This file provides instructions for ignition library developers to adopt the
ignition-cmake package into their own library's build system. This document
is primarily targeted at ignition libraries that existed before ignition-cmake
was available, but it might also be useful for getting a new ignition project
started.
The first section goes over changes that your library must make in order to
be compatible with ignition-cmake. The second section mentions some utilities
provided by ignition-cmake which might make your project's CMake scripts more
clean and maintainable, but use of those utilities is not required. The third
section details some of the new CMake features that we'll be using through
ignition-cmake and explains why we want to use those features. The last
section describes some CMake anti-patterns which we should aggressively avoid
as we move forward.
You can find examples of projects that have been set up to use ign-cmake in
the repos of ign-common (branch: CMakeRefactor) and ign-math
(branch: CMakeRefactor-3). The following is a checklist to help you make sure
your project is migrated properly.
That's right, just throw it all out.
We're migrating to 3.10 because it provides many valuable features that we are now taking advantage of.
This will find ignition-cmake and load up all its useful features for you.
This is a wrapper for cmake's native project(~) command which additionally
sets a bunch of variables that will be needed by the ignition-cmake macros and
functions.
We now have a cmake macro ign_find_package(~) which is a wrapper for the
native cmake find_package(~) function, which additionally:
-
Collects build errors and build warnings so that they can all be printed out at the end of the script, instead of quitting immediately upon encountering an error.
-
Automatically populates the dependencies for your project's pkgconfig file and cmake config file.
A variety of arguments are available to guide the behavior of
ign_find_package(~). Most of them will not be needed in most situations, but
you should consider reading them over once just in case they might be relevant
for you. The macro's documentation is available in
ign-cmake/cmake/IgnUtils.cmake just above definition of ign_find_package(~).
Feel free to ask questions about any of its arguments that are unclear.
Any operations that might need to be performed while searching for a package should be done in a find-module. See the section on anti-patterns for more information on writing find-modules.
This macro accepts the argument QUIT_IF_BUILD_ERRORS which you should pass to
it to get the standard behavior for the ignition projects. If for some reason
you want to handle build errors in your own way, you can leave that argument
out and then do as you please after the macro finishes.
After this, your top-level CMakeLists.txt is finished. The remaining changes
listed below must be applied throughout your directory tree.
In the original ignition CMake scripts, we define variables for the components
of the library version: PROJECT_MAJOR_VERSION, PROJECT_MINOR_VERSION, and
PROJECT_PATCH_VERSION. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these
variable names, in CMake 3+ the project(~) command automatically defines the
following variables: PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR, PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR, and
PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH. The pattern that is automatically provided by
project(~) is consistent with how CMake names project variables in general,
and adopting their convention will reduce the friction that we experience when
interfacing with a wide variety of native CMake utilities. It's also beneficial
to embrace the "single source of truth" pattern.
We've had a variable called IGN_PROJECT_NAME which refers to the <suffix>
in the ignition-<suffix> name of each project. I felt that the name of the
variable was too similar to the PROJECT_NAME variable that is automatically
defined by CMake, as well as the PROJECT_NAME[_NO_VERSION][_UPPER/_LOWER] that
we define for convenience. Instead of referring to both as [IGN_]PROJECT_NAME,
I thought it would be better to use clear and distinct words to distinguish
them. Therefore the <suffix> part of the project name is now referred to as
IGN_DESIGNATION, and we provide IGN_DESIGNATION[_LOWER/_UPPER] for
convenience.
These macros have been removed because they were facilitating bad practices which we should aggressively avoid as we move forward. To put it briefly, we should not be using the CMake cache except to allow human users to set build options. For more explanation about why and how we should avoid using the cache, see the below section on CMake anti-patterns.
Replace ign_add_library(${PROJECT_LIBRARY_TARGET_NAME} ${sources}) with ign_create_core_library(SOURCES ${sources})
The ign_add_library(~) macro has been removed and replaced with the macro
ign_create_core_library(~). With this new macro, you no longer need to specify
the library name, because it will be inferred from your project information.
Instead, you should pass the SOURCES argument, followed by the source files
which will be used to generate your library.
You may also use the CXX_STANDARD argument to specify which C++ standard your
library requires (current options are 11 or 14). Note that if your library
requires a certain standard, it MUST be specified directly to this function in
order to ensure that the requirement gets correctly propagated into the
project's package information so that dependent libraries will also be aware of
the requirement. See the documentation of ign_create_core_library(~) in
ign-cmake/cmake/IgnUtils.cmake for more details on how to specify your
library's C++ standard requirement.
