Set CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS options using CMake

cflagscmake

I just want to debug some code running on Linux and I need a debug build (-O0 -ggdb). So I added these things to my CMakeLists.txt:

set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE DEBUG)
set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "-O0 -ggdb")
set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG "-O0 -ggdb")
set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O0 -ggdb")
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-O0 -ggdb")
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "-O0 -ggdb")
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O0 -ggdb")

When I tried to compile I turned verbose on using make VERBOSE=1
And I observed the output, like this

... /usr/bin/c++ -D_BSD_SOURCE **-O0 -ggdb** -Wnon-virtual-dtor 
-Wno-long-long -ansi -Wundef -Wcast-align -Wchar-subscripts -Wall -W 
-Wpointer-arith -Wformat-security -fno-exceptions -DQT_NO_EXCEPTIONS 
-fno-check-new -fno-common -Woverloaded-virtual -fno-threadsafe-statics 
-fvisibility=hidden -fvisibility-inlines-hidden **-g -O2** 
-fno-reorder-blocks -fno-schedule-insns -fno-inline ...

Apparently the code is compiled with "-g -O2" and this is not what I want. How can I force it to use "-O0 -ggdb" only?

Best Answer

You need to set the flags after the project command in your CMakeLists.txt.

Also, if you're calling include(${QT_USE_FILE}) or add_definitions(${QT_DEFINITIONS}), you should include these set commands after the Qt ones since these would append further flags. If that is the case, you maybe just want to append your flags to the Qt ones, so change to e.g.

set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -O0 -ggdb")

Related Solutions

Cmake and libpthread

@Manuel was part way there. You can add the compiler option as well, like this:

If you have CMake 3.1.0+, this becomes even easier:

set(THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON)
find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(my_app PRIVATE Threads::Threads)

If you are using CMake 2.8.12+, you can simplify this to:

find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
if(THREADS_HAVE_PTHREAD_ARG)
  target_compile_options(my_app PUBLIC "-pthread")
endif()
if(CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT)
  target_link_libraries(my_app "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}")
endif()

Older CMake versions may require:

find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
if(THREADS_HAVE_PTHREAD_ARG)
  set_property(TARGET my_app PROPERTY COMPILE_OPTIONS "-pthread")
  set_property(TARGET my_app PROPERTY INTERFACE_COMPILE_OPTIONS "-pthread")
endif()
if(CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT)
  target_link_libraries(my_app "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}")
endif()

If you want to use one of the first two methods with CMake 3.1+, you will need set(THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON) there too.

Using CMake with GNU Make: How to see the exact commands

CMake 3.14+ you can simply specify the verbosity of the build tool.

# Configure your project
cmake -S . -B build/

# Build your project with verbose output
# This will allow you to see the exact commands being used.
# And this works with Makefiles, Ninja, Visual Studio, etc.
cmake --build build --verbose

Before CMake 3.14

When you run make, add VERBOSE=1 to see the full command output. For example:

cmake .
make VERBOSE=1

Or you can add -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON to the cmake command for permanent verbose command output from the generated Makefiles.

cmake -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON .
make

To reduce some possibly less-interesting output you might like to use the following options. The option CMAKE_RULE_MESSAGES=OFF removes lines like [ 33%] Building C object..., while --no-print-directory tells make to not print out the current directory filtering out lines like make[1]: Entering directory and make[1]: Leaving directory.

cmake -DCMAKE_RULE_MESSAGES:BOOL=OFF -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON .
make --no-print-directory

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Cmake and libpthread

Using CMake with GNU Make: How to see the exact commands

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