CMake 4.0 Release Notes
***********************

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Changes made since CMake 3.31 include the following.

New Features
============

File-Based API
--------------

* The :manual:`cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 ``version`` field has
  been updated to 2.8.

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

Command-Line
------------

* The :option:`cmake --link-no-warning-as-error` option was added to suppress
  the effects of the :prop_tgt:`LINK_WARNING_AS_ERROR` target property and
  :variable:`CMAKE_LINK_WARNING_AS_ERROR` variable.

* The :option:`cmake --project-file` option was added to specify an alternate
  filename for ``CMakeLists.txt`` files.  This is intended for temporary use
  by developers during an incremental transition and not for publication of a
  final product.  CMake will always emit a warning when the project file is
  anything other than ``CMakeLists.txt``.

Commands
--------

* The :command:`target_link_libraries` command now supports the ``LINKER:``
  prefix.

Variables
---------

* The :variable:`AIX` and :variable:`CMAKE_HOST_AIX` variables are
  now set to true when the target or host system is AIX, respectively.

* Linker flag variables learned to support the ``LINKER:`` prefix:

  * :variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS`
  * :variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`
  * :variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS`
  * :variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`
  * :variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS`
  * :variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`

  See policy :policy:`CMP0181`.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_EXECUTE_PROCESS_COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL` variable
  was added to specify the :command:`execute_process` command's
  default ``COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL`` behavior.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_MODE` and
  :variable:`CMAKE_<LANG>_DEVICE_LINK_MODE` variables were added to provide
  information on how the link step is done.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_LINK_WARNING_AS_ERROR` variable and corresponding
  :prop_tgt:`LINK_WARNING_AS_ERROR` target property were added to link
  using a linker-specific flag to treat warnings as errors.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_CHECKS` variable and
  :prop_tgt:`MSVC_RUNTIME_CHECKS` target property were introduced
  to select runtime checks for compilers targeting the MSVC ABI.
  See policy :policy:`CMP0184`.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM` variable was added to
  help packagers and end users try to configure existing projects that
  have not been updated to work with supported CMake versions.
  The :envvar:`CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM` environment variable was
  added to initialize it.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD_RELOCATABLE` variable and corresponding
  :prop_tgt:`UNITY_BUILD_RELOCATABLE` target property were added to make
  sources generated for :variable:`CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD` to ``#include`` the
  original source files using relative paths where possible.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_XCODE_SCHEME_LLDB_INIT_FILE` variable and corresponding
  :prop_tgt:`XCODE_SCHEME_LLDB_INIT_FILE` target property were added to tell
  the :generator:`Xcode` generator what to put in the scheme's "LLDB Init File"
  setting.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_XCODE_SCHEME_TEST_CONFIGURATION` variable and corresponding
  :prop_tgt:`XCODE_SCHEME_TEST_CONFIGURATION` target property were added to tell
  the :generator:`Xcode` generator what to put in the scheme's "Build Configuration"
  setting for the test action.

Properties
----------

* The :prop_tgt:`DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY` target property and corresponding
  :variable:`CMAKE_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY` variable were added to tell
  generators what debugger working directory should be set for targets.

* The :prop_tgt:`STATIC_LIBRARY_OPTIONS` target property now supports an
  ``ARCHIVER:`` prefix to pass options to the archiver through the compiler
  driver in a portable way.

* The :prop_tgt:`Swift_MODULE_DIRECTORY` target property now supports
  :manual:`generator expressions <cmake-generator-expressions(7)>`.

* The :prop_sf:`VS_CUSTOM_COMMAND_DISABLE_PARALLEL_BUILD` source file property
  was added to tell :ref:`Visual Studio Generators` not to run a custom command
  in parallel.

* The :prop_dir:`VS_SOLUTION_ITEMS` directory property was added
  to tell :ref:`Visual Studio Generators` to attach files directly
  to the Solution (``.sln``).

Modules
-------

* The :module:`ExternalData` module gained a
  :variable:`ExternalData_HTTPHEADERS` variable to specify HTTP headers.

