C++ is an old language, and so is its business model. And if the language needs some updates from time to time, its business model might need them too. But hold on, what is C++'s business model? C++ is the specification of a programming language, so what are you talking about?
im a lazy programmer, I absolutely hate cmake files, they take away from the C experience. Just wondering who else uses AI to write cmake files. (I love cmake, its real easy to use. Just not the cmakelists.txt files)
I’ve been experimenting with C++ modules across different compilers and build systems, and ended up writing a small CMake helper script that makes the whole thing much less painful.
It doesn’t try to reinvent module support — it relies on CMake’s native named-module features and only adds a thin layer of convenience (shorter target definitions, optional header-unit helpers, and clean presets for Clang/GCC/MSVC).
If you’re playing with modules or want a minimal, practical setup without extra tooling, you might find it useful:
👉 https://github.com/basvas-jkj/cpp_modules
It includes example programs, compiler compatibility notes, and a summary of what actually works in practice on Windows/Linux.
If you want to see larger example, you can check my older project, fully rewritten to use C++ modules:
I was using a remote development environment using Clion which ssh onto a raspberry pi 5: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) aarch64 RPIOS Lite from a windows computer
the ssh works, Directory structure:
the problem comes when I use GLOB
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.31.4)
project(custom_stack)
set(HEADER_DIR include)
file(GLOB headers "${HEADER_DIR}/*.h")
file(GLOB sources "src/*.c")
add_library(custom STATIC ${sources} ${headers})
target_compile_options(custom PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_include_directories(custom PUBLIC "${HEADER_DIR}")
add_executable(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} main.c)
target_compile_options(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_link_libraries(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} custom)
Not the best practice, I know! but this works with success
but when I add:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.31.4)
project(custom_stack)
set(HEADER_DIR include)
file(GLOB CONFIGURE_DEPENDS headers "${HEADER_DIR}/*.h")
file(GLOB CONFIGURE_DEPENDS sources "src/*.c")
add_library(custom STATIC ${sources} ${headers})
target_compile_options(custom PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_include_directories(custom PUBLIC "${HEADER_DIR}")
add_executable(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} main.c)
target_compile_options(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE -Wall -Wextra)
target_link_libraries(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} custom)
it fails by not finding any source files? why?
