Skip to content

Feature request: add "this feature was added in version xxx"

Hi, just want to start with saying that I think the cmake documentation is great!

I think it could be improved, at least for my use case (writing libraries and programs that others use, whose build environment I can't control).

When trying to follow good cmake practices, one sometimes fall into the trap of using something which isn't available in common older cmake versions. This means I can't use it, unless requiring all downstream users to use a fresh cmake. Sometimes that's perfectly fine, sometimes it isn't. To make that decision, it would be great if the documentation could say when the feature I try to use appears. Otherwise, I have to resort to binary search the documentation page which is not that fun.

A recent example I came across: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/add_link_options.html

Ubuntu 18.04 which is very well spread not least on various continuous integration services uses cmake 3.10.2 and add_link_options appeared in 3.13.

If there could be a standard section, like "Appeared in", or "Available since" on the page, that would make it easy to ignore for those who are not interested, and easy to recognize for those who are.

Update with background info, thanks Craig:

Thanks!

Paul


Tracking of Help/ subfolders for which version information added has been completed (work is spread across multiple MRs):

  • command
  • cpack_gen
  • generator
  • module
  • envvar
  • variable
  • prop_*
  • manual

The following subfolders are deemed not applicable and won't be updated:

  • dev
  • guide
  • include
  • policy
  • release
Edited by Craig Scott
To upload designs, you'll need to enable LFS and have an admin enable hashed storage. More information