Introduction

A CMake Generator is responsible for writing the input files for a native build system. Exactly one of the CMake Generators_ must be selected for a build tree to determine what native build system is to be used. Optionally one of the Extra Generators_ may be selected as a variant of some of the Command-Line Build Tool Generators_ to produce project files for an auxiliary IDE.

CMake Generators are platform-specific so each may be available only on certain platforms. The :manual:cmake(1) command-line tool :option:--help <cmake --help> output lists available generators on the current platform. Use its :option:-G <cmake -G> option to specify the generator for a new build tree. The :manual:cmake-gui(1) offers interactive selection of a generator when creating a new build tree.

CMake Generators

.. _Command-Line Build Tool Generators:

Command-Line Build Tool Generators

These generators support command-line build tools. In order to use them, one must launch CMake from a command-line prompt whose environment is already configured for the chosen compiler and build tool.

.. _Makefile Generators:

Makefile Generators ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/Borland Makefiles /generator/MSYS Makefiles /generator/MinGW Makefiles /generator/NMake Makefiles /generator/NMake Makefiles JOM /generator/Unix Makefiles /generator/Watcom WMake

.. _Ninja Generators:

Ninja Generators ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/Ninja /generator/Ninja Multi-Config

FASTBuild Generator ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/FASTBuild

.. _IDE Build Tool Generators:

IDE Build Tool Generators

These generators support Integrated Development Environment (IDE) project files. Since the IDEs configure their own environment one may launch CMake from any environment.

.. _Visual Studio Generators:

Visual Studio Generators ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/Visual Studio 6 /generator/Visual Studio 7 /generator/Visual Studio 7 .NET 2003 /generator/Visual Studio 8 2005 /generator/Visual Studio 9 2008 /generator/Visual Studio 10 2010 /generator/Visual Studio 11 2012 /generator/Visual Studio 12 2013 /generator/Visual Studio 14 2015 /generator/Visual Studio 15 2017 /generator/Visual Studio 16 2019 /generator/Visual Studio 17 2022 /generator/Visual Studio 18 2026

Other Generators ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/Green Hills MULTI /generator/Xcode

.. _Extra Generators:

Extra Generators

.. deprecated:: 3.27

Support for "Extra Generators" is deprecated and will be removed from a future version of CMake. IDEs may use the :manual:cmake-file-api(7) to view CMake-generated project build trees.

Some of the CMake Generators_ listed in the :manual:cmake(1) command-line tool :option:--help <cmake --help> output may have variants that specify an extra generator for an auxiliary IDE tool. Such generator names have the form <extra-generator> - <main-generator>. The following extra generators are known to CMake.

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1

/generator/CodeBlocks /generator/CodeLite /generator/Eclipse CDT4 /generator/Kate /generator/Sublime Text 2