* The :module:`ExternalProject` module's :command:`ExternalProject_Add`
  command gained an ``INSTALL_JOB_SERVER_AWARE`` option to enable
  integration of the GNU Make job server when using an explicit
  ``INSTALL_COMMAND`` with :ref:`Makefile Generators`.

* The :module:`FeatureSummary` module :command:`add_feature_info`
  command now supports full :ref:`Condition Syntax`.
  See policy :policy:`CMP0183`.

* The :module:`FindBISON` module :command:`bison_target` command gained an
  ``OPTIONS`` option to specify Bison command-line options.

* The :module:`FindCURL` module now provides a ``CURL_VERSION`` result
  variable to match upstream cURL's CMake package.

* The :module:`FindFLEX` module :command:`flex_target` command gained an
  ``OPTIONS`` option to specify Flex command-line options.

* The :module:`FindPatch` module now supports running in
  :ref:`cmake -P <Script Processing Mode>` script mode by skipping
  the creation of the imported target.

* The :module:`FindProtobuf` module :command:`protobuf_generate` command
  gained a ``PROTOC_EXE`` option to specify a custom ``protoc`` executable.

* The :module:`FindPython`, :module:`FindPython2`, and :module:`FindPython3`
  modules gained the possibility to do multiple calls in the same directory by
  using, respectively, the variables ``Python_ARTIFACTS_PREFIX``,
  ``Python2_ARTIFACTS_PREFIX``, and ``Python3_ARTIFACTS_PREFIX``.

* The :module:`FindRuby` module learned to find rbenv-provided installations.

Generator Expressions
---------------------

* The :genex:`$<PATH>` generator expression gained the ``NATIVE_PATH``
  operation to convert a CMake path into a native one.

CTest
-----

* The :option:`ctest --interactive-debug-mode` option on Windows
  now enables Windows Error Reporting by default in test processes,
  allowing them to creating debug popup windows and core dumps.
  This restores behavior previously removed by CMake 3.11 after
  updates to ``libuv`` made it possible.

CPack
-----

* The :cpack_gen:`CPack Archive Generator` learned to generate ``.tar``
  packages without compression.

* The :cpack_gen:`CPack Archive Generator` now honors the
  :variable:`CPACK_ARCHIVE_FILE_NAME` variable for all packages.
  Previously, this variable worked only for component-based packages.

Deprecated and Removed Features
===============================

* Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 3.5 has been removed.
  Calls to :command:`cmake_minimum_required` or :command:`cmake_policy`
  that set the policy version to an older value now issue an error.
  Note that calls to those commands can still support older versions of
  CMake by using their ``VERSION`` arguments' ``<min>...<max>`` syntax.
  This requires only the ``<min>`` version of CMake, but when running a
  newer version, sets policies up to the ``<max>`` version.

* The :generator:`Visual Studio 14 2015` and :generator:`Visual Studio 15 2017`
  generators no longer support specifying a platform as part of the generator
  name.  See :ref:`Visual Studio Platform Selection`.

* The :variable:`CMAKE_<LANG>_USING_LINKER_MODE` variable is no longer used to
  determine the type of the contents of the
  :variable:`CMAKE_<LANG>_USING_LINKER_<TYPE>` variable. The
  :variable:`CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_MODE` variable, set by CMake, is used instead.

* The :module:`FindGDAL` module is now deprecated in favor of upstream
  GDAL's official CMake package configuration file. Port projects to
  the latter by calling ``find_package(GDAL CONFIG)``.  For further
  details, see `GDAL's documentation on CMake integration
  <https://gdal.org/en/latest/development/cmake.html>`_.

* The :module:`FindRuby` module no longer provides variables with the
  upper-case ``RUBY_`` prefix.  See policy :policy:`CMP0185`.

* CTest's undocumented declarative scripting mode has been removed.
  This mode used to be triggered by a :option:`ctest -S` script which did not
  call any :ref:`CTest Commands` unless :variable:`CTEST_RUN_CURRENT_SCRIPT`
  was explicitly set to ``OFF``.

