project — CMake 3.12.0 Documentation

# project

Sets project details such as name, version, etc. and enables languages.

    project(<PROJECT-NAME> [LANGUAGES] [<language-name>...])
    project(<PROJECT-NAME>
            [VERSION <major>[.<minor>[.<patch>[.<tweak>]]]]
            [DESCRIPTION <project-description-string>]
            [HOMEPAGE_URL <url-string>]
            [LANGUAGES <language-name>...])

Sets the name of the project and stores the name in the `PROJECT_NAME` variable. Additionally this sets variables

- `PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_SOURCE_DIR`
- `PROJECT_BINARY_DIR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_BINARY_DIR`

If `VERSION` is specified, given components must be non-negative integers. If `VERSION` is not specified, the default version is the empty string. The `VERSION` option may not be used unless policy `CMP0048` is set to `NEW`.

The `project()` command stores the version number and its components in variables

- `PROJECT_VERSION`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION`
- `PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_MAJOR`
- `PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_MINOR`
- `PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_PATCH`
- `PROJECT_VERSION_TWEAK`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_VERSION_TWEAK`

Variables corresponding to unspecified versions are set to the empty string (if policy `CMP0048` is set to `NEW`).

If the optional `DESCRIPTION` is given, then `PROJECT_DESCRIPTION` and `<PROJECT-NAME>_DESCRIPTION` will be set to its argument. The description is expected to be a relatively short string, usually no more than a few words.

The optional `HOMEPAGE_URL` sets the analogous variables `PROJECT_HOMEPAGE_URL` and `<PROJECT-NAME>_HOMEPAGE_URL`. When this option is given, the URL provided should be the canonical home for the project.

Note that the description and homepage URL may be used as defaults for things like packaging meta-data, documentation, etc.

Optionally you can specify which languages your project supports. Example languages include `C`, `CXX` (i.e. C++), `CUDA`, `Fortran`, and `ASM`. By default `C` and `CXX` are enabled if no language options are given. Specify language `NONE`, or use the `LANGUAGES` keyword and list no languages, to skip enabling any languages.

If enabling `ASM`, list it last so that CMake can check whether compilers for other languages like `C` work for assembly too.

If a variable exists called `CMAKE_PROJECT_<PROJECT-NAME>_INCLUDE`, the file pointed to by that variable will be included as the last step of the project command.

The top-level `CMakeLists.txt` file for a project must contain a literal, direct call to the `project()` command; loading one through the `include()` command is not sufficient. If no such call exists CMake will implicitly add one to the top that enables the default languages (`C` and `CXX`). The name of the project set in the top level `CMakeLists.txt` file is available from the `CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME` variable, its description from `CMAKE_PROJECT_DESCRIPTION`, its homepage URL from `CMAKE_PROJECT_HOMEPAGE_URL` and its version from `CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION`.

Note

Call the `cmake_minimum_required()` command at the beginning of the top-level `CMakeLists.txt` file even before calling the `project()` command. It is important to establish version and policy settings before invoking other commands whose behavior they may affect. See also policy `CMP0000`.