CMake - change current directory ( for example: project/build ) from CMakeLists.txt?

Question

I'm building project with CMake. While configuration and building I'm in directory project/build . How can I change the directory in CMake and execute a bash script from another directory.

execute_process( COMMAND cd ../ ) - doesn't work. When I execute this CMake doesn't change its directory and I'm again in project/build.

Answer 1

The WORKING_DIRECTORY directive of the execute_process command lets you directly specify the directory the script is to be run from.

execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/script.sh args
                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})

Answer 2

With ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} you get the source path. Executing a binary from the source directory would be

execute_process(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/bin/myscript.sh)

If you need to handle files from the build directory you have to add them like

execute_process(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/bin/myscript.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/input.txt)

Overall the variables CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR, CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR, CMAKE_BINARY_DIR, and CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR are very helpful. You can find a more complete list at http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_Useful_Variables