cmake "make run"

Question

I'm a little unsure of terminology in this problem domain, which is an issue when I try to search for things.

I'm using CMake for my build process. I'd like to make a Makefile target such that I can use make run to run a given process (specifically, the one I've just built with make). I realize I could just make a shell script, or just run the command by typing it out. If I was writing a Makefile myself, I'd do this like so:

run:
    ./path/to/binary

I don't ever write a Makefile myself, though - that's generated by cmake - and I'm not sure what to put in my CMakeLists.txt to get it to generate the desired make run target.

I've found the cmake command 'execute_process', but that doesn't seem to be what I'm after - I don't want to actually run anything during the build process.

Extra: In addition, I'd love to be able to do something like the following:

CMAKE_COMMAND_ADD_MAKEFILE_TARGET ( ${CMAKE_PROJECT_DIR}/binary )

That is, add the path/to/binary using a cmake variable, if that's possible.

Answer 1

You are looking for add_custom_target. For instance:

add_custom_target(run
    COMMAND binary
    DEPENDS binary
    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_PROJECT_DIR}
)