Install CMake

Before anything else, install CMake. This lesson is short on purpose. The goal is a working cmake command in your terminal, nothing more.

Note

This tutorial targets CMake 4.4, the current stable release. Anything older than 3.15 will reject or mishandle the code here. When in doubt, install the latest 4.4.x.

Windows

1. Go to cmake.org/download.
2. Download the Windows x86_64 installer (.msi).
3. Run it. Tick “Add CMake to the system PATH” so you can type cmake in any terminal.

Tip

If you use Visual Studio, its “Desktop development with C++” workload includes CMake. But the standalone installer above gives you the newest version, which is what this tutorial needs.

macOS

brew install cmake

Linux

Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install cmake

Fedora
sudo dnf install cmake

Arch
sudo pacman -S cmake

Pitfall

Distribution packages are often years behind. If your distro ships CMake older than 3.15, install the official binaries from cmake.org/download instead.

Check the installation

cmake --version

You should see something like:

cmake version 4.4.2

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).

The first line is what matters, cmake version 4.4.x. If you see that, you are ready.

What else you need

CMake only generates build files. It does not compile, so you also need a compiler:

• Windows. Visual Studio 2022 (Community is free), with the “Desktop development with C++” workload.
• macOS. xcode-select --install installs the command-line tools including clang.
• Linux. sudo apt install build-essential (gcc and make), or sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools".

You will also install the Ninja build tool in lesson 21. It is optional for now, but it makes every build faster.

Why

CMake plus a compiler plus a build tool (make or Ninja) is the complete toolchain. CMake generates, the build tool compiles, the compiler produces the program. You have all three after this lesson.