CMake 3.28 Release Notes — CMake 4.2.6 Documentation

# CMake 3.28 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 3.27 include the following.

## New Features

### Languages

- C++ 20 named modules are now supported by Ninja Generators and Visual Studio Generators for VS 2022 and newer, in combination with the MSVC 14.34 toolset (provided with VS 17.4) and newer, LLVM/Clang 16.0 and newer, and GCC 14 (after the 2023-09-20 daily bump) and newer. See `cmake-cxxmodules(7)` for details.

- `HIP` language code may now be compiled for NVIDIA GPUs using the NVIDIA CUDA Compiler (NVCC). See the `CMAKE_HIP_PLATFORM` variable.

### Platforms

- On Apple platforms, `.xcframework` folders are now supported:

  - The `find_library()` command now finds `.xcframework` folders.

  - The `target_link_libraries()` command now supports linking against a `.xcframework` folder.

  - The `IMPORTED_LOCATION` target property of an imported library target may now be the path to a `.xcframework` folder.

- Apple visionOS and its `xros` and `xrsimulator` SDKs are now supported. Compiling for Apple visionOS can be requested by setting `CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME` to `visionOS`. See Cross Compiling for iOS, tvOS, visionOS, or watchOS for more information.

### Presets

- `cmake-presets(7)` files now support schema version `8`. It adds support for a `$schema` field.

### Compilers

- Cray Clang-based compilers are now supported with `compiler id` `CrayClang`.

- The OrangeC compiler is now supported with `compiler id` `OrangeC`.

### Commands

- The `add_custom_command()` and `add_custom_target()` commands gained a `JOB_SERVER_AWARE` option.

- The `cmake_host_system_information()` command gained a `MSYSTEM_PREFIX` query for the installation prefix of a MSYS or MinGW development environment on Windows hosts.

- The `set_property()` command `TEST` mode gained a `DIRECTORY` option to set properties on tests in other directories.

- The `set_tests_properties()` command gained a `DIRECTORY` option to set properties on tests in other directories.

- The `get_property()` command `TEST` mode gained a `DIRECTORY` option to get properties on tests in other directories.

- The `get_test_property()` command gained a `DIRECTORY` option to get properties on tests in other directories.

### Variables

- The `CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR` environment variable was added to initialize the `CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR` cache variable.

- The `CMAKE_HIP_PLATFORM` variable was added to specify the GPU platform for which HIP language sources are to be compiled (`amd` or `nvidia`).

### Properties

- On imported shared libraries, the `IMPORTED_IMPLIB` target property may now be used without `IMPORTED_LOCATION`. This can be used to represent a stub library whose location should not be added as a runtime search path to dependents that link it.

- The `IMPORTED_LOCATION` property of a macOS framework may now be a path to the `.framework` folder itself.

- The `XCODE_EMBED_RESOURCES` target property was added to tell the `Xcode` generator what targets to put in the `Embed Resources` build phase.

### Modules

- The `ExternalProject` module now includes the `BUILD_JOB_SERVER_AWARE` option for the `ExternalProject_Add()` command. This option enables the integration of the GNU Make job server when using an explicit `BUILD_COMMAND` with certain Makefile Generators. Additionally, the `ExternalProject_Add_Step()` command has been updated to support the new `JOB_SERVER_AWARE` option.

- The `FetchContent` module's `FetchContent_Declare()` command gained an `EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL` option, which propagates through to the `add_subdirectory()` call made by `FetchContent_MakeAvailable()` for the dependency.

- The `FindCURL` module gained a `CURL_USE_STATIC_LIBS` hint to select static libraries.

- The `FindEXPAT` module gained an `EXPAT_USE_STATIC_LIBS` hint to select static libraries.

- The `FindPkgConfig` module `pkg_get_variable()` command gained a `DEFINE_VARIABLES` option to pass variables to `pkg-config`.

### Generator Expressions

- The `generator expressions` `$<IF:...>`, `$<AND:...>`, and `$<OR:...>` short-circuit to avoid unnecessary evaluation of parameters.

### CTest

- CTest may now take a dynamically-generated resource spec file, which can be specified by the `GENERATED_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE` test property.

## Deprecated and Removed Features

- The `exec_program()` command, which has been deprecated since CMake 3.0, has been removed by policy `CMP0153`. Use the `execute_process()` command instead.

- The `Visual Studio 11 2012` generator has been removed.

- The `Visual Studio 12 2013` generator is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of CMake.

- The `IOS_INSTALL_COMBINED` target property and corresponding `CMAKE_IOS_INSTALL_COMBINED` variable have been deprecated. Their functionality does not make sense on Apple Silicon hosts.

- The `Xcode` generator will now issue a fatal error if the Legacy Build System has been selected for Xcode 14 and newer. Those Xcode versions dropped support for the Legacy Build System and expect the project to be set-up for their current Build System.

## Other Changes

- Generated files, in targets using File Sets, are now considered private by default. Generated public headers must be specified using file sets. This allows Ninja Generators to produce more efficient build graphs. See policy `CMP0154`.

- The `find_library()`, `find_path()`, and `find_file()` commands no longer search in installation prefixes derived from the `PATH` environment variable. This behavior was added in CMake 3.3 to support MSYS and MinGW (`MSYSTEM`) development environments on Windows, but it can search undesired prefixes that happen to be in the `PATH` for unrelated reasons. Users who keep some `<prefix>/bin` directories in the `PATH` just for their tools do not necessarily want any corresponding `<prefix>/lib` or `<prefix>/include` directories searched. The behavior was reverted for non-Windows platforms by CMake 3.6. Now it has been reverted on Windows platforms too.

  One may set the `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH` environment variable with a semicolon-separated list of prefixes that are to be searched.

- When using MinGW tools in a `MSYSTEM` environment on Windows, the `$MSYSTEM_PREFIX/local` and `$MSYSTEM_PREFIX` prefixes are now added to `CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH`.

- The precompiled Linux `x86_64` binaries provided on cmake.org now require GLIBC 2.17 or higher.

## Updates

Changes made since CMake 3.28.0 include the following.

### 3.28.1, 3.28.2, 3.28.3

- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.

### 3.28.4

- Apple visionOS support has been updated for the official Xcode 15.2 release of the `xros` and `xrsimulator` SDKs.

### 3.28.5

- This version made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to C++ modules support.

### 3.28.6

- This version made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.