CMake Portable 3.21.3 / 3.22.0 RC 1 / 3.22.20211024 Dev (BSD License)

Manage the building process of software applications using a compiler-independent method, handle in-place and out-of-place builds, and generate makefiles for many platforms and IDEs

CMake Portable is a professional open-source application whose purpose is to help you configure and generate build files for software packages.

It lets you create builds from the same source tree, generate cross-compilation, build a directory tree outside the source tree, generate a cache for locating executables, files and libraries, work with complex directory hierarchies and tools that rely on several libraries, as well as generate makefiles for many platforms and IDEs including Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, OS/2, MSVC, Cygwin, MinGW and Xcode.

Portable running mode

This is the portable version of the program that can be deployed on the target computer by simply running the executable file. In addition, you may store it on any USB flash drive or other portable devices.

The tool does not leave any entries in your Windows registry and store configuration data in your system, so you may run it without administrative privileges.

User-friendly layout

The utility sports a clean and intuitive GUI that allows you configure most of the main parameters directly from the main window. There’s support for a help manual that provides only short descriptions of the program’s features.

Setting up and building software packages

CMake Portable allows you to select the source folder for the project that contains the CMakeLists plain text files. In addition, you are allowed to specify the build directory where the project is generated.

In order to read all of the input files and identify the variables used in the project, you need to press on the ‘Configure’ button. Variable are displayed using the red color and you are required to repeat the configuration process until there are no longer red entries.

As soon as there are no red entries in the main panel, you may activate the building process that writes the files to the specified directory.

Other powerful features worth being mentioned give you the possibility to include files, libraries and executables, run a set of external programs, work with conditional builds, create multiple compilation trees from a single source tree, as well as handle in-place and out-of-place builds.

An efficient and reliable tool

All in all, CMake Portable comes with an advanced suite of features for helping you manage the build process of software applications that depend on multiple libraries.

Filed under

Compile process Template instantiation Compile source code Compile Compiler Generate Source code