Previously, ignition libraries would set a TEST_TYPE variable before calling
ign_build_tests(~), and that variable would be used by the macro to determine
the type of tests it should create. This resulted in some anti-patterns where
the TEST_TYPE variable would be set somewhere far away from the call to
ign_build_tests(~), making it unclear to a human reader what type of tests the
call would produce. Instead, we now explicitly specify the test type using the
TYPE tag when calling the macro, and to avoid confusion with backwards
compatibility, the SOURCES tag must be used before specifying sources. We are
also introducing some new arguments:
LIB_DEPS: Libraries or (preferably) targets which follow the LIB_DEPS tag
will be linked (using target_link_libraries) to each test that gets
generated by the macro. Note that gtest, gtest_main, and your project's
library target will automatically be linked to each test by the macro (for Unix
systems, pthread is also added, since gtest requires it on those platforms).
Since the tests link to your library's target, all of your library's "interface"
dependencies will also be automatically linked to each test. In most cases, this
will make LIB_DEPS unnecessary, but it is still provided for edge cases.
Note that when individual tests depend on additional libraries, those individual
tests should be linked to their dependencies using
target_link_libraries(<test_name> <dependency>) after the call to
ign_build_tests(~). LIB_DEPS should only be used for dependencies that are
needed by (nearly) all of the tests. For component libraries, you can use
LIB_DEPS to have the tests link to your component library.
INCLUDE_DIRS: Include directories that need to be visible to all (or most) of
the tests can be specified using the INCLUDE_DIRS tag. Note that the macro
will automatically include the "interface include directories" of your project's
library target, as well as the PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR and PROJECT_BINARY_DIR.
Also note that all of the "interface include directories" of any targets that
you pass to LIB_DEPS will automatically be visible to all the tests, so this
tag should be even less commonly needed than LIB_DEPS.
The config.hh.in file has traditionally lived in the cmake subdirectory of
each project, but that subdirectory should be deleted at the end of the
migration process. Since config.hh.in may need to be different between
projects, each project should still maintain its own copy, and that copy should
be standardized to the source include directory.
Calling find_package(~) will generally produce a set of variables which look
like DEPENDENCY_FOUND, DEPENDENCY_LIBRARIES, DEPENDENCY_INCLUDE_DIRS, and
DEPENDENCY_CXX_FLAGS. These variables are often passed to cmake functions like
target_add_library(my_target ${DEPENDENCY_LIBRARIES}). These variables often
contain explicit full system paths. This results in package information which
is not relocatable, and that may cause significant problems when distributing
pre-built packages, or when relocating a package within a system.
Instead, we should prefer passing only targets into target_link_libraries(~).
When using target_link_libraries(~) to link targets instead of libraries, all
of the "interface" properties of the dependency target will be linked to the
dependent target, like a transitive property. An "interface" property is a
property which a target specifies as being required by any packages that want to
interface with it. This includes the interface include directories, interface
compiler flags, interface libraries, among other properties. These properties
will be propagated in a way which is relocatable. Also, be sure to specify
PUBLIC or PRIVATE depending on whether libraries which depend on your
project will need to link to symbols in the library that your project is linking
to.
Note that you must also specify which targets' interface include directories
will be needed by libraries which depend on your project's library. This should
be done using ign_target_interface_include_directories(<project_target> <dependency_targets>).
That function will add the interface include directories of the dependency
targets that you pass in to the interface include directory list of
<project_target> in a way which is relocatable by using generator expressions.
This is in contrast to just using
target_include_directories(<project_target> ${DEPENDENCY_INCLUDE_DIRS}) which
will not be relocatable, because ${DEPENDENCY_INCLUDE_DIRS} just contains an
explicit list of full paths to the directories.
BEWARE: Very often, a target name might be identical to the name of the
library that it is meant to represent. This can cause confusion for cmake when
calling target_link_libraries(~), because subtle typos might cause it to
select a library even though you meant to specify a target. To avoid this,
target names can contain a scoping operator :: which is not allowed in the
names of libraries. When an item containing :: is passed to
target_link_libraries(~), CMake will know that a target is being specified,
and it will throw an error and quit if that target is not found, instead of
failing quietly or subtly. Therefore, we should always exercise the practice of
using :: in the names of any imported targets that we intend to use.
ignition-cmake will automatically export all ignition library targets to have
the name ignition-<project><major_version>::ignition-<project><major_version>
(for example, ignition-common0::ignition-common0). When creating a cmake
find-module, the macro ign_import_target(~) should be used generate an
imported target which follows this convention. More about creating find-modules
can be found in the section on anti-patterns.
Calling ign_create_core_library() will also take care of installing the
library. Simply remove this function from your cmake script.
Replace calls to #include "ignition/<project>/System.hh" with #include "ignition/<project>/Export.hh", and delete the file System.hh.
