cpp-build-system

A cross-platform C++ project template and lightweight package manager built on CMake, Docker, and Jenkins CI.

Designed to produce single-binary, statically linked executables on Linux using musl-libc, and MinGW64 builds that are as static as possible — all reproducibly built inside Alpine Linux containers.

Supports embedding Flutter UIs directly within native C++ applications.

All builds are orchestrated through project scripts — direct CMake invocation is not supported.

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✨ Features

• Cross-Platform Build Targets

  • 🧱 Linux (musl-libc) — fully static binaries built inside Alpine containers
  • 🪟 Windows (MinGW64) — cross-compiled from Alpine, mostly static except core Win32 runtime
  • 🧩 Windows (MSYS2) — native dynamic builds for testing or fallback
  • 🍎 macOS — native x86-64 and arm64 builds

• Build & Automation

  • 🐳 Alpine-based Docker environments ensure fully reproducible builds
  • 🤖 Unified Jenkins pipelines for Linux, Windows, and macOS targets
  • 🧰 Root-level project generator (create_project.sh / .cmd) for instant scaffolding

• Development & Integration

  • 💠 Optional Flutter embedding for hybrid C++/Flutter UIs
  • 🧼 Integrated with clangd, clang-format, and clang-tidy for modern IDEs and CI
  • 🪟 Inno Setup integration for automated Windows installer generation

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🚀 Getting Started

1️⃣ Clone the Build System

git clone https://git.fifthgrid.com/sgraves/cpp-build-system.git
git clone https://github.com/sgraves76/cpp-build-system.git
cd cpp-build-system

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2️⃣ Create a New Project

Run the root-level create_project.sh with:

1. The project name
2. The parent directory where the new project should live

Example:

./create_project.sh MyApp ~/dev

This creates:

~/dev/MyApp/

The new directory contains:

• A preconfigured cross-platform C++ project structure
• A scripts/ folder for building and packaging

🧩 After creation, you'll work entirely within your new project — cpp-build-system remains the master template.

⚠️ Do not run cmake directly — always use the provided scripts.

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3️⃣ Configure the Project

In your new project directory (~/dev/MyApp/), edit these two files before your first build:

⚠️ Important Notice:
Do not modify the root CMakeLists.txt file in your project.
All changes, targets, and configurations must be made in project.cmake only.
The top-level CMakeLists.txt is managed by cpp-build-system and is required for correct cross-platform builds, packaging, and CI integration.

config.sh

Defines your project’s identity, features, and build behavior:

• Identity & versioning:
  PROJECT_NAME, PROJECT_DESC, PROJECT_URL,
  PROJECT_MAJOR_VERSION, PROJECT_MINOR_VERSION, PROJECT_REVISION_VERSION, PROJECT_RELEASE_VERSION, PROJECT_ITERATION_VERSION
• Apps & testing:
  PROJECT_APP_LIST and PROJECT_ENABLE_TESTING
• Build/link behavior:
  PROJECT_STATIC_LINK (defaults to ON), PROJECT_ENABLE_* flags for dependencies such as Boost, Curl, FUSE, JSON, libsodium, OpenSSL, RocksDB, SQLite, spdlog, etc.
• Platform-specific settings:
  PROJECT_ENABLE_WIN32_LONG_PATH_NAMES, macOS bundle identifiers, app icons, bundle names
• Security, signing, and keys:
  PROJECT_PUBLIC_KEY, PROJECT_PRIVATE_KEY
• Optional Flutter integration:
  PROJECT_FLUTTER_BASE_HREF
• Overrides:
  A local override.sh (if present) is automatically sourced for per-machine customizations and is, by default, ignored in .gitignore

project.cmake

Owns your project’s CMake build graph — defining what gets built and how:

• Targets: Add executables and libraries (static/shared as needed)
• Sources & includes: Declare additional source lists and include paths
• Config & resources: Bundle configuration files and runtime assets

Together, config.sh (identity & features) and project.cmake (targets & wiring) define a complete, reproducible build configuration across all platforms.

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4️⃣ Build the Project

Use the provided build wrappers — they take two arguments:

<arch> <config>

Default <arch> is x86_64 if not specified

Default <configuration> is RelWithDebInfo if not specified

🐧 Unix/Linux/macOS (via Alpine containers)

./scripts/make_unix.sh # x86_64 RelWithDebInfo
./scripts/make_unix.sh x86_64 Release
./scripts/make_unix.sh aarch64 Debug

🪟 Windows (MinGW64 or MSYS2)

# Cross-compile Windows x64 using MinGW64 (preferred)
./scripts/make_win32.sh  x86_64 RelWithDebInfo

# Build on Windows via MSYS2 (dynamic, for testing)
./scripts/make_win32.cmd x86_64 Debug

make_unix.sh automatically builds inside Alpine containers for reproducible static binaries using musl-libc unless PROJECT_STATIC_LINK=OFF.
make_win32.* supports both MinGW64 cross-builds (mostly static) and MSYS2 builds (dynamic fallback).

