installing and uninstalling

Installing programs with cmake is a little daunting at first until you get started, right now I create a CMakeLists.txt like this:

  
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(my_program)

add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} main.cpp)

option(BUILD_FOR_INSTALL "Set if the program is being built for installation" OFF)

# Set a default for development builds
if(BUILD_FOR_INSTALL)
  target_compile_definitions(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE BUILD_FOR_INSTALL=${BUILD_FOR_INSTALL})
endif()

# Install the executable
install(TARGETS ${PROJECT_NAME} DESTINATION bin)

# Install the entire assets directory
install(DIRECTORY assets/ DESTINATION share/${PROJECT_NAME}/assets)

# Add uninstall target
if(EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_uninstall.cmake")
  include("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_uninstall.cmake")
else()
  configure_file(
    "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake_uninstall.cmake.in"
    "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/cmake_uninstall.cmake"
    @ONLY
  )
  add_custom_target(uninstall
    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -P "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/cmake_uninstall.cmake"
  )
endif()

  

Then in the project root next to the CMakeLists.txt I have cmake_uninstall.cmake.in

  
if(NOT DEFINED CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX)
  set(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX "/usr/local" CACHE PATH "Install path prefix" FORCE)
endif()

# Uninstall all installed files
file(READ "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/install_manifest.txt" INSTALL_FILES)
string(REPLACE "\n" ";" INSTALL_FILES ${INSTALL_FILES})

foreach(FILE ${INSTALL_FILES})
  string(STRIP ${FILE} FILE)  # Remove leading/trailing whitespace
  if(EXISTS ${FILE})
    message(STATUS "Removing file: ${FILE}")
    file(REMOVE ${FILE})
  else()
    message(WARNING "File does not exist: ${FILE}")
  endif()
endforeach()

  

building for development

  
sudo cmake -S . -B build
sudo cmake --build build
./build/my_program
  

installing

  
cmake -S . -B build -DBUILD_FOR_INSTALL=ON
sudo cmake --build build
sudo cmake --install build
my_program
  

uninstalling

  
sudo cmake --build build/ --target uninstall