CMake 3.27 Release Notes¶
Changes made since CMake 3.26 include the following.
New Features¶
Debugger¶
- cmake(1)now supports interactive debugging of the CMake language. See the- --debuggeroption.
Presets¶
- cmake-presets(7)files now support schema version- 7.
- cmake-presets(7)now supports- $penv{}macro expansion in- includefields.
Generators¶
- The Makefile and Ninja generators now support using the - --dependency-filelinker flag, added by GNU Binutils 2.35 and LLVM's LLD 12.0.0, so that files read by the linker will cause a relink if they change (typically modified timestamps). See the- CMAKE_LINK_DEPENDS_USE_LINKERvariable.
- The Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above learned to select the Windows SDK version explicitly using a - version=field in the- CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORMvariable. See Visual Studio Platform Selection.
Languages¶
- The - CXXlanguage now treats source file extensions- .ccm,- .cxxm, and- .c++mas C++.
File-Based API¶
- The - cmake-file-api(7)"codemodel" version 2- versionfield has been updated to 2.6.
- The - cmake-file-api(7)"codemodel" version 2 "target" object gained a new "frameworks" field in the "compileGroups" objects.
Platforms¶
- Apple text-based stubs (i.e. - .tbdfiles) may now be created for shared libraries on macOS. See the- ENABLE_EXPORTSproperty.
Commands¶
- The - add_custom_command()command gained a new- DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLYoption to tell the Ninja Generators not to add any dependencies implied by the target to which it is attached. The- CMAKE_ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND_DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLYvariable was added to enable- DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLYon all calls to- add_custom_command()command.
- The - cmake_file_api()command was added for projects to add- CMake file APIqueries for the current CMake run.
- The - find_package()command now searches prefixes specified by upper-case- <PACKAGENAME>_ROOTCMake variables and upper-case- <PACKAGENAME>_ROOTenvironment variables. See policy- CMP0144.
- The - install(CODE)and- install(SCRIPT)commands now support the- $<INSTALL_PREFIX>generator expression.
Variables¶
- The - CMAKE_DLL_NAME_WITH_SOVERSIONvariable and associated- DLL_NAME_WITH_SOVERSIONtarget property were added to optionally append the- SOVERSIONto the filename of the- .dllpart of a shared library on Windows.
- Variables - CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_COMMAND,- CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_COMMAND_ARGUMENTS,- CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_ENVIRONMENT, and- CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORYwere added to initialize corresponding target properties.
- The - CMAKE_VS_WINDOWS_TARGET_PLATFORM_MIN_VERSIONvariable was added to initialize the- VS_WINDOWS_TARGET_PLATFORM_MIN_VERSIONtarget property on all targets when they are created.
Properties¶
- A - CUDA_CUBIN_COMPILATIONtarget property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to- .cubinfiles instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.
- A - CUDA_FATBIN_COMPILATIONtarget property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to- .fatbinfiles instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.
- A - CUDA_OPTIX_COMPILATIONtarget property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to- .optixirfiles instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.
- The - <LANG>_CLANG_TIDY,- <LANG>_CPPCHECK,- <LANG>_CPPLINT, and- <LANG>_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE, target properties now support- generator expressions.
- The - <LANG>_LINKER_LAUNCHERtarget property now supports- generator expressions.
- The - SKIP_LINTINGsource file property was added to suppress target-wide code checks on specific sources.
Modules¶
- The - FindCUDAToolkitmodule now provides an imported target for- cudla, and imported targets for CUPTI's- nvperfand- pcsamplingcomponents.
- The - FindDoxygenmodule's- doxygen_add_docs()command gained a- CONFIG_FILEoption to specify a custom doxygen configuration file.
- The - FindOpenGLmodule gained support for components- GLES2and- GLES3.
- The - FindwxWidgetsmodule now provides an imported target.
Generator Expressions¶
- The - COMPILE_ONLYgenerator expression was added to specify compilation usage requirements without any linking requirements.
- $<LIST:...>generator expressions were added for query, transformation, and ordering operations on lists.
- $<PATH:...>generator expressions for decomposition and transformation operations learned to process lists of paths element-wise.
- The - TARGET_IMPORT_FILE,- TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_BASE_NAME,- TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_PREFIX,- TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_SUFFIX,- TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_NAME, and- TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_DIRgenerator expressions were added. These expand to details about the linker import file for a target.
- The - TARGET_RUNTIME_DLL_DIRSgenerator expression was added. It expands to a list of the directories containing DLLs in- TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS.
