CMake 3.25 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 3.24 include the following.

New Features

Presets

Languages

Command-Line

Compilers

Commands

  • The add_subdirectory() command gained a SYSTEM option to enable the SYSTEM directory property in the subdirectory.
  • The block() and endblock() commands were added to manage specific scopes (policy or variable) for a contained block of commands.
  • The cmake_language() command gained a new GET_MESSAGE_LOG_LEVEL sub-command. It can be used to query the current message logging level.
  • The find_file(), find_path(), find_library(), and find_program() commands gained a VALIDATOR option to specify a function to be called for each candidate item to validate it.
  • The find_package() command now considers paths of the form <prefix>/<name>*/(cmake|CMake)/<name>*/ when searching for package configuration files.
  • The return() command gained a PROPAGATE option to propagate variables to the scope to which control returns. See policy CMP0140.
  • The try_compile() and try_run() commands gained new signatures that more consistently use keyword dispatch and do not require a binary directory to be specified. Additionally, these signatures use a unique directory for each invocation, which allows multiple outputs to be preserved when using cmake --debug-trycompile.
  • The try_compile() and try_run() commands gained the option NO_CACHE to store results in normal variables.
  • The try_run() command gained RUN_OUTPUT_STDOUT_VARIABLE and RUN_OUTPUT_STDERR_VARIABLE options to capture stdout and stderr separately from the output of the compiled program.

Variables

Properties

  • The <LANG>_COMPILER_LAUNCHER target property now supports generator expressions.
  • The EXPORT_NO_SYSTEM target property was added to specify that install(EXPORT) and export() commands will generate na imported target with SYSTEM property OFF.
  • The SYSTEM target property was added to specify whether a target should be treated as a system library (i.e. its include directories are automatically SYSTEM when compiling consumers). If not set, the default is the previous behavior: on for imported targets and off for other targets.
  • The SYSTEM directory property was added to initialize the SYSTEM target property for targets created in that directory.

Modules

  • The FetchContent module's FetchContent_Declare() command gained a SYSTEM option which sets the SYSTEM directory property on subdirectories created by FetchContent_MakeAvailable().

  • The FindCUDAToolkit module now provides a target for nvtx3 for CUDA 10.0+, which supersedes nvToolsExt. A deprecation warning is emitted when using nvToolsExt if the project requires CMake 3.25 and CUDA 10.0+ is used.

  • The FindDoxygen module's version handling has been improved:

    • Multiple candidate installations will now be considered, if needed, to satisfy version constraints. Previously, only the first one encountered would be considered.
    • Version ranges are supported.
    • Variations in the version format reported by Doxygen are now tolerated (e.g. a trailing git commit hash).

  • The FindOpenAL module now provides an imported target.

  • The FindOpenSP module was added to find the OpenSP library.

  • The FindVulkan module gained support for new components:

    dxc

    DirectX Shader Compiler.

    volk

    Volk open-source vulkan meta-loader.

CPack

Deprecated and Removed Features

Other Changes

  • The SSL_CERT_FILE and SSL_CERT_DIR environment variables can now be used to override where to find certificate authorities for TLS/SSL operations.
  • If <LANG>_CLANG_TIDY includes a -p argument, the full compiler command line is no longer appended after --.
  • The Xcode generator no longer adds the per-config suffix $(CONFIGURATION)$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME) to library search paths. See policy CMP0142.

Updates

Changes made since CMake 3.25.0 include the following.

3.25.1

  • On Windows, when targeting the MSVC ABI, the find_library() command no longer accepts .a file names. This behavior was added in CMake 3.25.0, but has been reverted due finding GNU-ABI libraries in cases we did not previously.

3.25.2

  • CUDA language level 20 (corresponding to C++20) is now supported with NVCC 12.0 and above.
  • On Windows, the icpx compiler now provided by Intel oneAPI 2023.0 and above is no longer selected because its GNU-like command-line is not yet supported by CMake.

3.25.3

  • This version made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.