DESTDIR

.. include:: include/ENV_VAR.rst

On UNIX one can use the DESTDIR mechanism in order to relocate the whole installation. DESTDIR means DESTination DIRectory. It is commonly used by packagers to install software in a staging directory.

For example, running

.. code-block:: shell

make DESTDIR=/package/stage install

will install the software using the installation prefix, e.g. /usr/local, prepended with the DESTDIR value which gives /package/stage/usr/local. The packaging tool may then construct the package from the content of the /package/stage directory.

See the :variable:CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX variable to control the installation prefix when configuring a build tree. Or, when using the :manual:cmake(1) command-line tool's :option:--install <cmake --install> mode, one may specify a different prefix using the :option:--prefix <cmake--install --prefix> option.

.. note::

DESTDIR may not be used on Windows because installation prefix usually contains a drive letter like in C:/Program Files which cannot be prepended with some other prefix.