In Cmake, How to Work Around the Debug and Release Directories Visual Studio 2010 Tries to Add

In CMake, how do I work around the Debug and Release directories Visual Studio 2010 tries to add?

It depends a bit on what you want precisely, but I would recommend to take a look at the available target properties, similar to this question.

It depends a bit on what you want exactly. For each target, you could manually set the library_output_directory or runtime_output_directory properties.

if ( MSVC )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE ${youroutputdirectory} )
    # etc for the other available configuration types (MinSizeRel, RelWithDebInfo)
endif ( MSVC )

You could also do this globally for all sub-projects, using something like this:

# First for the generic no-config case (e.g. with mingw)
set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${youroutputdirectory} )
set( CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${youroutputdirectory} )
set( CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${youroutputdirectory} )
# Second, for multi-config builds (e.g. msvc)
foreach( OUTPUTCONFIG ${CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES} )
    string( TOUPPER ${OUTPUTCONFIG} OUTPUTCONFIG )
    set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set( CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set( CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} ${youroutputdirectory} )
endforeach( OUTPUTCONFIG CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES )

CMake set different Debug and Release working directories in Visual Studio

If there are no configuration specific properties and generator expressions like $<CONFIG> don't work (tested it with VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORYto no avail), you can still use VS variables:

set_target_properties(${PROJECT_BIN} PROPERTIES 
    VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/$(Configuration)")

Move cmake release and debug folder

So i found my answer by myself. I think i've not explain correctly for my first question. It was for just remove the folder after build. The following commands are working :

set(BIN_PATH "../path") -> define your principal path
set( CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG "${BIN_PATH}/bin/" ) ->define path for archive
set( CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG "${BIN_PATH}/bin/" ) ->define path for Library
set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG "${BIN_PATH}/bin/" ) ->define path for Runtime

Normally, all the files are created in /bin.

How to not add Release or Debug to output path?

A similar question was asked a few months ago, where I advised the use of target properties and also referred to another answer. For MSVC you can completely specify the locations of executables, libraries, archives, etc. on a per-configuration basis.

E.g. using something like:

if ( MSVC )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG ${youroutputdirectory} )
    set_target_properties( ${targetname} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE ${youroutputdirectory} )
    # etc for the other available configuration types (MinSizeRel, RelWithDebInfo)
endif ( MSVC )

which will put all your libraries in a single output-directory ${youroutputdirectory}, whether it is in Debug or Release config.

How to refer to Visual Studio output directory in CMakeLists.txt?

I solved my problem by copying the files with the "file (GENERATE OUTPUT)" which supports the cmake-generator-expressions suggested by StAlphonzo:

foreach (file ${SHADER_SOURCES})
    file (GENERATE OUTPUT $<CONFIG>/${file} INPUT ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${file})
endforeach()

I would also like to mention a second way of solving this problem I discovered that I think is actually more correct, by adding a custom command:

add_custom_command(TARGET target ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy ${PROJECT_SOURCES_DIR}/foo $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:target>)

Linking different libraries for Debug and Release builds in Cmake on windows?

According to the CMake documentation:

target_link_libraries(<target> [lib1 [lib2 [...]]] [[debug|optimized|general] <lib>] ...)

A "debug", "optimized", or "general"
keyword indicates that the library
immediately following it is to be used
only for the corresponding build
configuration.

So you should be able to do this:

add_executable( MyEXE ${SOURCES})

target_link_libraries( MyEXE debug 3PDebugLib)
target_link_libraries( MyEXE optimized 3PReleaseLib)

How to change the executable output directory for Win32 builds, in CMake?

There are several options:

1. Copy the executable after building
2. Customizing the output-directory for your executable(s)

Copy the executable after building

After a succesful build you can copy the executable (see Beginners answer), but perhaps it is nicer to use an install target:

Use the install command to specify targets (executables, libraries, headers, etc.) which will be copied to the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX directory. You can specify the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX on the commandline of cmake (or in the cmake GUI).

Customizing the output-directory for your executable(s)

Warning: It is not advised to set absolute paths directly in your cmakelists.txt.

Use set_target_properties to customize the RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY

set_target_properties( yourexe PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY E:/parsec/bin/ )

As an alternative, modifying the CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY allows you to specify this for all targets in the cmake project. Take care that you modify the CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY as well when you build dlls.

set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin )
set( CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib )

Additional info: Take a look at these questions:

• In CMake, how do I work around the Debug and Release directories Visual Studio 2010 tries to add?

• CMake : Changing name of Visual Studio and Xcode exectuables depending on configuration in a project generated by CMake

• How to not add Release or Debug to output path?

Building yaml-cpp with cmake and visual studio 2010

Classic Pebkac. After a good nights sleep I found the file in the project.
libyaml-cppmdd.lib was generated in the Debug folder. I had forgotten to add .lib to the file ending while adding the file to Additional dependencies to the Linker. Therefore the Linker thought it was a .obj file and complained.

How to get current configuration (Release/Debug) in CMake for Visual Studio

The file command is executed during CMake runtime, not during build time (i.e. VS runtime).

This also means, that the generator expressions (e.g. $<CONFIG>) can not be used, as these are evaluated during build time.

(Hint: As long as there is no explicit reference to the use of generator expressions for a particular command in the CMake docu, they are not supported by that command).

The reason, why ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} is empty, is due to the reason that you probably haven't specified it on the invocation of CMake:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..

However, using that, would mean that the build files are only generated for the Debug configuration. That's obviously not what you want.

To solve your problem: Using generator expressions is the right way, as you've already figured out with the use of add_custom_target (or add_custom_command).

You can use custom commands as dependencies for other "real" targets and you can specify post-/pre-build and pre-link commands for a specific target via add_custom_command.

As the docu states for the COMMAND argument of add_custom_command:

Arguments to COMMAND may use generator expressions. References to target names in generator expressions imply target-level dependencies, but NOT file-level dependencies. List target names with the DEPENDS option to add file-level dependencies.

To copy a file after a successful build of a target:

add_custom_command(TARGET myTarget POST_BUILD
                   COMMAND "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" -E copy_if_different "${IMAGE1}" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/$<CONFIG>/"
                   COMMAND "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" -E copy_if_different "${IMAGE2}" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/$<CONFIG>/"
)

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