How to Remove Or Disable A Target In Cmake?

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When working with CMake, you can remove or disable a specific target by using the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property. This property can be assigned to a target to prevent it from being included in the default build target when running make. Additionally, you can also use the add_subdirectory() command to exclude a specific target from the build process. By including the target directory in the add_subdirectory() call, you can selectively choose which targets to include or exclude from the build.

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How to exclude a target from the CMake generated files?

In CMake, you can exclude a specific target from being generated by using the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL option. Here is how you can exclude a target from the CMake generated files:

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add_executable(my_target my_source.cpp)

# Exclude my_target from the default build target
set_target_properties(my_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


By setting the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property to TRUE, the target my_target will not be included in the default build target. This means that when you run make, my_target will not be built automatically. You can still build my_target explicitly by specifying its name as a target when calling make.


How to exclude a target from being included in the CMake project configuration?

To exclude a specific target from being included in the CMake project configuration, you can use the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL option when defining the target. This option tells CMake that the target should not be built by default when running the make command.


Here's an example of how to exclude a target named "example_target" from being included in the project configuration:

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add_executable(example_target example.cpp)

# Exclude the target from being built by default
set_target_properties(example_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


By setting the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property to TRUE, the target will not be included in the default build process. You can still build the target explicitly by specifying its name when running the make command, for example:

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make example_target


This allows you to control which targets should be built by default and which targets should be excluded from the build process in your CMake project configuration.


How to disable a target in CMake?

To disable a target in CMake, you can use the set_target_properties command with the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property set to TRUE.


Here is an example of how you can disable a target named my_target:

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set_target_properties(my_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


With this command, the my_target target will be excluded from the default build target when running make. This can be useful if you only want to build certain targets selectively.


How to exclude a target from being installed by CMake?

To exclude a target from being installed by CMake, you can use the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL option when defining the target. This option will prevent the target from being included in the ALL target, which is the target that is built and installed by default.


For example, you can set the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL option for a target like this:

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add_executable(my_target my_source.cpp)
set_target_properties(my_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


This will exclude the target "my_target" from being installed when running the install target in CMake.


What is the syntax for excluding a target from CMake build process?

To exclude a target from the CMake build process, you can use the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property for the target.


Here is an example of how to exclude a target named my_target from the CMake build process:

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# Add the target
add_executable(my_target my_source.cpp)

# Exclude the target from all build targets
set_target_properties(my_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


By setting the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL property to TRUE, the target my_target will not be built by default when you run make or cmake --build.


How to prevent a target from being generated by CMake?

To prevent a target from being generated by CMake, you can use the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL argument in the add_executable() or add_library() function when defining the target.


For example:

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add_executable(my_target EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL source.cpp)


This will prevent the target my_target from being included in the default build target when you run make or cmake --build. You can still build the target explicitly by specifying its name when building, e.g. make my_target.


Alternatively, you can use the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL target property to exclude an existing target from being built by default:

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set_target_properties(my_target PROPERTIES EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)


This will achieve the same result as using the EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL argument in the add_executable() or add_library() function.

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