Autogen¶
- The - CMAKE_AUTOMOC_EXECUTABLE,- CMAKE_AUTORCC_EXECUTABLE, and- CMAKE_AUTOUIC_EXECUTABLEvariables were added to initialize the corresponding target properties as targets are created.
- The - AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDEtarget property and corresponding- CMAKE_AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDEvariable were added to explicitly control whether autogen headers are considered system headers.
- The - INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMEStarget property was added to specify macro names for- mocas a transitive usage requirement.
CTest¶
- The - TIMEOUT_SIGNAL_NAMEand- TIMEOUT_SIGNAL_GRACE_PERIODtest properties were added to specify a POSIX signal to send to a test process when its timeout is reached.
CPack¶
- The - CPack Inno Setup Generatorwas added to package using Inno Setup.
Deprecated and Removed Features¶
- Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 3.5 is now deprecated and will be removed from a future version. Calls to - cmake_minimum_required()or- cmake_policy()that set the policy version to an older value now issue a deprecation diagnostic.
- The Extra Generators have been deprecated. IDEs may use the - cmake-file-api(7)to view CMake-generated project build trees.
- The - FindCUDAmodule, which has been deprecated since CMake 3.10, has been removed by policy- CMP0146. Port projects to CMake's first-class- CUDAlanguage support.
- The - FindPythonInterpand- FindPythonLibsmodules, which have been deprecated since CMake 3.12, have been removed by policy- CMP0148. Port projects to- FindPython3,- FindPython2, or- FindPython.
- The - Dartand- FindDartmodules have been deprecated via policy- CMP0145. Port projects to the- CTestmodule.
- The - Visual Studio 9 2008generator is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of CMake.
Other Changes¶
- cmake --build $dir --verbosewill now print the working directory and command line used to perform the build.
- The - ExternalProjectand- FetchContentmodules now resolve relative- GIT_REPOSITORYpaths as relative to the parent project's remote, not as a relative local file system path. See- CMP0150.
- The - ExternalProject- configurestep no longer re-runs on every build when the- UPDATE_DISCONNECTEDoption is enabled. It will only re-run if details of the- download,- update, or- patchstep change.
- The - ExternalProject- updateand- patchsteps now always re-run if any of their details change, even if the- UPDATE_DISCONNECTEDoption is enabled. If using the- GITdownload method, and the- GIT_TAGis changed to a commit that is not already known locally, an error is now issued instead of silently using the previous- GIT_TAG.
- The - FindPython,- FindPython2and- FindPython3modules now support the Windows ARM64 platform.
- The - file(GET_RUNTIME_DEPENDENCIES)command now case-preserves DLL names reported on Windows. They are still converted to lowercase for filter matching.
- The - SYSTEMtarget property is now honored for Apple Frameworks.
- Visual Studio Generators, for VS 15.8 (2017) and newer, now build custom commands in parallel. See policy - CMP0147.
- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now prefer to select the latest Windows SDK version. See policy - CMP0149.
Updates¶
Changes made since CMake 3.27.0 include the following.
3.27.1¶
- This version made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions. 
3.27.2¶
- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now prefer to select the latest Windows SDK, as documented by policy - CMP0149, when targeting any version of Windows. In CMake 3.27.[0-1] the preference was limited to targeting Windows 10 and above.
- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now support using - version=8.1in the- CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORMvariable to select the Windows 8.1 SDK. In CMake 3.27.[0-1] the- version=field was limited to selecting Windows 10 SDKs.
3.27.3, 3.27.4, 3.27.5, 3.27.6, 3.27.7, 3.27.8¶
- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions. 
3.27.9¶
- The - cmake-file-api(7)"codemodel" version 2 "target" object- fileSetsfield was introduced by CMake 3.26.0 with entries of its- baseDirectoriesmember incorrectly expressed as absolute paths even if they are inside the top-level source directory. This was fixed in CMake 3.26.6 and has now been fixed in 3.27.9. Clients must be updated to expect relative paths under the top-level source directory.
- Fortran module dependency scanning in Ninja Generators was updated by CMake 3.27.0 to use exact collation dependencies. This was supposed to fix subtle rebuild failures when moving module sources among targets. Since then, several cases have been found in which exact collation dependencies were incorrectly computed when using Object Libraries. Some of these cases were incrementally fixed through the 3.27.x patch series, but additional more subtle cases have since been found. In order to avoid further churn in the 3.27 release series, the original change has been reverted and deferred to a future version of CMake. 
