CMake Generators
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.
Platform-specific Generators
CMake Generators are platform-specific so each may be available only on certain platforms. The cmake(1) command-line tool --help output lists available generators on the current platform.
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.
Supported Generators
- Borland Makefiles: Generates Borland-style makefiles.
- MSYS Makefiles: Generates MSYS-style makefiles.
- MinGW Makefiles: Generates MinGW-style makefiles.
- NMake Makefiles: Generates Windows NMake Makefiles.
- Unix Makefiles: Generates Unix-style makefiles.
- Watcom WMake: Generates Watcom WMake files.
Ninja Generators
- Ninja: Generates Ninja build files.
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.
Supported Generators
- Visual Studio 6: Generates Visual Studio 6 project files.
- Visual Studio 7: Generates Visual Studio 7 project files.
- Visual Studio 7 .NET 2003: Generates Visual Studio 7 .NET 2003 project files.
- Visual Studio 8 2005: Generates Visual Studio 8 2005 project files.
- Visual Studio 9 2008: Generates Visual Studio 9 2008 project files.
- Visual Studio 10 2010: Generates Visual Studio 10 2010 project files.
- Visual Studio 11 2012: Generates Visual Studio 11 2012 project files.
- Visual Studio 12 2013: Generates Visual Studio 12 2013 project files.
- Visual Studio 14 2015: Generates Visual Studio 14 2015 project files.
- Visual Studio 15 2017: Generates Visual Studio 15 2017 project files.
- Visual Studio 16 2019: Generates Visual Studio 16 2019 project files.
- Visual Studio 17 2022: Generates Visual Studio 17 2022 project files.
Extra Generators
These generators are variant of some of the Command-Line Build Tool Generators to produce project files for an auxiliary IDE.
Supported Generators
- CodeBlocks: Generates CodeBlocks project files as a variant of Unix Makefiles.
- CodeLite: Generates CodeLite project files as a variant of Unix Makefiles.
- Eclipse CDT4: Generates Eclipse CDT4 project files as a variant of Unix Makefiles.
- Kate: Generates Kate project files as a variant of Unix Makefiles.
- Sublime Text 2: Generates Sublime Text 2 project files as a variant of Unix Makefiles.
Legacy Generators
These generators are deprecated and will be removed from a future version of CMake.
- Deprecated: Green Hills MULTI Xcode
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of generators, you should refer to the actual documentation for the most up to date list of available generators.
