CMake 3.29 Release Notes — CMake 4.3.4 Documentation

# CMake 3.29 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 3.28 include the following.

## New Features

### Command-Line

- `cmake(1)` `-E cat` can now print the standard input by passing the `-` argument.

### Generators

- Visual Studio Generators now support selecting between the Intel oneAPI Fortran compiler (`ifx`) and the Intel classic Fortran compiler (`ifort`) using a `fortran=` field in `CMAKE_GENERATOR_TOOLSET`.

### File-Based API

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 `version` field has been updated to 2.7.

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 "target" object gained a new "launchers" field.

### Compilers

- The LLVM/Clang GNU-like frontend on Windows (`clang++`) may now be used to compile `CUDA` language sources.

- Compilers targeting the GNU ABI on Windows (MinGW) may now be used to compile Objective C (`OBJC`) and Objective C++ (`OBJCXX`). These include GNU compilers (`gcc` and `g++`) and the LLVM/Clang GNU-like frontends (`clang` and `clang++`).

- TI Clang-based compilers are now supported with `compiler id` `TIClang`.

### Commands

- The `add_custom_command(TARGET)` signature now supports adding build events through Alias Targets.

- The `cmake_language(EXIT)` sub-command was added to terminate `cmake -P` scripts with a specified exit code.

- The `export(SETUP)` sub-command was added to configure export sets. Its `TARGET` option's `XCFRAMEWORK_LOCATION` setting specifies the location of a `.xcframework` that can be substituted for an installed target.

- The `if()` command gained new tests `IS_READABLE`, `IS_WRITABLE` and `IS_EXECUTABLE` to check file or directory permissions.

- The `try_compile()` and `try_run()` commands gained a `LINKER_LANGUAGE` option to specify the `LINKER_LANGUAGE` target property in the generated test project.

### Variables

- The `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` environment variable was added to provide a default value for the `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` variable.

- The `CMAKE_LINKER_TYPE` variable and corresponding `LINKER_TYPE` target property were added to specify what linker to use with some toolchains.

- The `CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER`, `CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER_ID`, `CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER_VERSION` and `CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_LINKER_FRONTEND_VARIANT` variables were added to describe the linker used by the language's link step.

- The `CMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE`, `CMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE_BEFORE`, `CMAKE_PROJECT_<PROJECT-NAME>_INCLUDE`, and `CMAKE_PROJECT_<PROJECT-NAME>_INCLUDE_BEFORE` variables learned to support a semicolon-separated list of CMake language files to be included sequentially. These variables can also reference module names to be found in `CMAKE_MODULE_PATH` or builtin to CMake.

- The `CMAKE_SKIP_TEST_ALL_DEPENDENCY` variable was added to control whether the `test` (or `RUN_TESTS`) buildsystem target depends on the `all` (or `ALL_BUILD`) target.

- A `CMAKE_TEST_LAUNCHER` variable and corresponding `TEST_LAUNCHER` target property were added to specify a launcher to be used by executable targets when invoked by tests added by the `add_test()` command.

### Properties

- The `CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR` target property now supports `generator expressions`.

- The `UNITY_BUILD` target property now supports the Objective C (`OBJC`) and Objective C++ (`OBJCXX`) languages.

- The `XCODE_EMBED_XPC_SERVICES` target property was added to tell the `Xcode` generator what targets to put in the `Embed XPC Resources` build phase.

### Modules

- The `CMakePackageConfigHelpers` module gained new `generate_apple_platform_selection_file()` and `generate_apple_architecture_selection_file()` functions, which can be used to generate a file that includes another Apple-platform-specific file or the includes an architecture-specific implementation of a package for an Apple platform, respectively.

- The `FindOpenGL` module learned to find a GLU include directory different than the GL include directory. A new `OPENGL_INCLUDE_DIRS` result variable provides all include directories.

### CTest

- `ctest(1)` gained a `--http-header` option to add custom headers on submission to CDash.

- `ctest(1)` gained the `--tests-from-file` and `--exclude-from-file` options to run or exclude tests named in a file.

- `ctest(1)` now supports job server integration on POSIX systems.

- The `ctest -j` option may now be given without a value to let ctest choose a default level of parallelism, or with `0` to let ctest use unbounded parallelism. The corresponding `CTEST_PARALLEL_LEVEL` environment variable, if set to the empty string, is now equivalent to passing `-j` with no value.

- The `ctest_test()` command gained options `INCLUDE_FROM_FILE` and `EXCLUDE_FROM_FILE` to run or exclude tests named in a file.

### CPack

- The `CPack DEB Generator` `CPACK_DEBIAN_FILE_NAME` variable may now be set without any suffix, and the `.deb` suffix will be added automatically.

- The `CPack RPM Generator` `CPACK_RPM_FILE_NAME` variable may now be set without any suffix, and the `.rpm` suffix will be added automatically.

- The `CPack WIX Generator` gained a new variable, `CPACK_WIX_INSTALL_SCOPE`, to control the `InstallScope` property of WiX MSI installers.

## Other Changes

- CMake learned to de-duplicate libraries on link lines based on linker capabilities. See policy `CMP0156`.

- The `add_test()` command now honors `CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR` only when cross-compiling. See policy `CMP0158`.

- On Windows, when targeting the MSVC ABI, the `find_library()` command now accepts `.a` file names after first considering `.lib`. This is symmetric with existing behavior when targeting the GNU ABI, in which the command accepts `.lib` file names after first considering `.a`.

- On Windows, when targeting the MSVC ABI, the `find_library()` command now considers `.dll.lib` file names before `.lib`. This is the default suffix for DLL import libraries created by Rust toolchains for the MSVC ABI.

- The `Ninja` and `NMake Makefiles` generators now use the `-external:I` flag for system includes when using IntelLLVM as of version 2021.4. The `-external:W0` flag is also used as of version 2022.2.

- The `create_test_sourcelist()` command now provides a full path to the generated driver source file.

- The `CPACK_PRODUCTBUILD_DOMAINS` variable now defaults to true. See policy `CMP0161`.

## Updates

Changes made since CMake 3.29.0 include the following.

### 3.29.1

- The `CMAKE_LINKER_TYPE` variable and corresponding `LINKER_TYPE` target property now work with compilers for the `Swift` language.

### 3.29.2, 3.29.3, 3.29.4

- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.

### 3.29.5

- The `CPack WIX Generator`'s `CPACK_WIX_INSTALL_SCOPE` variable, new in 3.29, now defaults to `NONE`. This restores compatibility with behavior of 3.28 and below: without a custom WiX template, it produces installers that only create start menu and uninstall entries for the current user, even though they install for all users.

  In 3.29.0 through 3.29.4, `CPACK_WIX_INSTALL_SCOPE` defaulted to `perMachine`. This created MSI installers that create start menu and uninstall entries for all users by default. While this behavior is better on its own, these installers do not cleanly replace existing installations created with MSI installers produced by 3.28 and below. 3.29.5 reverts the default for compatibility. Projects may transition to `perMachine` on their own schedule by setting `CPACK_WIX_INSTALL_SCOPE`.

### 3.29.6, 3.29.7, 3.29.8, 3.29.9

- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.