# CMake 3.30 Release Notes

Changes made since CMake 3.29 include the following.

## New Features

### Presets

- `cmake-presets(7)` files now support schema version `9`. `include` fields now expand all macros except `$env{}` and preset-specific macros, i.e., those derived from the fields inside a preset's definition.

### File-Based API

- The `cmake-file-api(7)` "cmakeFiles" version 1 object's `version` field has been updated to 1.1. It gained a `globsDependent` field to report `file(GLOB)` calls using `CONFIGURE_DEPENDS`.

### Generators

- Visual Studio Generators now add `UseDebugLibraries` indicators to `.vcxproj` files to denote which configurations are debug configurations. See policy `CMP0162`.

### Languages

- The `Compile Features` functionality now implements support for the `cxx_std_26` and `cuda_std_26` meta-features to indicate that the compiler mode must be at least C++26. These meta-features were first documented by CMake 3.25, but were not fully implemented.

### Commands

- The `add_library()` command, on platforms that do not support shared libraries, now rejects creation of shared libraries instead of automatically converting them to static libraries. See policy `CMP0164`.

- The `enable_language()` command now fails with an error if it is called before the first `project()` call. See policy `CMP0165`.

- The `file(DOWNLOAD)` and `file(UPLOAD)` commands gained a `TLS_VERSION <min>` option to specify the minimum TLS version for connections to `https://` URLs.

### Variables

- The `CMAKE_<LANG>_STANDARD_LATEST` variable was added to describe the latest `<LANG>` language standard CMake supports for the selected compiler.

- The `CMAKE_TLS_VERIFY` environment variable was added as a fallback to the existing `CMAKE_TLS_VERIFY` variable. It specifies whether to verify the server certificate for `https://` URLs by default.

- The `CMAKE_TLS_VERSION` variable and `CMAKE_TLS_VERSION` environment variable were added to specify a default minimum TLS version for connections to `https://` URLs by the `file(DOWNLOAD)` and `file(UPLOAD)` commands.

- The `CMAKE_VS_USE_DEBUG_LIBRARIES` variable and corresponding `VS_USE_DEBUG_LIBRARIES` target property were added to explicitly control `UseDebugLibraries` indicators in `.vcxproj` files.

### Properties

- The `GENERATED` source file property is now visible in all directories. See policy `CMP0163`. Policy `CMP0118`'s documentation has been revised to describe its actual effects.

- The `PROPAGATE_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES_TO_TRY_COMPILE` global property can be used to propagate `CMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES` into `try_compile()` calls that use the whole-project signature. This is primarily intended as a way for dependency providers to be enabled in such `try_compile()` calls.

- A `VS_FILTER_PROPS` target property was added to tell Visual Studio Generators to use a custom MSBuild filter `.props` file.

### Modules

- The `ExternalProject` module's `ExternalProject_Add()` command gained a `TLS_VERSION <min>` option, and support for the `CMAKE_TLS_VERSION` variable and `CMAKE_TLS_VERSION` environment variable, to specify the minimum TLS version for connections to `https://` URLs.

- The `FindBacktrace` module now provides an imported target.

- The `FindBLAS` and `FindLAPACK` modules gained support for `libblastrampoline`.

- The `FindCUDAToolkit` module now provides a target for `libnvfatbin` and `libnvfatbin_static`, if found.

- The `FindCUDAToolkit` module now searches the `CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILER` variable and the `CUDACXX` environment variable even when the `CUDA` language isn't enabled.

- The `FindOpenMP` module gained an `OpenMP_RUNTIME_MSVC` option to control the OpenMP runtime used with MSVC.

- The `FindPython` and `FindPython3` modules gained support for the free threaded Python version.

- The `FindPython`, `FindPython2`, and `FindPython3` modules, on Windows, now offer better support for the Python debug variant:

  - new variables:

    - `Python_EXECUTABLE_DEBUG`

    - `Python_INTERPRETER`

    - `Python_DEBUG_POSTFIX`

  - new targets:

    - `Python::InterpreterDebug`

    - `Python::InterpreterMultiConfig`

  The `python_add_library()` command now manages the `DEBUG_POSTFIX` target property based on the value of the `Python_DEBUG_POSTFIX` variable.

### Generator Expressions

- The `<LANG>_COMPILER_FRONTEND_VARIANT` family of generator expressions were added to access the value of the associated `CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_FRONTEND_VARIANT` variables.

- Link features, as used with the `LINK_LIBRARY` generator expression, gained the ability to have attributes that describe their behavior by specifying the `CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_<FEATURE>_ATTRIBUTES` or `CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_LIBRARY_<FEATURE>_ATTRIBUTES` variables.