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🧹 Package Cleanup & Restore

• Automatic cleanup on first compile:
  After you configure config.sh and run your first successful build, the project’s cleanup.sh will run to remove any packages you set to OFF. This reduces dependency bloat to exactly what your project needs.

• Manual cleanup (optional):
  You can also run cleanup manually at any time from your project directory:

  ./scripts/cleanup.sh
  

• Restoring removed packages:
  If you later want to add back packages you previously turned off (and which cleanup.sh removed), run the template’s update script from the cpp-build-system repository root, pointing it at your project path:

  # from the cpp-build-system repo root
  ./update_project.sh ~/dev/MyApp
  

  This will restore all template-managed packages and scripts (including cleanup.sh) into your project so you can re-enable dependencies via config.sh and rebuild.

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🧱 Linking Strategy

Target	Linking Model	Build Environment	Notes
Linux (musl)	Fully static	Alpine	No shared libs — single binary
Linux (MinGW64)	Static as possible	Alpine	Only core Win32 runtime dynamically linked
Windows (MSYS2)	Dynamic	MSYS2	Fallback/test build
macOS	Static as possible	Native	Standard Apple toolchain behavior

💡 Goal: portable, reproducible, single-binary builds across platforms.

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Default project.cmake:

# NOTE: For Windows Inno Setup support, create the following '.iss' file in:
#  "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}/${PROJECT_NAME}.iss.in"

add_project_library(lib${PROJECT_NAME} "" "" "${PROJECT_ADDITIONAL_SOURCES}")

add_project_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} lib${PROJECT_NAME} lib${PROJECT_NAME})
if (PROJECT_IS_DARWIN AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}/Info.plist")
  set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES
    MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}/Info.plist
  )
endif()

add_project_test_executable(${PROJECT_NAME}_test lib${PROJECT_NAME} lib${PROJECT_NAME})

Default config.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

PROJECT_NAME="test"

PROJECT_COMPANY_NAME=""
PROJECT_COPYRIGHT=""
PROJECT_DESC=""
PROJECT_URL=""

PROJECT_MACOS_BUNDLE_ID="com.test.${PROJECT_NAME}"
# IMPORTANT: File must be placed in assets/ folder (assets/icons.icns)
# PROJECT_MACOS_ICNS_NAME="icons.icns"
PROJECT_MACOS_ICNS_NAME=""

PROJECT_MAJOR_VERSION=0
PROJECT_MINOR_VERSION=0
PROJECT_REVISION_VERSION=1
PROJECT_RELEASE_NUM=0
PROJECT_RELEASE_ITER=alpha

PROJECT_APP_LIST=(${PROJECT_NAME})

PROJECT_PRIVATE_KEY=${DEVELOPER_PRIVATE_KEY}
PROJECT_PUBLIC_KEY=${DEVELOPER_PUBLIC_KEY}

PROJECT_STATIC_LINK=ON

PROJECT_MINGW64_COPY_DEPENDENCIES+=()
PROJECT_MSYS2_PACKAGE_LIST+=()

PROJECT_ENABLE_V2_ERRORS=ON
PROJECT_ENABLE_WIN32_LONG_PATH_NAMES=OFF

PROJECT_ENABLE_BACKWARD_CPP=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_BOOST=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_CLI11=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_CPP_HTTPLIB=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_CURL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_CXXOPTS=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_DTL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FLAC=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FMT=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FONTCONFIG=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FREETYPE2=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FUSE=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_FZF=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_GTKMM=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_JSON=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBBITCOIN_SYSTEM=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBDSM=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBEVENT=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBICONV=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBJPEG_TURBO=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBPNG=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBSODIUM=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_LIBTASN=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_NANA=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_NUSPELL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_OGG=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_OPENAL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_OPENSSL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_PUGIXML=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_ROCKSDB=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SAGO_PLATFORM_FOLDERS=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SDL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SECP256K1=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SFML=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SPDLOG=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_SQLITE=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_STDUUID=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_TESTING=ON
PROJECT_ENABLE_TPL=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_VLC=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_VORBIS=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_WINFSP=OFF
PROJECT_ENABLE_WXWIDGETS=OFF

PROJECT_KEEP_BACKWARD_CPP=1

if [ "${PROJECT_ENABLE_TESTING}" == "ON" ]; then
  PROJECT_APP_LIST+=(${PROJECT_NAME}_test)
fi

if [ -f "./override.sh" ]; then
  . ./override.sh
fi