* The :command:`ctest_run_script` command may no longer be called without any
  arguments.

Other Changes
=============

* On macOS with :ref:`Ninja Generators` and :ref:`Makefile Generators`, when
  a compiler is found in ``/usr/bin``, it is now used as-is and is no longer
  mapped to the corresponding compiler inside Xcode.  The mapping was
  introduced by CMake 3.2 to allow build trees to continue to work with their
  original compiler even when ``xcode-select`` switches to a different
  Xcode installation.  However, the compilers inside Xcode cannot be used
  without explicit ``-isysroot`` flags and are therefore not suitable for
  passing to arbitrary third-party build systems.  Furthermore, the mapping
  behavior can override user-specified compiler paths.  Therefore, this
  behavior has been reverted.

* In builds targeting macOS, :variable:`CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT` now defaults to
  empty, deferring to the compiler's default macOS SDK selection.  In order
  to pass an explicit macOS SDK via the compiler's ``-isysroot`` flag, users
  may configure their build tree with ``-DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=macosx``, or
  ``export SDKROOT="$(xcrun --sdk macosx --show-sdk-path)"`` in their
  environment.

  Notes:

  * macOS compilers in ``/usr/bin``, when not invoked with ``-isysroot``,
    search for headers in ``/usr/local/include`` before system SDK paths,
    matching the convention on many platforms.  Users on macOS-x86_64 hosts
    with Homebrew installed in ``/usr/local`` should pass an explicit SDK,
    as described above, when not building with Homebrew tools.

  * Some Clang compilers have no default macOS SDK selection.  For these,
    if :variable:`CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT` is empty, CMake will automatically pass
    ``-isysroot`` with the macOS SDK printed by ``xcrun --show-sdk-path``.

* On Windows, file paths named in project code, e.g., in ``CMakeLists.txt``,
  are no longer automatically converted to their on-disk upper/lower case.
  Projects are expected to spell source file paths consistently using
  their canonical case, e.g., in calls to :command:`add_library`,
  :command:`set_property(SOURCE)`, or :command:`set_source_files_properties`.
  This matches the behavior on platforms with case-sensitive filesystems.

* On AIX, ``SHARED`` library targets now produce a shared library archive
  by default.  See policy :policy:`CMP0182`.

* The :option:`cmake --preset` command no longer outputs a summary of the
  preset's CMake cache and environment variables by default.  That summary is
  now only shown when the message log level is set to ``VERBOSE``, ``DEBUG``,
  or ``TRACE`` via the   :option:`cmake --log-level` option or the
  :variable:`CMAKE_MESSAGE_LOG_LEVEL` cache variable.

* Precompiled SunOS ``sparc64`` and ``x86_64`` binaries are now provided
  on `cmake.org`_.

.. _`cmake.org`: https://cmake.org/download/

Updates
=======

Changes made since CMake 4.0.0 include the following.

4.0.1
-----

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

4.0.2
-----

* When building for macOS with a Clang that has no default macOS SDK,
  if :variable:`CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT` is empty, CMake now automatically passes
  ``-isysroot`` with the macOS SDK printed by ``xcrun --show-sdk-path``.
  This restores support for using LLVM/Clang on macOS without manually
  setting ``CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT``, which was broken by CMake 4.0.0's
  removal of a default value.

* The :prop_tgt:`DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY` target property is now
  used by the :generator:`Xcode` generator as a fallback for the
  :prop_tgt:`XCODE_SCHEME_WORKING_DIRECTORY` target property.

4.0.3, 4.0.4
------------

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

4.0.5
-----

* When building for macOS with the :generator:`Xcode` generator,
  :variable:`CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET` once again defaults to the
  host's macOS version if it is older than the macOS SDK version,
  as it did in CMake versions prior to 4.0.

* The :command:`execute_process` command once again terminates child
  processes when its ``TIMEOUT`` is reached.  This was accidentally
  regressed by CMake 3.29.