im a lazy programmer, I absolutely hate cmake files, they take away from the C experience. Just wondering who else uses AI to write cmake files. (I love cmake, its real easy to use. Just not the cmakelists.txt files)
I’ve been experimenting with C++ modules across different compilers and build systems, and ended up writing a small CMake helper script that makes the whole thing much less painful.
It doesn’t try to reinvent module support — it relies on CMake’s native named-module features and only adds a thin layer of convenience (shorter target definitions, optional header-unit helpers, and clean presets for Clang/GCC/MSVC).
If you’re playing with modules or want a minimal, practical setup without extra tooling, you might find it useful:
👉 https://github.com/basvas-jkj/cpp_modules
It includes example programs, compiler compatibility notes, and a summary of what actually works in practice on Windows/Linux.
If you want to see larger example, you can check my older project, fully rewritten to use C++ modules:
I was using a remote development environment using Clion which ssh onto a raspberry pi 5: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) aarch64 RPIOS Lite from a windows computer
the ssh works, Directory structure:
the problem comes when I use GLOB
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.31.4)
project(custom_stack)
set(HEADER_DIR include)
file(GLOB headers "${HEADER_DIR}/*.h")
file(GLOB sources "src/*.c")
add_library(custom STATIC ${sources} ${headers})
target_compile_options(custom PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_include_directories(custom PUBLIC "${HEADER_DIR}")
add_executable(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} main.c)
target_compile_options(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_link_libraries(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} custom)
Not the best practice, I know! but this works with success
but when I add:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.31.4)
project(custom_stack)
set(HEADER_DIR include)
file(GLOB CONFIGURE_DEPENDS headers "${HEADER_DIR}/*.h")
file(GLOB CONFIGURE_DEPENDS sources "src/*.c")
add_library(custom STATIC ${sources} ${headers})
target_compile_options(custom PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_include_directories(custom PUBLIC "${HEADER_DIR}")
add_executable(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} main.c)
target_compile_options(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_link_libraries(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} custom)
it fails by not finding any source files? why?
