How to copy contents of a directory into build directory after make with CMake?

CMake supports a shell type file copy. This link should be helpful for you - How to copy directory from source tree to binary tree?

Use symbolic links

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CMake enables symbolic links via create_symlink:

add_custom_command(TARGET ${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRE_BUILD
                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink
                   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/config $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${PROJECT_NAME}>/config)

It ensures that when you make a change to the files in the directory, build folder would subsequently be updated.

In addition to the top answer,

To copy the directory itself instead of the contents, you can add /${FOLDER_NAME} to the end of the second parameter.

Like this:

add_custom_command(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME} POST_BUILD
                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
                       ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/config $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${PROJECT_NAME}>/config)

You can use add_custom_command.

Say your target is called MyTarget, then you can do this:

add_custom_command(TARGET MyTarget PRE_BUILD
                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
                       ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/config/ $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:MyTarget>)

This executes every time you build MyTarget and copies the contents of "/config" into the directory where the target exe/lib will end up.

As Mark Lakata points out in a comment below, replacing PRE_BUILD with POST_BUILD in the add_custom_command ensures that copying will only happen if the build succeeds.

Explanation

• ${CMAKE_COMMAND} is the path to CMake
• -E makes CMake run commands instead of building
• copy_directory is a Command-Line Tool
• config is the directory (that falls under the root of the project) who's contents will be copied into the build target
• $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:MyTarget> is a generator expression, described in the add_custom_command documentation.