (1):
  FindVulkan: Add missing 3.24 release notes

Robert Maynard (5):
  cmake: simplify to a single source of truth of working mode
  cmake: In -P mode ignore extra paths on the command line
  cmake: simplify to a single source of truth of working mode
  cmake: In -P mode ignore extra paths on the command line
  cmake: In -P mode ignore flags like `--version` after `--`

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