[c++] Define preprocessor macro through CMake?

For a long time, CMake had the add_definitions command for this purpose. However, recently the command has been superseded by a more fine grained approach (separate commands for compile definitions, include directories, and compiler options).

An example using the new add_compile_definitions:

add_compile_definitions(OPENCV_VERSION=${OpenCV_VERSION})
add_compile_definitions(WITH_OPENCV2)

Or:

add_compile_definitions(OPENCV_VERSION=${OpenCV_VERSION} WITH_OPENCV2)

The good part about this is that it circumvents the shabby trickery CMake has in place for add_definitions. CMake is such a shabby system, but they are finally finding some sanity.

Find more explanation on which commands to use for compiler flags here: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/add_definitions.html

Likewise, you can do this per-target as explained in Jim Hunziker's answer.

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