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I've read on CMake's documentation that when calling add_executable, you can set the executable type to be Win32 by doing add_executable(target WIN32 source.cpp). I also know that you should use CMake generator expressions to check for build configurations like so:

target_compile_definitions(target PUBLIC
  $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:DEBUG>
  $<$<CONFIG:Release>:RELEASE>
)

However this won't work with add_executable. It treats it as a source file when I do add_executable(target $<$<CONFIG:Release>:WIN32> source.cpp) and so it fails. What is the correct way of doing setting the executable type to WIN32 only in release mode?

SunnyMonster
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1 Answers1

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I am not really sure it makes sense given a WIN32 executable and a non-WIN32 executable do not have the same entry point, so the code would need to change as well.

Still, here is how you would do it on CMake side:

add_executable(target source.cpp)
set_target_properties(target PROPERTIES WIN32_EXECUTABLE $<CONFIG:Release>)

Key point is the WIN32 flag in add_executable is just a shortcut to set the WIN32_EXECUTABLE property.

Note: I cannot test this sample atm so it depends on me having read those links properly ;)

spectras
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  • Thanks a lot! It worked. The reason I'm doing this is because I want to not have a console window lying around in release builds, but still keep the console for debug builds. The way I handle the entry point problem is just to use #ifdef's to check if I'm in release mode or not. – SunnyMonster Apr 24 '22 at 05:13
  • I see. That's a crude but clever solution. If you want something more fancy, you might want to check whether [How do I get console output with a windows program](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/191842/how-do-i-get-console-output-in-c-with-a-windows-program) could make sense for your app. Granted, your solution is much simpler, but that post might allow more control of the output. :) – spectras Apr 24 '22 at 05:33