Kitware Releases CMake 3.4 with Brand-New Capabilities

Release designed to increase compatibility and ease-of-use for software development community.

Kitware is pleased to announce the release of CMake 3.4. The release introduces new capabilities to the open-source, cross-platform build system to further enhance the way developers build, test, and package software.

Several new capabilities added to CMake in version 3.4 involve commands. The “if()” command, for example, learned a new “TEST” operator that evaluates to true if a given test name has been defined by the “add_test()” command. Also notable, the “DESTINATION” option for “install(DIRECTORY)” and “install(FILES)” commands learned to support generator expressions.

In other news, CMake learned to honor *.manifest source files with Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) tools. Manifest files named as sources of .exe and .dll targets will be merged with linker-generated manifests and embedded in the binary.

Also included in version 3.4 are improvements to CMake’s generators, variables, properties, modules, and generator expressions. For full release notes and to download CMake, please visit http://www.cmake.org.

CMake was created in response to the need for a powerful, cross-platform build environment for open-source projects including the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK) and the Visualization Toolkit. CMake manages the build process in a manner that is independent of specific operating systems and compilers. Unlike many cross-platform systems, CMake is designed to be used in conjunction with native build environments.

Since its initial implementation in 2000, CMake’s development has been led by Kitware and fostered by the active community that surrounds the project. The software has been adopted by KDE, Netflix, Second Life, Inria, The HDF Group, and RobotCub, among many others.