Up until now, we've been maintaining a "System" header in each ignition library. This is being replaced by a set of auto-generated headers, because some of the individual projects' implementations had errors or issues in them. The new auto-generated headers will enforce consistency and compatibility across all of the ignition projects. The header is also being renamed because the role of the header is to provide macros that facilitate exporting the library, therefore it seems more appropriate to name it "Export" instead of "System". Nothing in the header is interacting with the operating system, so the current name feels like somewhat of a misnomer (presumably the name "System" came from the fact that the macros are system-dependent, but I think naming the header after the role that it's performing would be more appropriate).
Replace IGNITION_<VISIBLE/HIDDEN> with IGNITION_<PROJECT>_<VISIBLE/HIDDEN> in all headers
The export (a.k.a. visibility) macros used by each ignition library must be unique. Different ignition libraries might depend on each other, and the compiler/linker would be misinformed about which symbols to export if two different libraries share the same export macro.
Note that component libraries will generate their own visibility macros so that
they can correctly be compiled alongside their core library. Those macros will
look like IGNITION_<PROJECT>_<COMPONENT>_<VISIBLE/HIDDEN>.
Move all find-modules in your project's cmake/ directory to your ign-cmake repo, and submit a pull request for them
We are centralizing all find-modules into ign-cmake so that everyone benefits
from them, and we get a single place to maintain them.
Once the above steps are complete, your project's cmake/ subdirectory should
no longer be needed. If your cmake/ subdirectory contained some features
that are not already present in ign-cmake, then you should add those
features to ign-cmake and submit a pull request. I will try to be very prompt
about reviewing and approving those PRs.
This new function allows you to create a "component" library which will be compiled separately from your core library. It will be packaged as a cmake component of your core library, and it will also be packaged as its own independent cmake package. For pkg-config, it will packaged as its own independent package because pkg-config does not seem to have a concept analogous to components.
By default, your component will be publicly linked to your core library. To
change this behavior, you may pass one of the following arguments:
INDEPENDENT_FROM_PROJECT_LIB, PRIVATELY_DEPENDS_ON_PROJECT_LIB, or
INTERFACE_DEPENDS_ON_PROJECT_LIB.
By default, the auto-generate public headers for this component will go into the
directory ignition/<project>/<component>/. You can change the subdirectory
using the optional argument INCLUDE_SUBDIR <subdir> which will instead put
the auto-generate public headers into ignition/<project>/<subdir>/.
You may also pass the argument GET_TARGET_NAME <output_var> to retrieve the
auto-generated name of the target. You can then use the target with
${<output_var>}.
The following changes are not necessary, but may improve the readability and maintainability of your CMake code. Use of these utilities is optional.
GLOB up library source files and unit test source files using ign_get_libsources_and_unittests(sources tests)
Placing this in src/CMakeLists.txt will collect all the source files in the
directory and sort them into a source variable (containing the library sources)
and a tests variable (containing the unit test sources).
If there are files that you want to exclude from either of these lists, you can
use list(REMOVE_ITEM <list> <filenames>) after calling the function. That
approach can be used to conditionally remove files from a list (see
ign-common/src/CMakeLists.txt for an example). Alternatively, if you always
want a file to be excluded, you can change its extension (e.g. *.cc.backup or
.cc.old) until a later time when you want it to be used again.
Using this macro will install all files ending in *.h and *.hh in the
current source directory recursively (so all the files in all subdirectories as
well as their subdirectories will also be installed). It will also configure
your project's <project>.hh and config.hh.in files and install them.
You can use the argument EXCLUDE_FILES to specify files that should not be
installed. The argument EXCLUDE_DIRS lets you specify subdirectories to not
install. Note that the files or directories must be specified relative to the
current directory.
Similar to ign_get_libsources_and_unittests(~) except it only produces one
list of source files, which is sufficient to be passed to ign_build_tests(~).
Files that end in *.cmake are known as "modules" and are not meant to be
invoked using the fully qualified filename. Instead, the path that leads up to
the module should be added to ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} if it is not in there
already (the module path of ignition-cmake will automatically be added when
you call find_package(ignition-cmake# REQUIRED), so you do not have to worry
about this for ign-cmake modules). After that, the module should be invoked
using include(ModuleName) with no path or extension. CMake will automatically
find the appropriate file.
When a *.cmake file begins with the word Find, it is a special type of
cmake module known as a find-module. Its purpose is to search for a package
after being invoked by the command find_package(SomePackage). Notice that the
SomePackage argument must match the string of characters in between Find and
.cmake in the filename FindSomePackage.cmake. Case matters. This is not just
a convention; it is a cmake requirement.
Note that while using ignition-cmake, you should be using ign_find_package(~)
instead of the native find_package(~) command. It does the same thing, except
that it adds some additional functionality which is important for ensuring
correctness in the package configuration files that we generate for our projects.
