CMake Experimental Features Guide

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The following is a guide to CMake experimental features that are under development and not yet included in official documentation. See documentation on CMake Development_ for more information.

.. _CMake Development: README.rst

Features are gated behind CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_ variables which must be set to specific values in order to enable their gated behaviors. Note that the specific values will change over time to reinforce their experimental nature. When used, a warning will be generated to indicate that an experimental feature is in use and that the affected behavior in the project is not part of CMake's stability guarantees.

Export Package Dependencies

In order to activate support for this experimental feature, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_EXPORT_PACKAGE_DEPENDENCIES to
• value 1942b4fa-b2c5-4546-9385-83f254070067.

This UUID may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the value documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting.

When activated, this experimental feature provides the following:

• The install(EXPORT) and export(EXPORT) commands have experimental EXPORT_PACKAGE_DEPENDENCIES arguments to generate find_dependency calls automatically.

• Details of the calls may be configured using the export(SETUP) command's PACKAGE_DEPENDENCY argument.

• The package name associated with specific targets may be specified using the CMAKE_EXPORT_FIND_PACKAGE_NAME variable and/or EXPORT_FIND_PACKAGE_NAME target property.

Export |CPS| Package Information for install(EXPORT)

In order to activate support for this experimental feature, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_MAPPED_PACKAGE_INFO to
• value ababa1b5-7099-495f-a9cd-e22d38f274f2.

These UUIDs may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the values documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting.

When activated, this experimental feature provides the following:

• Setting CMAKE_INSTALL_EXPORTS_AS_PACKAGE_INFO enables generation of package information in the |CPS|_ format via the install(EXPORT) command.

.. _CPS: https://cps-org.github.io/cps/ .. |CPS| replace:: Common Package Specification

C++ import std support

In order to activate support for import std in C++23 and newer targets, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX_IMPORT_STD to
• value 451f2fe2-a8a2-47c3-bc32-94786d8fc91b.

This UUID may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the value documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting. It must be set before the CXX toolchain is discovered by CMake, usually as part of a project() call.

When activated, this experimental feature provides the following:

• The CXX_MODULE_STD target property and its initializing variable CMAKE_CXX_MODULE_STD.

• Targets with the property set to a true value and at least cxx_std_23 may use import std; in any scanned C++ source file.

Build database support

In order to activate support for exporting build databases, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_EXPORT_BUILD_DATABASE to
• value 73194a1d-c0b5-41b9-9190-a4512925e192.

This UUID may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the value documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting.

When activated, this experimental feature provides the following:

• The :prop_tgt:EXPORT_BUILD_DATABASE target property and its initializing variable :variable:CMAKE_EXPORT_BUILD_DATABASE and environment variable :envvar:CMAKE_EXPORT_BUILD_DATABASE.

• Targets with the property set to a true value will have their C++ build information exported to the build database.

Software Bill Of Materials |SBOM|

In order to activate support for the :command:install(SBOM) command, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_GENERATE_SBOM to
• value ca494ed3-b261-4205-a01f-603c95e4cae0.

This UUID may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the value documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting.

When activated, this experimental feature provides the following:

• The experimental export(SBOM) and install(SBOM) commands are available to generate a Software Bill of Materials or "SBOM" for the current project. See :command:install(SBOM) for a complete overview of the command.

Rust Support

In order to activate support for Rust, set

• variable CMAKE_EXPERIMENTAL_RUST to
• value 3cc9b32c-47d3-4056-8953-d74e69fc0d6c.

This UUID may change in future versions of CMake. Be sure to use the value documented here by the source tree of the version of CMake with which you are experimenting.