// vim: set syntax=asciidoc:
=== Infrastructure for CMake-based packages
[[cmake-package-tutorial]]
==== +cmake-package+ tutorial
First, let's see how to write a +.mk+ file for a CMake-based package,
01: ################################################################################
05: ################################################################################
08: LIBFOO_SOURCE = libfoo-$(LIBFOO_VERSION).tar.gz
09: LIBFOO_SITE = http://www.foosoftware.org/download
10: LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
11: LIBFOO_INSTALL_TARGET = NO
12: LIBFOO_CONF_OPTS = -DBUILD_DEMOS=ON
13: LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES = libglib2 host-pkgconf
15: $(eval $(cmake-package))
On line 7, we declare the version of the package.
On line 8 and 9, we declare the name of the tarball (xz-ed tarball recommended)
and the location of the tarball on the Web. Buildroot will automatically
download the tarball from this location.
On line 10, we tell Buildroot to install the package to the staging
directory. The staging directory, located in +output/staging/+
is the directory where all the packages are installed, including their
development files, etc. By default, packages are not installed to the
staging directory, since usually, only libraries need to be installed in
the staging directory: their development files are needed to compile
other libraries or applications depending on them. Also by default, when
staging installation is enabled, packages are installed in this location
using the +make install+ command.
On line 11, we tell Buildroot to not install the package to the
target directory. This directory contains what will become the root
filesystem running on the target. For purely static libraries, it is
not necessary to install them in the target directory because they will
not be used at runtime. By default, target installation is enabled; setting
this variable to NO is almost never needed. Also by default, packages are
installed in this location using the +make install+ command.
On line 12, we tell Buildroot to pass custom options to CMake when it is
On line 13, we declare our dependencies, so that they are built
before the build process of our package starts.
Finally, on line line 15, we invoke the +cmake-package+
macro that generates all the Makefile rules that actually allows the
[[cmake-package-reference]]
==== +cmake-package+ reference
The main macro of the CMake package infrastructure is
+cmake-package+. It is similar to the +generic-package+ macro. The ability to
have target and host packages is also available, with the
+host-cmake-package+ macro.
Just like the generic infrastructure, the CMake infrastructure works
by defining a number of variables before calling the +cmake-package+
First, all the package metadata information variables that exist in
the generic infrastructure also exist in the CMake infrastructure:
+LIBFOO_VERSION+, +LIBFOO_SOURCE+, +LIBFOO_PATCH+, +LIBFOO_SITE+,
+LIBFOO_SUBDIR+, +LIBFOO_DEPENDENCIES+, +LIBFOO_INSTALL_STAGING+,
A few additional variables, specific to the CMake infrastructure, can
also be defined. Many of them are only useful in very specific cases,
typical packages will therefore only use a few of them.
* +LIBFOO_SUBDIR+ may contain the name of a subdirectory inside the
package that contains the main CMakeLists.txt file. This is useful,
if for example, the main CMakeLists.txt file is not at the root of
the tree extracted by the tarball. If +HOST_LIBFOO_SUBDIR+ is not
specified, it defaults to +LIBFOO_SUBDIR+.