Help/generator/Ninja.rst

Ninja
-----

Generates a ``build.ninja`` file into the build tree.

Builtin Targets
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

``all``

  Depends on all targets required by the project, except those with
  :prop_tgt:`EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL` set to true.

``install``

  Runs the install step.

``install/strip``

  .. versionadded:: 3.7

    Runs the install followed by a ``CMAKE_STRIP`` command, if any.

    The ``CMAKE_STRIP`` variable will contain the platform's ``strip`` utility, which
    removes symbols information from generated binaries.

``install/parallel``

  .. versionadded:: 3.30

    Created only if the :prop_gbl:`INSTALL_PARALLEL` global property is ``ON``.
    Runs the install step for each subdirectory independently and in parallel.

For each subdirectory ``sub/dir`` of the project, additional targets
are generated:

``sub/dir/all``

  .. versionadded:: 3.6

    Depends on all targets required by the subdirectory.

``sub/dir/install``

  .. versionadded:: 3.7

    Runs the install step in the subdirectory, if any.

``sub/dir/install/strip``

  .. versionadded:: 3.7

    Runs the install step in the subdirectory followed by a ``CMAKE_STRIP`` command,
    if any.

``sub/dir/test``

  .. versionadded:: 3.7

    Runs the test step in the subdirectory, if any.

``sub/dir/package``

  .. versionadded:: 3.7

    Runs the package step in the subdirectory, if any.

Fortran Support
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. versionadded:: 3.7

The ``Ninja`` generator conditionally supports Fortran when the ``ninja``
tool is at least version 1.10 (which has the required features).

Swift Support
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. versionadded:: 3.15

The Swift support is experimental, not considered stable, and may change
in future releases of CMake.

See Also
^^^^^^^^

.. versionadded:: 3.17
  The :generator:`Ninja Multi-Config` generator is similar to the ``Ninja``
  generator, but generates multiple configurations at once.