[question] generator for modern cmake

Conan supports many cmake generators:

• cmake
• cmake_multi
• cmake_paths
• cmake_find_package
• cmake_find_package_multi
• CMakeDeps

Currently we use cmake and cmake_multi but they have a huge limitation (no components support). So I’m thinking to switch to cmake_find_package and cmake_find_package_multi but it seems that components support is also experimental. And then there is CMakeDeps which looks like a reimplementation of cmake_find_package

My understanding is that these different generators were created to simplify conan integration with existing cmake projects! But What is the most recommended generator to use if we do conan oriented modern cmake ?

[memsharded]

I think we need some utility functions like get_generator or is_multi_configuration somewhere in conan.tools.cmake.*, because this logic will go out of sync with CMakeToolchain very soon if implemented in the every recipe. I mean all the new features like new msvc compiler id or Ninja Multiconfig generator will break it some day.

Yes, the idea is to mature first the main helpers like CMakeToolchain, etc., and as we internally factorize the utility functions, we will make them available, but better wait until things stabilize a bit more before publishing them.

[memsharded]

Hi @sully7

Yes, it is necessary to add find_package() calls in the CMakeLists.txt. This is exactly what that majority of users were pushing to have, a “transparent” CMake integration via find_package(). Do you mean that you would like a conandeps.cmake file that adds all the find_package() calls, so you can just included that file? In the worst case, this is something easily achievable with something like:

def generate(self):
     finds = ["find_package({} CONFIG REQUIRED)".format(d.ref.name) for d in self.dependencies.direct_host.values()]
     save(self, "conandeps.cmake", "\n".join(finds)