Using CMake with GNU Make: How can I see the exact commands?

Or simply export VERBOSE environment variable on the shell like this: export VERBOSE=1

It is convenient to set the option in the CMakeLists.txt file as:

set(CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE ON)

If you use the CMake GUI then swap to the advanced view and then the option is called CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE.

When you run make, add VERBOSE=1 to see the full command output. For example:

cmake .
make VERBOSE=1

Or you can add -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON to the cmake command for permanent verbose command output from the generated Makefiles.

cmake -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON .
make

To reduce some possibly less-interesting output you might like to use the following options. The option CMAKE_RULE_MESSAGES=OFF removes lines like [ 33%] Building C object..., while --no-print-directory tells make to not print out the current directory filtering out lines like make[1]: Entering directory and make[1]: Leaving directory.

cmake -DCMAKE_RULE_MESSAGES:BOOL=OFF -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON .
make --no-print-directory