Qt – where does qtcreator with cmake store run and build settings, and how to set via script

cmakenfsqtqt-creator

In my usage at least, I sometimes delete my CMake build folder and create a new one, or have multiple build folders (one per computer) but only one source folder (nfs mount).

From what I can tell, QT Creator saves settings into CMakeLists.txt.user inside the source tree, and some others settings into the 'project.cbp' file in the build folder. If I set settings from the GUI, they are lost after wipe/create build folder. Fair enough, but I'd like to use a script to set them up again when a new build is made.

So, how do I:

a) make QT Creator write the CMakeLists.txt.user folder somewhere other than the source tree so that machine-specific settings are kept (e.g. debug on the development computer, release on the test computer) ?

b) read/write the build and run settings from QT Creator project, such as debug arguments for each executable and extra build commands (e.g. -j8) ?

Then I would do something like "execute_process( … )" in CMakeLists.txt to set some debug and build arguments for the QT Creator project.

Best Answer

Ah, actually the command args, build settings, and related items are set in the CMakeLists.txt.user from QTCreator...

for example:

<valuemap key="ProjectExplorer.Target.RunConfiguration.1" type="QVariantMap">
<value key="CMakeProjectManager.BaseEnvironmentBase" type="int">2</value>
<value key="CMakeProjectManager.CMakeRunConfiguation.Title" type="QString">matching_test</value>
<value key="CMakeProjectManager.CMakeRunConfiguration.Arguments" type="QString">camera.pklogitech.yml  0   .</value>

so the args that are used are " camera.pklogitech.yml 0 . " for this binary's entry...

So I guess a script could be made to go in and set those values by default... too bad QT Creator doesn't provide a nicer interface to import them.

Module mode

Find<package>.cmake file located within your project. Something like this:

CMakeLists.txt
cmake/FindFoo.cmake
cmake/FindBoo.cmake

CMakeLists.txt content:

list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/cmake")
find_package(Foo REQUIRED) # FOO_INCLUDE_DIR, FOO_LIBRARIES
find_package(Boo REQUIRED) # BOO_INCLUDE_DIR, BOO_LIBRARIES

include_directories("${FOO_INCLUDE_DIR}")
include_directories("${BOO_INCLUDE_DIR}")
add_executable(Bar Bar.hpp Bar.cpp)
target_link_libraries(Bar ${FOO_LIBRARIES} ${BOO_LIBRARIES})

Note that CMAKE_MODULE_PATH has high priority and may be usefull when you need to rewrite standard Find<package>.cmake file.

Config mode (install)

<package>Config.cmake file located outside and produced by install command of other project (Foo for example).

foo library:

> cat CMakeLists.txt 
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
project(Foo)

add_library(foo Foo.hpp Foo.cpp)
install(FILES Foo.hpp DESTINATION include)
install(TARGETS foo DESTINATION lib)
install(FILES FooConfig.cmake DESTINATION lib/cmake/Foo)

Simplified version of config file:

> cat FooConfig.cmake 
add_library(foo STATIC IMPORTED)
find_library(FOO_LIBRARY_PATH foo HINTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../../")
set_target_properties(foo PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION "${FOO_LIBRARY_PATH}")

By default project installed in CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX directory:

> cmake -H. -B_builds
> cmake --build _builds --target install
-- Install configuration: ""
-- Installing: /usr/local/include/Foo.hpp
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/libfoo.a
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/cmake/Foo/FooConfig.cmake

Config mode (use)

Use find_package(... CONFIG) to include FooConfig.cmake with imported target foo:

> cat CMakeLists.txt 
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
project(Boo)

# import library target `foo`
find_package(Foo CONFIG REQUIRED)

add_executable(boo Boo.cpp Boo.hpp)
target_link_libraries(boo foo)
> cmake -H. -B_builds -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON
> cmake --build _builds
Linking CXX executable Boo
/usr/bin/c++ ... -o Boo /usr/local/lib/libfoo.a

Note that imported target is highly configurable. See my answer.

Update

Example

Best Answer

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What use is find_package() when you need to specify CMAKE_MODULE_PATH

Module mode

Config mode (install)

Config mode (use)

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