Adding command line options to CMake

Question

I'm building a large library using CMake, and I would like users to be able to selectively enable/disable certain parts of my build process.

How can I add command-line options to my CMake build, e.g. so that users may type something like cmake --build-partone --nobuild-parttwo --dothis=true --dothat=false ..?

Apparently the OPTION keyword will create variables that can be set from the CMake GUI, but I can't figure out how to do this from the command line.

Thank you for your question as it answered my question with regards to the purpose of cmake option. So, i see now it is for GUI — daparic, Aug 04 '20 at 18:09

score 181 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:14

181

Yeah, you should use the option command. You can set options from the command line this way:

//CMakeLists.txt
option(MyOption "MyOption" OFF)

//Command line
cmake -DMyOption=ON MyProjectFolder

Note that -DMyOption must come before the path.

edited Sep 10 '18 at 21:14

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 14 '11 at 07:30

beduin

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... and `cmake MyProjectFolder -DMyOption` does not turn the option on (or off) – mabraham Mar 26 '13 at 13:36
put -DMyOption before MyProjectFolder and take a try? – updogliu Feb 16 '14 at 01:08
14

Use `-DMyOption=ON` or `-DMyOption=OFF` to turn on or off. – kvanbere Nov 01 '14 at 03:18
I just noticed as I was trying to build a third party module that items set with "set(NAME blahblah)" in CMakeLists.txt are overridable with -DNAME=overridingValue on the cmake command line, – peterk Dec 20 '18 at 22:01

guilloptero · Answer 2 · 2022-11-25T22:20:56.573

17

Just a little correction:

If you have other variables to pass, it is recommended to indicate the type of these:

//CMakeLists.txt
option(MyOption "MyOption" OFF)

//Command line
cmake -DMyOption:BOOL=ON -D... MyProjectFolder

edited Nov 25 '22 at 22:20

answered Apr 04 '15 at 08:43

guilloptero

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@Peter Mortensen Should the `-D...` must lie behind `MyProjectFolder`? If it's the case, why? – John Nov 18 '22 at 02:07

Adding command line options to CMake

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