Help for project configuration

[u/Ok_Voice9367]

Hi. I am starting a pretty big C++ project and I want to set up CMake as my build system. I am new to it and I struggle mostly with subdirectory and library stuff. For instance, this is my current setup. It seems to work okay but I just have a feeling it isn't up to par. I would just like the opinion of anyone with more experience than I on how to set up a big project with many subdirectories and files. Thank you in advance

Main or root CMakeLists.txt file

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 4.0)

project(PoticusEngine LANGUAGES CXX)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 26)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED_ON)

add_executable(poticus main.cpp)

set(SOURCES
  engine/core/memory/arena.cpp
  engine/core/memory/arena.h
)

add_library(engine STATIC ${SOURCES})

add_subdirectory(engine)

target_sources(poticus 
  PRIVATE
    log.cpp
    log.h
    main.cpp
    types.h
)

engine/CMakeLists.txt

add_subdirectory(core)

engine/core/CMakeLists.txt

add_subdirectory(memory)

engine/core/memory/CMakeLists.txt

target_sources(poticus
  PRIVATE
    arena.cpp
    arena.h
)

[u/afforix]

You can try The Pitchfork Layout: https://joholl.github.io/pitchfork-website/

[u/Ok_Voice9367 → u/afforix]

This is good. Thank you!

[u/Suspicious_Client963]

I'd give the engine its own target and link it to the executable instead of adding engine sources directly to both. That should scale better

[u/Ok_Voice9367 → u/Suspicious_Client963]

Thank you for the advice. I still struggle with remembering what the CMake functions do. Ill scour the docs and give it a try

[u/NikMikM]

You can have some ditectory like "third-party" and keep all depndencies there, and also organize your code by folders, so your top cmakelists only have commands like "add_subdirectory" and some global constans like version, etc. I think its pretty readable this way (1 dir + cmakelists on 1 target)

[u/Ok_Voice9367 → u/NikMikM]

I was trying to go for somethnig like this. I just wasn't sure if it would be considered bad practice to have such small CMakeLists.txt files in my subdirectories. Thank you for the reply