Can CMake generate a configure file?

Yes, it can:

configure_file(<input> <output>
               [COPYONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES] [@ONLY]
               [NEWLINE_STYLE [UNIX|DOS|WIN32|LF|CRLF] ])

Example.h.in

#ifndef EXAMPLE_H
#define EXAMPLE_H

/*
 * These values are automatically set according to their cmake variables.
 */
#define EXAMPLE "${EXAMPLE}"
#define VERSION "${VERSION}"
#define NUMBER  ${NUMBER}

#endif /* EXAMPLE_H */

In your cmake file:

set(EXAMPLE "This is an example")
set(VERSION "1.0")
set(NUMBER 3)

configure_file(Example.h.in Example.h)

Configured Example.h:

#ifndef EXAMPLE_H
#define EXAMPLE_H

/*
 * These values are automatically set according to their cmake variables.
 */
#define EXAMPLE "This is an example"
#define VERSION "1.0"
#define NUMBER  3

#endif /* EXAMPLE_H */

Documentation:

• CMake 3.0
• CMake 2.8.12