We had files named FindOS.cmake which checked the operating system type, and
FindSSE.cmake which checked the SSE compatibility of the build machine.
Neither of these were searching for packages, so neither of them should begin
with the word Find. As explained above, that pattern of filename is reserved
for find-modules that are supposed to search for packages after being invoked by
the find_package(~) command.
Up until now, we have generally used the SearchForStuff.cmake file to find
packages that our libraries depend on. Any logic or procedures that are needed
to find a package will often end up buried in that file, making it difficult to
transfer the procedure between different projects (often leading to redundant
copies of the same procedure, ultimately resulting in different projects using
divergent methods of varying quality for solving the same problem). Instead, any
procedures or operations that are needed to find a package dependency should be
put into a file called Find<PACKAGE>.cmake where <PACKAGE> should be
replaced with the name of the package (often this is done in all uppercase
letters). This Find<PACKAGE>.cmake should be added to ign-cmake/cmake.
Pull requests for adding find-modules will be reviewed and approved as quickly
as possible. This way, all projects can benefit from any one person's effort in
writing a good quality find-module.
In many cases, a package that we depend on will be distributed with a pkgconfig
(*.pc) file. In such a case, ignition-cmake provides a macro that can easily
find the package and create an imported target for it. Simply use include(IgnPkgConfig)
and then ign_pkg_check_modules(~) in your find-module, and you are done. An
example of a simple case of this can be found in ign-cmake/cmake/FindGTS.cmake.
If certain version-based behavior is needed, that must be handled within the
find-module. A simple example using pkgconfig can be found in
ign-cmake/cmake/FindAVDEVICE.cmake.
Sometimes a package may be needed but there is no guarantee that a pkgconfig
file will be available for it. For an example of how to handle that, see
ign-cmake/cmake/FindFreeImage.cmake.
Some libraries are never distributed with a pkgconfig file. For an example of
how to create a find-module when a pkgconfig file is guaranteed to not exist,
see ign-cmake/cmake/FindDL.cmake. Note that you must manually specify the
variables <PACKAGE>_PKGCONFIG_ENTRY and <PACKAGE>_PKGCONFIG_TYPE in such
cases. The entry will have to be the name of library (or libraries), preceded by
-l, while the type must be PROJECT_PKGCONFIG_LIBS.
There is almost never a situation where CACHE INTERNAL is appropriate for us
to use. If you think you need to use it, you probably don't. If you're certain
you need to use it, you should discuss it with someone first. Using
CACHE INTERNAL can have very negative side effects that may easily go
unnoticed because the internally cached data isn't readily visible to a
developer.
To understand why CACHE INTERNAL should be unnecessary, it is important to
understand variable scope in cmake. When you call add_subdirectory(~), you
will enter a child scope. Each child scope can see all the variables that were
set in its ancestors (parent directory, grandparent directory, etc.). This
allows variables to easily trickle down the directory tree. A child directory
can override a variable that was set in its parent directory, and that change
will trickle down into all the children of that child, but the parent and the
parent's other children will not see the change. This is an intentional feature
to make sure that the special needs of one child do not impact its siblings (or
cousins, etc).
If for some reason a child should change a variable for its parent and
siblings, then the set(~) function accepts the PARENT_SCOPE option. If a
child needs to change a variable in a way that is supposed to impact its parent,
grandparent, siblings, cousins, etc, then there is almost certainly something
wrong with the way the cmake script is designed. An operation (or variable) that
needs to be visible to such a broad scope should simply be performed (or set) in
a higher scope rather than added to the cache.
Note that a cmake function will behave as though it has a child scope, while a
macro will behave as though it has the same scope as the parent that calls it.
If the role of the function/macro is to effectively copy/paste a bunch of
text into the file that calls it, it should be written as a macro. If the role
is to perform some complex operations and then return just a small number of
variables, then it should be written as a function, and set( ... PARENT_SCOPE)
should be used to provide the variable to the parent scope.
This is not to say that the cache itself should never be used. The cache is
useful for exposing build options to the user. However, in those cases, a type
(such as FILEPATH, PATH, STRING, or BOOL) must be specified instead of
INTERNAL. When providing a bool option, you should prefer to use the command
option(<variable> "Description" <default>). When providing a string option
where a set of valid choices is known ahead of time, use
set(<variable> "Default Variable Value" CACHE STRING "Description") followed
by set_property(CACHE <variable> PROPERTY STRINGS <list_of_choices>). This
will explicitly inform the user of their choices for the option.
The convention when finding packages in cmake is to provide full library paths, so specifying a link directory should not generally be needed, except in edge cases where a find-module does not comply with the established convention.