CheckIPOSupported — CMake 4.4.0 Documentation

# CheckIPOSupported

Added in version 3.9.

This module provides a command to check whether the compiler supports interprocedural optimization (IPO/LTO).

Load this module in a CMake project with:

    include(CheckIPOSupported)

Interprocedural optimization is a compiler technique that performs optimizations across translation units (i.e., across source files), allowing the compiler to analyze and optimize the entire program as a whole rather than file-by-file. This can improve performance by enabling more aggressive inlining and dead code elimination. When these optimizations are applied at link time, the process is typically referred to as link-time optimization (LTO), which is a common form of IPO.

In CMake, interprocedural optimization can be enabled on a per-target basis using the `INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION` target property, or for all targets in the current scope using the `CMAKE_INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION` variable.

Use this module before enabling the interprocedural optimization on targets to ensure the compiler supports IPO/LTO.

## Commands

This module provides the following command:

check_ipo_supported

  Checks whether the compiler supports interprocedural optimization (IPO/LTO):

      check_ipo_supported(
        [RESULT <result-var>]
        [OUTPUT <output-var>]
        [LANGUAGES <lang>...]
      )

  Options are:

  `RESULT <result-var>`

    Set `<result-var>` variable to `YES` if IPO is supported by the compiler and `NO` otherwise. If this option is not given then the command will issue a fatal error if IPO is not supported.

  `OUTPUT <output-var>`

    Set `<output-var>` variable with details about any error.

  `LANGUAGES <lang>...`

    Specify languages whose compilers to check.

    The following languages are supported:

    - `C`

    - `CXX`

    - `CUDA`

      Added in version 3.25.

    - `Fortran`

    If this option is not given, the default languages are picked from the current `ENABLED_LANGUAGES` global property.

  Note

  To use `check_ipo_supported()`, policy `CMP0069` must be set to `NEW`; otherwise, a fatal error will occur.

  Added in version 3.13: Support for Visual Studio Generators.

  Added in version 3.24: The check uses the caller's `CMAKE_<LANG>_FLAGS` and `CMAKE_<LANG>_FLAGS_<CONFIG>` values. See policy `CMP0138`.

## Examples

Checking whether the compiler supports IPO and emitting a fatal error if it is not supported:

    include(CheckIPOSupported)
    check_ipo_supported() # fatal error if IPO is not supported
    set_property(TARGET foo PROPERTY INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION TRUE)

The following example demonstrates how to use this module to enable IPO for the target only when supported by the compiler and to issue a warning if it is not. Additionally, projects may want to provide a configuration option to control when IPO is enabled. For example:

    option(FOO_ENABLE_IPO "Enable IPO/LTO")

    if(FOO_ENABLE_IPO)
      include(CheckIPOSupported)
      check_ipo_supported(RESULT result OUTPUT output)
      if(result)
        set_property(TARGET foo PROPERTY INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION TRUE)
      else()
        message(WARNING "IPO is not supported: ${output}")
      endif()
    endif()