Easily add packages to CMake with CPM

There are so many libraries and for many people it is difficult to know the correct name to add to CMake, or even know if it is installed.

To solve this problem there is CPM.

📦 CPM means: CMake Package Manager, that is, a Package Manager for CMake. It is a small script for dependency management, cross-platform and without configuration.

Usage

Suppose you have this code C++:

#include <fmt/format.h>

auto main() -> int {
   fmt::print("Hello World!\n");
}

Note that it uses the library fmt, if we try to compile it the way via line command, doesn’t work:

g++ main.cc

/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: /tmp/cc5yZimt.o: in function "main":
main.cc:(.text+0x7e): undefined reference to `fmt::v10::vprint(fmt::v10::basic_string_view<char>, fmt::v10::basic_format_args<fmt::v10::basic_format_context< fmt::v10::appender, char> >)'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

If we use CMake, it will not automatically search for the library:

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(MyExample)
add_executable(myexample main.cc)

After compiling, we will also get error:

cmake -B build .
cd build && make

[50%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/myexample.dir/main.cc.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable myexample
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13/../../../../x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld: CMakeFiles/myexample.dir/main.cc .o: in the "main" function:
main.cc:(.text+0x7e): undefined reference to `fmt::v10::vprint(fmt::v10::basic_string_view<char>, fmt::v10::basic_format_args<fmt::v10::basic_format_context< fmt::v10::appender, char> >)'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/myexample.dir/build.make:97: myexample] Error 1
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:83: CMakeFiles/myexample.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:91: all] Error 2

Now let’s add the CPM to our CMakeLists.txt, just these two statements:

file(
   DOWNLOAD
   https://github.com/cpm-cmake/CPM.cmake/releases/download/v0.38.3/CPM.cmake
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/cmake/CPM.cmake
   EXPECTED_HASH SHA256=cc155ce02e7945e7b8967ddfaff0b050e958a723ef7aad3766d368940cb15494
)
include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/cmake/CPM.cmake)

And then link the library (using CPM) that we want to our binary:

CPMAddPackage("gh:fmtlib/fmt#7.1.3")
target_link_libraries(myexample fmt::fmt)

In the end, our CMakeLists.txt will look like this:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(MyExample)
add_executable(myexample main.cc)

file(
   DOWNLOAD
   https://github.com/cpm-cmake/CPM.cmake/releases/download/v0.38.3/CPM.cmake
   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/cmake/CPM.cmake
   EXPECTED_HASH SHA256=cc155ce02e7945e7b8967ddfaff0b050e958a723ef7aad3766d368940cb15494
)
include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/cmake/CPM.cmake)

CPMAddPackage("gh:fmtlib/fmt#7.1.3")
target_link_libraries(myexample fmt::fmt)

Now just compile and run:

prompt> cmake -B build .
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 13.2.1
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 13.2.1
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/cc - skipped
-- Detecting C compilation features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- CPM: Adding package fmt@7.1.3 (7.1.3)
-- Version: 7.1.3
-- Build type: 
-- CXX_STANDARD: 11
-- Performing Test has_std_11_flag
-- Performing Test has_std_11_flag - Success
-- Performing Test has_std_0x_flag
-- Performing Test has_std_0x_flag - Success
-- Performing Test SUPPORTS_USER_DEFINED_LITERALS
-- Performing Test SUPPORTS_USER_DEFINED_LITERALS - Success
-- Performing Test FMT_HAS_VARIANT
-- Performing Test FMT_HAS_VARIANT - Success
-- Required features: cxx_variadic_templates
-- Looking for strtod_l
-- Looking for strtod_l - not found
-- Configuring done (11.4s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /home/user/CPM/build
prompt> cd build && make
[ 20%] Building CXX object _deps/fmt-build/CMakeFiles/fmt.dir/src/format.cc.o
[ 40%] Building CXX object _deps/fmt-build/CMakeFiles/fmt.dir/src/os.cc.o
[60%] Linking CXX static library libfmt.a
[60%] Built target fmt
[80%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/myexample.dir/main.cc.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable myexample
[100%] Built target myexample
prompt>build $./myexample 
Hello World!