Template C++ CMake

CMake CMakePresets Ninja EditorConfig VS Code PCH app

Feel free to pick any part or snippet you find interesting.

Examples

• .editocronfig - "must have", rules: file encoding, end of lines, trailing spaces, final newline, ..
• .gitignore - "must have"
• CMake
  • CMakeLists.txt - single-file build-gen description for the project <-- the most interesting part
  • CMakePresets.json - define configurations for MSVC GCC Clang (debug), used by CMake implicitly and CMakeLists.txt explicitly via cacheVariables to configure the build
• project structure
  • src/
    • config.hpp - (optional) precompiled header with project-wide c++ defines
    • main.cpp
  • possible folders/files: include/, src/<int|internal>/ dep/, doc/, res/, misc/, misc/<cmake|script|other>, (UN)LICNESE, changelog.md
  • possible tools: Tests, CI/CD, Git Hooks, Git Submodules, Linters, Package Managers
• VS Code - IDE
  • .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json - config vscode-cpptools: language server, ..
  • .vscode/extensions.json - list of extensions used in the project
  • .vscode/settings.json - folder settings, works when opened as folder (not as workspace)
  • ./*.code-workspace - user settings, overtakes .vscode/settings.json
    • "files.readonlyInclude":{ - prevent accidental editing
    • "files.associations:{" - prevent constant growth from opening C++ extension-less STL header files
    • "cmake.parallelJobs": 4 - 0 defaults to wrong 6 on 4-threaded CPU and slows configuration (in my case)
    • "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": false - stop racing with EditorConfig extension

Branches (diff)

• std/c++_gnu++; (?)

Campare anything here: https://github.com/Challanger524/template-cpp/compare

Other C++ examples

Remark: I did not find any sane and useful C++ starting templates - they simply don't exist. For comparison, just take a look on what Golang community pulled out:

• Organizing a Go module - official layout guide, o-ff-i-c-i-a-l !!1
• https://github.com/golang-standards/project-layout - big detailed repo and layout showcase
• https://github.com/evrone/go-clean-template - same + readme contains pretty images, oh wow

Projects and libraries

Since there no useful templates outside - real projects are the only source of examples.

• https://github.com/nlohmann/json - Lib json c++ readme.md(very decent)
• ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp_questions/comments/n73n32/presenting_a_c_project_on_github_elegantly/

Templates examples and demos

• https://github.com/TheCherno/ProjectTemplate - Premake "Core/App" architecture
• https://github.com/edumentab/cpp-project-example - CMake JetBrains GTest
• https://github.com/fnl/cpp-project-template - CMake(nested) gitmodules Catch2 cxxopts
• https://github.com/erayaydin/cpp-structure - GNU Make project layout
• https://github.com/karvozavr/multi-module-cpp-project-example - CMake multi-project Catch2
• https://github.com/jblort/cpp-project-template - CMake Conan lib+app Catch2
• https://github.com/ssciwr/cpp-project-template - CMake CI/CD Doxygen Catch2
• https://github.com/Jamagas/CMake - CMake GTest

Avoid this:

• https://github.com/pvanhoof/dir-examples - the most ugly project layout example on the net - Meson qmake GNU Make CMake (4 levels of nestiness)