CMake 4.4.0-rc2 is ready for testing
June 22, 2026
I am proud to announce the second CMake 4.4 release candidate.
https://cmake.org/download/
Documentation is available at:
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.4
Release notes appear below and are also published at
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v4.4/release/4.4.html
Release milestone is available at:
release milestone
Some of the most significant changes in CMake 4.4 are:
-
CMake diagnostic actions are now tracked in a new state type managed
by the “cmake_diagnostic()” command. The new system introduces several
new diagnostic categories. -
“macro()” invocations now preserve backslashes in arguments. See
policy “CMP0219”. -
“cmake(1)”, “ctest(1)”, and “cpack(1)” gained “–presets-file”
arguments to support loading “presets” from the specified file. -
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. This behavior is enabled by
the new “CMAKE_TEST_BUILD_DEPENDS” variable. -
“cmake –install” now supports installing multiple components.
-
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. -
A “SOURCES” file set type was added to specify a target’s source
files via file sets. -
The “SCOPE”, “TYPE”, “BASE_DIRS”, “SOURCES”, and “INTERFACE_SOURCES”
file set properties were added to provide the declared details of a
file set. -
The “CMakePackageConfigHelpers” module’s
“write_basic_package_version_file()” command now supports
“SamePatchVersion”, “SameFullVersion”, and “SemanticVersion”
compatibility modes. -
“ctest(1)” gained support for forwarding extra arguments to test
executables using a “–” separator.
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 "if()" command gained a new "DIAGNOSTIC" operator that evaluates
to true if a given diagnostic category name is known to CMake.
* 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 a "--source-dir" option to specify the source
directory. When combined with "-T" Configure, this allows CTest to
perform an initial configure step for an empty binary directory.
* "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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes made since CMake 4.4.0-rc1:
Ben Boeckel (1):
Clang-FindBinUtils: find unprefixed `clang-scan-deps` binaries as well
Brad King (3):
Help: Add release note for the instrumentation version format change in 4.3.4
ExternalProject: Fix ENVIRONMENT_MODIFICATION with spaces in values
CMake 4.4.0-rc2
Daksh Mamodiya (1):
file(ARCHIVE_EXTRACT): Fix resource leaks on error paths
Jakob Ronestjärna (1):
ExternalData: Remove redundant debug message
James Miro (1):
FindDoxygen: Avoid leaking child process stderr
John Parent (1):
Help: Restore sphinx pre-5.0 compatibility
Matthew Woehlke (3):
Exports: Capture context for diagnostics
CPS: Fix crash when package `requires` isn't an object
if: Add `DIAGNOSTIC <category>` condition
Ottmar Zittlau (1):
GoogleTest: Avoid cluttering custom working directory during discovery
Tyler Yankee (2):
Tests/instrumentation: Check errors for query schema validation
instrumentation: Add JSON schema for snippet files
Zack Galbreath (2):
ctest: Honor preset binaryDir for initial configuration
ctest: Pass CTEST_SITE/CTEST_BUILD_NAME to configure step