Help/policy/CMP0181.rst

CMP0181
-------

.. versionadded:: 4.0

The :variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
and :variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>` variables are parsed and
re-quoted and support the ``LINKER:`` prefix.

CMake 3.31 and below use the content of these variables as is.

CMake 4.0 and above parse the content of these variables and manage the
escaping of special characters. Moreover, the ``LINKER:`` prefix is now
recognized and expanded.

The ``OLD`` behavior of this policy is to consume the content of the
:variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
and :variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>` variables as is.

The ``NEW`` behavior of this policy is to parse and re-quote the content of the
:variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS`,
:variable:`CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>`,
:variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS`,
and :variable:`CMAKE_MODULE_LINKER_FLAGS_<CONFIG>` variables as well as to
expand the ``LINKER:`` prefix.

.. |INTRODUCED_IN_CMAKE_VERSION| replace:: 4.0
.. |WARNS_OR_DOES_NOT_WARN| replace:: does *not* warn
.. include:: include/STANDARD_ADVICE.rst

.. versionchanged:: 4.5
  The policy is now set in :command:`try_compile` test projects early enough
  to be queried by :variable:`toolchain files <CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE>`.

.. include:: include/DEPRECATED.rst