First of all, I have to admit that cmake is very powerful and has developed for so many years. The whole ecology is quite perfect and the functions are quite rich. This is not the case with xmake.
The purpose of doing xmake at the beginning was not to completely replace cmake. It didn’t make any sense. I just thought that the syntax and ease of use of cmake couldn’t satisfy me. I still prefer a simpler and more intuitive way to describe and maintain the project. Provides a near-consistent experience under the platform.
Therefore, xmake’s syntax description and experience is still very good, which is one of the biggest highlights of xmake. I have made a lot of improvements in this design, and it is easier to get started quickly in order to lower the threshold of learning and project maintenance.
Here, I only use some of the more dominant features of xmake to compare with cmake, just to highlight the advantages and ease of use of xmake in some aspects, and there is no meaning to devalue cmake.
If you have read the comparative analysis of this article, I feel that xmake is really easy to use, can meet the needs of some project maintenance, solve some pain points, and improve the efficiency of project maintenance.
I will first list some of the main basic features of the build tools. Most of the features are supported, and the advantages of xmake are mainly: syntax, package repository management, build experience.
| feature | xmake | cmake |
|---|---|---|
| Grammar | Lua syntax, simple and intuitive, fast to get started | DSL, complex, high learning cost |
| Self-built package warehouse management | Multi-warehouse support, self-built private package warehouse | Not supported |
| Third Party Package Management Integration | vcpkg/conan/brew | vcpkg/conan/Other |
| Build Behavior | Direct Build, No Dependencies | Generate Project Files, Call Third Party Build Tools |
| Dependencies | Depends only on the build toolchain | Dependent build toolchain + third-party build tools |
| Find Dependencies | Support | Support |
| Compiler Feature Detection | Support | Support |
| Project File Generation | Support | Support |
| Cross-platform | Support | Support |
| IDE/Editor Plugin | Support | Support |
| Modules and Plugin Extensions | Support | Support |
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/main.c")
add_executable(test "")
target_sources(test PRIVATE src/main.c)
xmake supports wildcard matching, adding a batch of source files, *.c matches all files in the current directory, **.c matches all files in the recursive directory.
In this way, for some new files compiled in the normal project, you don’t need to modify xmake.lua every time, and automatically synchronize, which can save a lot of time.
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.c")
add_files("test/*.c", "example/**.cpp")
Xmake’s add_files() is very flexible and powerful. It not only supports the addition of various types of source files, but also excludes certain specified files while adding them.
For example: recursively add all c files under src, but not all c files under src/impl/.
add_files("src/**.c|impl/*.c")
For more instructions on using this interface, see the related documentation: add_files
This version mainly improves the support of remote dependencies, and adds support for clib package dependencies. In addition, xmake has been able to directly compile Qt/Android projects, and can directly generate apk packages and install them to device support.
We can create a Qt empty project first, and try to compile and generate apk, for example:
xmake create -t quickapp_qt -l c ++ appdemo
cd appdemo
xmake f -p android --ndk=~/Downloads/android-ndk-r19c/ --android_sdk=~/Library/Android/sdk/ -c
xmake
[0%]: compiling.qt.qrc src/qml.qrc
[ 50%]: ccache compiling.release src/main.cpp
[100%]: linking.release libappdemo.so
[100%]: generating.qt.app appdemo.apk
Then install to the device:
xmake install
installing appdemo ...
installing build/android/armv7-a/release/appdemo.apk ..
success
install ok!👌
Very simple, we can look at its xmake.lua description, in fact, there is no difference between compiling and maintaining the Qt project on the pc. The exact same description file is just switched to the android platform when compiling.
add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.release")
target("appdemo")
add_rules("qt.application")
add_headerfiles("src/*.h")
add_files("src/*.cpp")
add_files("src/qml.qrc")
add_frameworks("QtQuick")
This version took more than four months to refactor and improve the package dependency management. The official repository added common packages such as mysql and ffmpeg, and added a lot of features.
add_requires("libuv master", "ffmpeg", "zlib 1.20.*")`
xmake will find and install packages from the official package repository (xmake-repo).
xmake adds built-in support for third-party package managers, explicitly specifying packages in other package managers through package namespaces,
and it currently supports conan::, brew:: and vcpkg:: packages.
add_requires("brew::zlib", {alias = "zlib"}})
add_requires("brew::pcre2/libpcre2-8", {alias = "pcre2"}})
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.c")
add_packages("pcre2", "zlib")
add_requires("vcpkg::zlib", "vcpkg::pcre2")
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.c")
add_packages("vcpkg::zlib", "vcpkg::pcre2")
The new version implements the conan generator to integrate the package information in the conan. It is also very convenient to use in xmake, and can pass all the configuration parameters of the conan package.
add_requires("conan::zlib/1.2.11@conan/stable", {alias = "zlib", debug = true})
add_requires("conan::OpenSSL/1.0.2n@conan/stable", {alias = "openssl", configs = {options = "OpenSSL:shared=True"}})
target("test")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.c")
add_packages("openssl", "zlib")
After executing xmake to compile:
ruki:test_package ruki$ xmake
checking for the architecture ... x86_64
checking for the Xcode directory ... /Applications/Xcode.app
checking for the SDK version of Xcode ... 10.14
note: try installing these packages (pass -y to skip confirm)?
-> conan::zlib/1.2.11@conan/stable (debug)
-> conan::OpenSSL/1.0.2n@conan/stable
please input: y (y/n)
=> installing conan::zlib/1.2.11@conan/stable .. ok
=> installing conan::OpenSSL/1.0.2n@conan/stable .. ok
[ 0%]: ccache compiling.release src/main.c
[100%]: linking.release test
This version took more than four months to refactor and improve the package dependency management. The official repository added common packages such as mysql and ffmpeg, and added a lot of features.
string.serialize and string.deserialize to serialize and deserialize object, function and others.xmake g --menutarget:installdir() and set_installdir() api for targetadd_platformdirs api, we can define custom platformsadd_installfiles api to targetadd_requires and find_package to integrate the 3rd package managerfind_packages("pcre2", "zlib") to find multiple packagesxmake project pluginprivate, public, interface to improve dependency inheritance like cmakepackage()add_headerfiles to improve to set header files and directoriesincludes(), e.g. check_cfuncsxmake update dev on windowsxmake f/g --mingw=xxx configuration option and improve to find_mingwoption.add_features, option.add_cxxsnippets and option.add_csnippetsadd_option_xxxlib.detect.find_packagelib.detect.find_package and add builtin find_packages("zlib 1.x", "openssl", {xxx = ...}) apiset_modes() as deprecated, we use add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.release") instead of ittarget:set, target:add and add target:del to modify target configurationqt_add_static_plugins() api to support static Qt sdkThis version is mainly to improve the remote dependency package management, fix a lot of details, and this version can already support the upgrade from my upgrade through xmake update, it will be more convenient to upgrade xmake later.
xmake plugin --helpadd_syslinks api to add system libraries dependencexmake l time xmake [--rebuild] to record compilation timexmake f --vs_sdkver=10.0.15063.0 to change windows sdk versionlib.luajit.ffi and lib.luajit.jit extension modules-D and --diagnosis instead of --backtraceadd_packages("xxx", {links = {}})