How to setup make options with cmake

Question

I would like to setup commands like make debug, make test, etc... What is the best way to do this with cmake, so that I run cmake .. one time (it takes a while) and then be able to choose the build type with make?

I couldn't find any resources on this.

On CMake **build type** is choosen on **configuration** stage (`cmake ..` invocation). Exception is *multiconfiguration* build systems, but make isn't count as such. — Tsyvarev, Mar 25 '17 at 19:15
You may also want to take a look at [How to speed up Compile Time of my CMake enabled C++ Project?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37327526/how-to-speed-up-compile-time-of-my-cmake-enabled-c-project) — Florian, Mar 27 '17 at 08:28

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '17 at 21:05

As @Tsyvarev has commented this needs a little extra work for single-configuration environments (respectively CMake's Makefile generators) since the build type is chosen during CMake's configuration and finalized during the build environment generation step.

So here is what I've done:

First you run - e.g. in a script - CMake for all configurations you want to support and choose respective sub-folders for the output:
```
> cmake -H"." -B"Debug" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
> cmake -H"." -B"Release" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
```
Note: -H (for "home directory") and -B (for "binary output directory") are undocumented options, but very useful in those cases. And they work with all CMake releases so far. Just be careful not to put spaces between the option and the their values.
Then you can use again CMake to build from/in those sub-folders:
```
> cmake --build "Debug" 
> cmake --build "Release" 
```

And if you want to run the tests you can:

> cmake --build "Debug" --target "test"
> cmake --build "Release" --target "test"

References

How to setup make options with cmake

1 Answers1