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CMake Presets Architecture

CMake Presets organization, separation of concerns, and comprehensive reference for siddiqsoft::sip2json.

Presets Hierarchy

The repository employs a decoupled, highly reusable CMake Presets structure separated across two files:

flowchart TD
    subgraph PB["project-base.json (Project-Specific)"]
        PBase["Project-Base<br/>- sip2json_BUILD_TESTS=ON<br/>- sip2json_BUILD_BENCHMARKS=OFF<br/>- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=20<br/>- CI_BUILDID=0.0.0"]
    end

    subgraph CP["CMakePresets.json (Generic / Portable)"]
        CBase["Common-Base<br/>- Generator: Ninja<br/>- binaryDir: build/${presetName}<br/>- installDir: install/${presetName}<br/>- CPM_SOURCE_CACHE"]

        subgraph Darwin["Darwin / macOS"]
            ABase["Apple-Base (Darwin condition)"]
            ACDebug["Apple-Clang-Debug (Debug)"]
            ACRelease["Apple-Clang-Release (Release)"]
            ACDefault["Apple-Clang"]
        end

        subgraph Linux["Linux"]
            LBase["Linux-Base (Linux condition)"]
            LClangBase["Linux-Clang-Base (/usr/bin/clang)"]
            LGCCBase["Linux-GCC-Base (/usr/bin/gcc)"]
            LCDebug["Linux-Clang-Debug"]
            LCRelease["Linux-Clang-Release"]
            LGDebug["Linux-GCC-Debug"]
            LGRelease["Linux-GCC-Release"]
        end

        subgraph Windows["Windows"]
            WBase["Windows-Base (Windows condition, cl.exe)"]
            Wx64Base["Windows-x64-Base (host=x64, arch=x64)"]
            WarmBase["Windows-arm64-Base (arch=arm64)"]
            Wx64Debug["Windows-x64-Debug"]
            Wx64Release["Windows-x64-Release"]
            WarmDebug["Windows-arm64-Debug"]
            WarmRelease["Windows-arm64-Release"]
        end
    end

    PBase --> CBase
    CBase --> ABase
    CBase --> LBase
    CBase --> WBase

    ABase --> ACDebug & ACRelease
    ACRelease --> ACDefault

    LBase --> LClangBase & LGCCBase
    LClangBase --> LCDebug & LCRelease
    LGCCBase --> LGDebug & LGRelease

    WBase --> Wx64Base & WarmBase
    Wx64Base --> Wx64Debug & Wx64Release
    WarmBase --> WarmDebug & WarmRelease

Architectural Separation of Concerns

  1. project-base.json:
  2. Holds all per-project settings (e.g. sip2json_BUILD_TESTS, CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD: 20, CI_BUILDID: 0.0.0).

  3. Project maintainers configure project-specific variables here without altering toolchain presets.

  4. CMakePresets.json:

  5. Contains zero project-specific names or flags.
  6. Fully portable and reusable across any C++20/23 library or service repository.
  7. Defines platform bases (Apple-Base, Linux-Base, Windows-Base) and standardized Test-Base execution rules.

Available Presets Quick Reference

Configure Presets

Preset Name Platform Compiler Build Type Notes
Apple-Clang-Debug macOS AppleClang Debug Native Xcode / Command Line Tools (enables clang-format)
Apple-Clang-Release macOS AppleClang Release Native Xcode / Command Line Tools
Apple-Clang macOS AppleClang Release Default Apple release alias
Linux-Clang-Debug Linux Clang (/usr/bin/clang++) Debug Clang toolchain
Linux-Clang-Release Linux Clang (/usr/bin/clang++) Release Clang toolchain
Linux-Clang Linux Clang (/usr/bin/clang++) Release Clang release alias
Linux-GCC-Debug Linux GCC (/usr/bin/g++) Debug GCC toolchain
Linux-GCC-Release Linux GCC (/usr/bin/g++) Release GCC toolchain
Linux-GCC Linux GCC (/usr/bin/g++) Release GCC release alias
Windows-x64-Debug Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Debug x64 architecture, host=x64
Windows-x64-Release Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Release x64 architecture, host=x64
Windows-x64 Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Release Windows x64 release alias
Windows-arm64-Debug Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Debug ARM64 cross/native compilation
Windows-arm64-Release Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Release ARM64 cross/native compilation
Windows-arm64 Windows MSVC (cl.exe) Release Windows ARM64 release alias

CLI Usage Examples

# 1. Configure with your platform preset:
cmake --preset Apple-Clang-Release

# 2. Build all targets:
cmake --build --preset Apple-Clang-Release

# 3. Run unit tests with parallel worker threads:
ctest --preset Apple-Clang-Release -j 4 --output-on-failure
  • Maintainer Guide: Codebase architecture, source mapping, and bulk formatting
  • development workflow: Step-by-step local workflow and macOS toolchain configuration
  • CI/CD Pipelines: Automated CI builds using these presets