json2cmakelists

Introduction

json2cmakelists is a tool that generates a CMakeLists.txt from JSON compilation database file compile_commands.json.

A compilation database is a JSON file named compile_commands.json, which consist of an array of “command objects”, where each command object specifies one way a translation unit is compiled in the project.

CMakeLists.txt is the input to the CMake build system. It contains a set of directives and instructions describing the project's source files and targets, which control the build process.

How to use

Basic usage

Goto the directory which containing compile_commands.json file, and run this tool.

cd ${DIR_HAS_compile_commands.json}
json2cmakelists    # in PATH

Alternatively, if json2cmakelists is not in PATH, you can run it simply like this:

cd ${DIR_HAS_compile_commands.json}
python3 /path/to/json2cmakelists    # force using Python3

Done.

Advanced usage

Default, the tool use compile_commands.json as input file, CMakeLists.txt as output file.

You can use options such as -i file and -o file to specify a different input / output file. Use -h or --help to see help info.

json2cmakelists -h    # print help

Of course, with the generated CMakeLists.txt, you can re-generate compile_commands.json again in canonical way using cmake as you like.

Problem reports

This tool script is originally written under Python 3.5 on Linux.

If you find a bug, or would like to propose an improvement, please let me know. Patches are also welcome.