CMake 3.27 Release Notes — CMake 4.4.0 Documentation

# CMake 3.27 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 3.26 include the following.

## New Features

### Debugger

- `cmake(1)` now supports interactive debugging of the CMake language. See the `--debugger` option.

### Presets

- `cmake-presets(7)` files now support schema version `7`.

- `cmake-presets(7)` now supports `$penv{}` macro expansion in `include` fields.

### Generators

- The Makefile and Ninja generators now support using the `--dependency-file` linker flag, added by GNU Binutils 2.35 and LLVM's LLD 12.0.0, so that files read by the linker will cause a relink if they change (typically modified timestamps). See the `CMAKE_LINK_DEPENDS_USE_LINKER` variable.

- The Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above learned to select the Windows SDK version explicitly using a `version=` field in the `CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM` variable. See Visual Studio Platform Selection.

### Languages

- The `CXX` language now treats source file extensions `.ccm`, `.cxxm`, and `.c++m` as C++.

### File-Based API

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 `version` field has been updated to 2.6.

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 "target" object gained a new "frameworks" field in the "compileGroups" objects.

### Platforms

- Apple text-based stubs (i.e. `.tbd` files) may now be created for shared libraries on macOS. See the `ENABLE_EXPORTS` property.

### Commands

- The `add_custom_command()` command gained a new `DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLY` option to tell the Ninja Generators not to add any dependencies implied by the target to which it is attached. The `CMAKE_ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND_DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLY` variable was added to enable `DEPENDS_EXPLICIT_ONLY` on all calls to `add_custom_command()` command.

- The `cmake_file_api()` command was added for projects to add `CMake file API` queries for the current CMake run.

- The `find_package()` command now searches prefixes specified by upper-case `<PACKAGENAME>_ROOT` CMake variables and upper-case `<PACKAGENAME>_ROOT` environment variables. See policy `CMP0144`.

- The `install(CODE)` and `install(SCRIPT)` commands now support the `$<INSTALL_PREFIX>` generator expression.

### Variables

- The `CMAKE_DLL_NAME_WITH_SOVERSION` variable and associated `DLL_NAME_WITH_SOVERSION` target property were added to optionally append the `SOVERSION` to the filename of the `.dll` part of a shared library on Windows.

- Variables `CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_COMMAND`, `CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_COMMAND_ARGUMENTS`, `CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_ENVIRONMENT`, and `CMAKE_VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY` were added to initialize corresponding target properties.

- The `CMAKE_VS_WINDOWS_TARGET_PLATFORM_MIN_VERSION` variable was added to initialize the `VS_WINDOWS_TARGET_PLATFORM_MIN_VERSION` target property on all targets when they are created.

### Properties

- A `CUDA_CUBIN_COMPILATION` target property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to `.cubin` files instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.

- A `CUDA_FATBIN_COMPILATION` target property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to `.fatbin` files instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.

- A `CUDA_OPTIX_COMPILATION` target property was added to Object Libraries to support compiling to `.optixir` files instead of host object files. Currently only supported with NVIDIA.

- The `<LANG>_CLANG_TIDY`, `<LANG>_CPPCHECK`, `<LANG>_CPPLINT`, and `<LANG>_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE`, target properties now support `generator expressions`.

- The `<LANG>_LINKER_LAUNCHER` target property now supports `generator expressions`.

- The `SKIP_LINTING` source file property was added to suppress target-wide code checks on specific sources.

### Modules

- The `FindCUDAToolkit` module now provides an imported target for `cudla`, and imported targets for CUPTI's `nvperf` and `pcsampling` components.

- The `FindDoxygen` module's `doxygen_add_docs()` command gained a `CONFIG_FILE` option to specify a custom doxygen configuration file.

- The `FindOpenGL` module gained support for components `GLES2` and `GLES3`.

- The `FindwxWidgets` module now provides an imported target.

### Generator Expressions

- The `COMPILE_ONLY` generator expression was added to specify compilation usage requirements without any linking requirements.

- `$<LIST:...>` generator expressions were added for query, transformation, and ordering operations on lists.

- `$<PATH:...>` generator expressions for decomposition and transformation operations learned to process lists of paths element-wise.

- The `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE`, `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_BASE_NAME`, `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_PREFIX`, `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_SUFFIX`, `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_NAME`, and `TARGET_IMPORT_FILE_DIR` generator expressions were added. These expand to details about the linker import file for a target.

- The `TARGET_RUNTIME_DLL_DIRS` generator expression was added. It expands to a list of the directories containing DLLs in `TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS`.

