What is CMake equivalent of configure --prefix DIR make all install

Question

I do cmake    amp  amp  make all install  This works  but installs to  usr local   I need to install to a different prefix  for example  to  usr    What is the cmake and make command line to install to  usr instead of  usr local

User · Answer

The way I build CMake projects cross platform is the following:

/project-root> mkdir build
/project-root> cd build
/project-root/build> cmake -G "<generator>" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=stage ..
/project-root/build> cmake --build . --target=install --config=Release

The first two lines create the out-of-source build directory
The third line generates the build system specifying where to put the installation result (which I always place in ./project-root/build/stage - the path is always considered relative to the current directory if it is not absolute)
The fourth line builds the project configured in . with the buildsystem configured in the line before. It will execute the install target which also builds all necessary dependent targets if they need to be built and then copies the files into the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX (which in this case is ./project-root/build/stage. For multi-configuration builds, like in Visual Studio, you can also specify the configuration with the optional --config <config> flag.
The good part when using the cmake --build command is that it works for all generators (i.e. makefiles and Visual Studio) without needing different commands.

Afterwards I use the installed files to create packages or include them in other projects...

User · Answer

Regarding Bruce Adams answer   Your answer creates dangerous confusion  DESTDIR is intended for installs out of the root tree  It allows one to see what would be installed in the root tree if one did not specify DESTDIR  PREFIX is the base directory upon which the real installation is based   For example  PREFIX  usr local indicates that the final destination of a package is  usr local  Using DESTDIR  HOME will install the files as if  HOME was the root      If  say DESTDIR  was  tmp destdir  one could see what  make install  would affect  In that spirit  DESTDIR should never affect the built objects   A makefile segment to explain it   install      cp program  DESTDIR PREFIX bin program   Programs must assume that PREFIX is the base directory of the final  i e  production  directory  The possibility of symlinking a program installed in DESTDIR  something only means that the program does not access files based upon PREFIX as it would simply not work  cat 1  is a program that  in its simplest form  can run from anywhere  Here is an example that won t   prog pseudo in      open   prefix  share prog db            prog      sed -e  s  prefix   PREFIX   prog pseudo in  gt  prog pseudo     compile prog pseudo  install      cp prog  DESTDIR PREFIX bin prog     cp prog db  DESTDIR PREFIX share prog db   If you tried to run prog from elsewhere than  PREFIX bin prog  prog db would never be found as it is not in its expected location   Finally   etc alternatives really does not work this way  There are symlinks to programs installed in the root tree  e g  vi -   usr bin nvi  vi -   usr bin vim  etc

User · Answer

It is considered bad practice to invoke the actual generator  e g  via make  if using CMake  It is highly recommended to do it like this    Configure phase   cmake -Hfoo -B builds foo debug -G Unix Makefiles  -DCMAKE BUILD TYPE Debug -DCMAKE DEBUG POSTFIX d -DCMAKE INSTALL PREFIX  usr  Build and Install phases  cmake --build  builds foo debug --config Debug --target install    When following this approach  the generator can be easily switched  e g  -GNinja for Ninja  without having to remember any generator-specific commands

User · Answer

You can pass in any CMake variable on the command line  or edit cached variables using ccmake cmake-gui  On the command line  cmake -DCMAKE INSTALL PREFIX PATH  usr      make all install Would configure the project  build all targets and install to the  usr prefix  The type  PATH  is not strictly necessary  but would cause the Qt based cmake-gui to present the directory chooser dialog  Some minor additions as comments make it clear that providing a simple equivalence is not enough for some  Best practice would be to use an external build directory  i e  not the source directly  Also to use more generic CMake syntax abstracting the generator  mkdir build    cd build    cmake -DCMAKE INSTALL PREFIX PATH  usr       cmake --build   --target install --config Release You can see it gets quite a bit longer  and isn t directly equivalent anymore  but is closer to best practices in a fairly concise form    The --config is only used by multi-configuration generators  i e  MSVC   ignored by others

User · Answer

Note that in both CMake and Autotools you don t always have to set the installation path at configure time  You can use DESTDIR at install time  see also here  instead as in  make DESTDIR  lt installhere gt  install  See also this question which explains the subtle difference between DESTDIR and PREFIX  This is intended for staged installs and to allow for storing programs in a different location from where they are run e g   etc alternatives via symbolic links  However  if your package is relocatable and doesn t need any hard-coded  prefix  paths set via the configure stage you may be able to skip it  So instead of  cmake -DCMAKE INSTALL PREFIX  usr    amp  amp  make all install  you would run  cmake    amp  amp  make DESTDIR  usr all install  Note that  as user7498341 points out  this is not appropriate for cases where you really should be using PREFIX

User · Answer

The   PATH  part in the accepted answer can be omitted  This syntax may be more memorable   cmake -DCMAKE INSTALL PREFIX  usr    amp  amp  make all install      as used in the answers here

User · Answer

Starting with CMake 3 15  the correct way of achieving this would be using   cmake --install  lt dir gt  --prefix   usr    Official Documentation

[cmake] What is CMake equivalent of 'configure --prefix=DIR && make all install '?

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