Create a project

Introduction

Xmake provides some common commands to allow users to easily and quickly create projects, as well as configure, compile, and run them.

All commands can be viewed through xmake -h. The command format is as follows:

xmake [action] [arguments] ...

Here, action is the subcommand provided by the xmake CLI, and for creating a project, it is xmake create.

Create a C++ empty project

First, we can try to create a c++ console empty project named hello.

$ xmake create hello
create hello ...
[+]: xmake.lua
[+]: src/main.cpp
[+]: .gitignore
create ok!

After execution, a simple project structure will be generated:

hello
├── src
│   └─main.cpp
└── xmake.lua

This is the simplest project. It will generate a basic xmake.lua project configuration file, which is usually located in the project root directory and Xmake will automatically load it.

xmake.lua

add_rules("mode.debug", "mode.release")

target("hello")
set_kind("binary")
add_files("src/*.cpp")

-- FAQ
-- ...

In addition, some comments are provided at the end of the file, which offer common configuration examples for quick reference.

Then, we only need to enter the root directory of the hello project just created and execute the xmake command to complete the compilation.

$ xmake
[ 23%]: cache compiling.release src/main.cpp
[ 47%]: linking.release hello
[100%]: build ok, spent 2.696s

Specify language

We can use the -l [language] parameter to specify the creation of projects in other languages, such as creating a C language project.

$ xmake create -l c hello
create hello ...
[+]: xmake.lua
[+]: src/main.c
[+]: .gitignore
create ok!

Or create an empty Rust project.

$ xmake create -l rust hello
create hello ...
[+]: xmake.lua
[+]: src/main.rs
[+]: .gitignore
create ok!

The complete list of supported languages can be viewed through xmake create -h.

-l LANGUAGE, --language=LANGUAGE The project language (default: c++)
- pascal
- c++
- zig
- go
- nim
- dlang
- cuda
- rust
- kotlin
- vala
- swift
- fortran
- objc
- c
- objc++

Specify the project template

In addition, we can also use the -t [template] parameter to specify the type of project template to be created.

For example, to create a static library project:

$ xmake create -t ​​static test
create test ...
[+]: xmake.lua
[+]: src/foo.cpp
[+]: src/foo.h
[+]: src/main.cpp
[+]: .gitignore
create ok!

$ xmake
[ 23%]: cache compiling.release src/main.cpp
[ 23%]: cache compiling.release src/foo.cpp
[ 35%]: linking.release libfoo.a
[ 71%]: linking.release test
[100%]: build ok, spent 1.795s

The complete template list can also be viewed through xmake create -h.

-t TEMPLATE, --template=TEMPLATE Select the project template id or name of the given language. 
(default: console) 
- console: pascal, c++, zig, go, nim, dlang, cuda, rust, 
kotlin, vala, swift, fortran, objc, c, objc++ 
- module.binary: c++, c 
- module.shared: c++, c 
- qt.console: c++ 
- qt.quickapp: c++ 
- qt.quickapp_static: c++ 
- qt.shared: c++ 
- qt.static: c++ 
- qt.widgetapp: c++ 
- qt.widgetapp_static: c++ 
- shared: pascal, c++, zig, nim, dlang, cuda, kotlin, vala, 
fortran, c 
- static: c++, zig, go, nim, dlang, cuda, rust, kotlin, vala,
fortran, c
- tbox.console: c++, c
- tbox.shared: c++, c
- tbox.static: c++, c
- wxwidgets: c++
- xcode.bundle: objc, objc++
- xcode.framework: objc, objc++
- xcode.iosapp: objc
- xcode.iosapp_with_framework: objc
- xcode.macapp: objc
- xcode.macapp_with_framework: objc
- xmake.cli: c++, c

Among them, the most commonly used are templates for creating console programs (console), static libraries (static), and dynamic libraries (shared).