- The `QUOTE` generator expression was added to evaluate to `"`.

- The `TARGET_PROPERTY` generator expression learned to evaluate custom transitive properties defined by new `TRANSITIVE_COMPILE_PROPERTIES` and `TRANSITIVE_LINK_PROPERTIES` target properties.

- The `TARGET_PROPERTY` generator expression now evaluates target properties `INTERFACE_LINK_OPTIONS`, `INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES`, and `INTERFACE_LINK_DEPENDS` correctly by following private dependencies of static libraries. See policy `CMP0166`.

### CTest

- The `ctest_submit()` command and `ctest -T Submit` step gained `TLSVersion` and `TLSVerify` options to control negotiation with `https://` URLs. See the `CTEST_TLS_VERSION` and `CTEST_TLS_VERIFY` variables.

### CPack

- The `CPack Inno Setup Generator` is now available on non-Windows hosts.

- The `CPack NuGet Generator` gained the `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_README`, `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_REPOSITORY_URL`, `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_REPOSITORY_TYPE`, `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_REPOSITORY_BRANCH`, and `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_REPOSITORY_COMMIT` variables.

- The `CPack NuGet Generator` can now generate dependency groups for framework-specific dependencies. The `CPACK_NUGET_PACKAGE_TFMS` variable was added to specify a list of target framework monikers (TFMs) for which groups should be generated.

- The `CPack WIX Generator` gained support for WiX Toolset v4. See the `CPACK_WIX_VERSION` variable.

## Deprecated and Removed Features

- The `FindBoost` module has been removed by policy `CMP0167`. Port projects to upstream Boost's `BoostConfig.cmake` package configuration file, for which `find_package(Boost)` now searches.

- Calling `FetchContent_Populate()` with just the name of a dependency is now deprecated. Projects should call `FetchContent_MakeAvailable()` instead. See policy `CMP0169`. Calling `FetchContent_Populate()` with full population details rather than just a dependency name remains fully supported.

- The `Visual Studio 9 2008` generator has been removed.

## Other Changes

- The precompiled Windows `.msi` installers provided on cmake.org, when performing a fresh installation, now modify the system-wide `PATH` by default. When replacing an existing installation of 3.30 or later, the `PATH` modification preference is preserved by default.

- The official `.zip` source archive provided on cmake.org now uses LF newlines, instead of CRLF newlines, for consistency with modern conventions.

- The durations printed after "Configuring done" and "Generating done" messages now reflect time spent in generator-specific steps, and in a code model evaluation step at the beginning of generation that was not previously captured. Printed durations may appear longer than in previous versions of CMake, but are more accurate.

- `FetchContent` now prefers to populate content directly rather than using a separate sub-build. This may significantly improve configure times on some systems (Windows especially, but also on macOS when using the Xcode generator). `cmake --fresh` also forces the download, update, and patch steps of directly populated dependencies to be re-executed. Policy `CMP0168` provides backward compatibility for those projects that still rely on using a sub-build for content population.

- When `FETCHCONTENT_FULLY_DISCONNECTED` is set to true, `FetchContent_MakeAvailable()` and the single-argument form of `FetchContent_Populate()` require that the dependency's source directory has already been populated. CMake 3.29 and earlier did not check this requirement, but it is now enforced, subject to policy `CMP0170`.

## Updates

Changes made since CMake 3.30.0 include the following.

### 3.30.1, 3.30.2

- These versions made no changes to documented features or interfaces. Some implementation updates were made to support ecosystem changes and/or fix regressions.

### 3.30.3

- The `project(<PROJECT-NAME>)` command now sets `<PROJECT-NAME>_SOURCE_DIR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_BINARY_DIR`, and `<PROJECT-NAME>_IS_TOP_LEVEL` as normal variables in addition to setting them as cache entries. This is needed to preserve support for some `FetchContent` use cases under policy `CMP0169`'s NEW behavior.

- The `FindPython` and `FindPython3` modules now define, respectively, the `Python_DEFINITIONS` and `Python3_DEFINITIONS` variables on Windows to support development with the free threaded version of Python. The `INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS` target property is also defined for the various targets provided by these modules.

### 3.30.4

- The `project(<PROJECT-NAME>)` command now sets `<PROJECT-NAME>_SOURCE_DIR`, `<PROJECT-NAME>_BINARY_DIR`, and `<PROJECT-NAME>_IS_TOP_LEVEL` as normal variables only if they are already set as normal variables when `project()` is invoked. Cache entries by the same names are always set as before. This refines 3.30.3's behavior change to restore behavior of nested directories that call `project()` with the same project name.