CMake: how to change compiler for individual target

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NOTE Some have reported that this doesn’t work for them. It definitely used to work for the project I was working on at the time, which was using CMake’s Makefile generator on Ubuntu. It’s possible this technique (hack?) only works with CMake’s Makefile generator, so if you’re using Ninja or another generator, that might be why it’s not working.

I just had the same issue right now, but the other answer didn’t help me. I’m also cross-compiling, and I need some utility programs to be compiled with GCC, but my core code to be compiled with avr-gcc.

Basically, if you have a CMakeLists.txt, and you want all targets in this file to be compiled with another compiler, you can just set the variables by hand.

Define these macros somewhere:

macro(use_host_compiler)
  if (${CURRENT_COMPILER} STREQUAL "NATIVE")
    # Save current native flags
    set(NATIVE_C_FLAGS ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} CACHE STRING "GCC flags for the native compiler." FORCE)

    # Change compiler
    set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME ${CMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_NAME})
    set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR ${CMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR})
    set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER ${HOST_C_COMPILER})
    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS ${HOST_C_FLAGS})
    set(CURRENT_COMPILER "HOST" CACHE STRING "Which compiler we are using." FORCE)
  endif()
endmacro()


macro(use_native_compiler)
  if (CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING AND ${CURRENT_COMPILER} STREQUAL "HOST")
    # Save current host flags
    set(HOST_C_FLAGS ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} CACHE STRING "GCC flags for the host compiler." FORCE)

    # Change compiler
    set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME ${NATIVE_SYSTEM_NAME})
    set(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR ${NATIVE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR})
    set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER ${NATIVE_C_COMPILER})
    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS ${NATIVE_C_FLAGS})
    set(CURRENT_COMPILER "NATIVE" CACHE STRING "Which compiler we are using." FORCE)
  endif()
endmacro()

At the very beginning of your CMakeLists.txt script (or in a toolchain file), set the following variables according to what you need:

  • CURRENT_COMPILER
  • HOST_C_COMPILER
  • HOST_C_FLAGS
  • NATIVE_SYSTEM_NAME
  • NATIVE_C_COMPILER
  • NATIVE_C_FLAGS

The idea is that CMAKE_C_COMPILER (and company) is a variable like any other, so setting it inside a certain scope will only leave it changed within that scope.

Example usage:

use_host_compiler()
add_executable(foo foo.c) # Compiled with your host (computer)'s compiler.
use_native_compiler()
add_executable(bar bar.c) # Compiled with your native compiler (e.g. `avr-gcc`).

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