### Autogen

- The `CMAKE_AUTOMOC_EXECUTABLE`, `CMAKE_AUTORCC_EXECUTABLE`, and `CMAKE_AUTOUIC_EXECUTABLE` variables were added to initialize the corresponding target properties as targets are created.

- The `AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE` target property and corresponding `CMAKE_AUTOGEN_USE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE` variable were added to explicitly control whether autogen headers are considered system headers.

- The `INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES` target property was added to specify macro names for `moc` as a transitive usage requirement.

### CTest

- The `TIMEOUT_SIGNAL_NAME` and `TIMEOUT_SIGNAL_GRACE_PERIOD` test properties were added to specify a POSIX signal to send to a test process when its timeout is reached.

### CPack

- The `CPack Inno Setup Generator` was added to package using Inno Setup.

## Deprecated and Removed Features

- Compatibility with versions of CMake older than 3.5 is now deprecated and will be removed from a future version. Calls to `cmake_minimum_required()` or `cmake_policy()` that set the policy version to an older value now issue a deprecation diagnostic.

- The Extra Generators have been deprecated. IDEs may use the `cmake-file-api(7)` to view CMake-generated project build trees.

- The `FindCUDA` module, which has been deprecated since CMake 3.10, has been removed by policy `CMP0146`. Port projects to CMake's first-class `CUDA` language support.

- The `FindPythonInterp` and `FindPythonLibs` modules, which have been deprecated since CMake 3.12, have been removed by policy `CMP0148`. Port projects to `FindPython3`, `FindPython2`, or `FindPython`.

- The `Dart` and `FindDart` modules have been deprecated via policy `CMP0145`. Port projects to the `CTest` module.

- The `Visual Studio 9 2008` generator is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of CMake.

## Other Changes

- `cmake --build $dir --verbose` will now print the working directory and command line used to perform the build.

- The `ExternalProject` and `FetchContent` modules now resolve relative `GIT_REPOSITORY` paths as relative to the parent project's remote, not as a relative local file system path. See `CMP0150`.

- The `ExternalProject` `configure` step no longer re-runs on every build when the `UPDATE_DISCONNECTED` option is enabled. It will only re-run if details of the `download`, `update`, or `patch` step change.

- The `ExternalProject` `update` and `patch` steps now always re-run if any of their details change, even if the `UPDATE_DISCONNECTED` option is enabled. If using the `GIT` download method, and the `GIT_TAG` is changed to a commit that is not already known locally, an error is now issued instead of silently using the previous `GIT_TAG`.

- The `FindPython`, `FindPython2` and `FindPython3` modules now support the Windows ARM64 platform.

- The `file(GET_RUNTIME_DEPENDENCIES)` command now case-preserves DLL names reported on Windows. They are still converted to lowercase for filter matching.

- The `SYSTEM` target property is now honored for Apple Frameworks.

- Visual Studio Generators, for VS 15.8 (2017) and newer, now build custom commands in parallel. See policy `CMP0147`.

- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now prefer to select the latest Windows SDK version. See policy `CMP0149`.

## Updates

Changes made since CMake 3.27.0 include the following.

### 3.27.1

- This version made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.

### 3.27.2

- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now prefer to select the latest Windows SDK, as documented by policy `CMP0149`, when targeting any version of Windows. In CMake 3.27.[0-1] the preference was limited to targeting Windows 10 and above.

- Visual Studio Generators for VS 14 (2015) and above now support using `version=8.1` in the `CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM` variable to select the Windows 8.1 SDK. In CMake 3.27.[0-1] the `version=` field was limited to selecting Windows 10 SDKs.

### 3.27.3, 3.27.4, 3.27.5, 3.27.6, 3.27.7, 3.27.8

- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.

### 3.27.9

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "codemodel" version 2 "target" object `fileSets` field was introduced by CMake 3.26.0 with entries of its `baseDirectories` member incorrectly expressed as absolute paths even if they are inside the top-level source directory. This was fixed in CMake 3.26.6 and has now been fixed in 3.27.9. Clients must be updated to expect relative paths under the top-level source directory.

- Fortran module dependency scanning in Ninja Generators was updated by CMake 3.27.0 to use exact collation dependencies. This was supposed to fix subtle rebuild failures when moving module sources among targets. Since then, several cases have been found in which exact collation dependencies were incorrectly computed when using Object Libraries. Some of these cases were incrementally fixed through the 3.27.x patch series, but additional more subtle cases have since been found. In order to avoid further churn in the 3.27 release series, the original change has been reverted and deferred to a future version of CMake.