KDEInstallDirs5 — Extra CMake Modules 6.28.0 documentation

# KDEInstallDirs5

Define KDE standard installation directories for Qt5/KF5 based software.

Note that none of the variables defined by this module provide any information about the location of already-installed KDE software.

Also sets `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` to the installation prefix of ECM, unless that variable has been already explicitly set by something else (since 5.61 and with CMake >= 3.7).

Inclusion of this module defines the following variables:

`KDE_INSTALL_<dir>`

  destination for files of a given type

`KDE_INSTALL_FULL_<dir>`

  corresponding absolute path

where `<dir>` is one of (default values in parentheses and alternative, deprecated variable name in square brackets):

`BUNDLEDIR`

  application bundles (`/Applications/KDE`) [`BUNDLE_INSTALL_DIR`]

`EXECROOTDIR`

  executables and libraries (`<empty>`) [`EXEC_INSTALL_PREFIX`]

`BINDIR`

  user executables (`EXECROOTDIR/bin`) [`BIN_INSTALL_DIR`]

`SBINDIR`

  system admin executables (`EXECROOTDIR/sbin`) [`SBIN_INSTALL_DIR`]

`LIBDIR`

  object code libraries (`EXECROOTDIR/lib`, `EXECROOTDIR/lib64` or `EXECROOTDIR/lib/<multiarch-tuple` on Debian) [`LIB_INSTALL_DIR`]

`LIBEXECDIR`

  executables for internal use by programs and libraries (`BINDIR` on Windows, `LIBDIR/libexec` otherwise) [`LIBEXEC_INSTALL_DIR`]

`CMAKEPACKAGEDIR`

  CMake packages, including config files (`LIBDIR/cmake`) [`CMAKECONFIG_INSTALL_PREFIX`]

`QTPLUGINDIR`

  Qt plugins (`LIBDIR/plugins` or qmake-qt5’s `QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS`) [`QT_PLUGIN_INSTALL_DIR`]

`PLUGINDIR`

  Plugins (`QTPLUGINDIR`) [`PLUGIN_INSTALL_DIR`]

`QTQUICKIMPORTSDIR`

  QtQuick1 imports (`QTPLUGINDIR/imports` or qmake-qt5’s `QT_INSTALL_IMPORTS`) [`IMPORTS_INSTALL_DIR`]

`QMLDIR`

  QtQuick2 imports (`LIBDIR/qml` or qmake-qt5’s `QT_INSTALL_QML`) [`QML_INSTALL_DIR`]

`INCLUDEDIR`

  C and C++ header files (`include`) [`INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR`]

`LOCALSTATEDIR`

  modifiable single-machine data (`var`)

`SHAREDSTATEDIR`

  modifiable architecture-independent data (`com`)

`DATAROOTDIR`

  read-only architecture-independent data root (`BINDIR/data` on Windows, `share` otherwise) [`SHARE_INSTALL_PREFIX`]

`DATADIR`

  read-only architecture-independent data (`DATAROOTDIR`) [`DATA_INSTALL_DIR`]

`DOCBUNDLEDIR`

  documentation bundles generated using kdoctools (`DATAROOTDIR/doc/HTML`) [`HTML_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KCFGDIR`

  kconfig description files (`DATAROOTDIR/config.kcfg`) [`KCFG_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KCONFUPDATEDIR`

  kconf_update scripts (`DATAROOTDIR/kconf_update`) [`KCONF_UPDATE_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KSERVICES5DIR` or (since 5.89) `KSERVICESDIR`

  services for KDE Frameworks 5 (`DATAROOTDIR/kservices5`) [`SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KSERVICETYPES5DIR` or (since 5.89) `KSERVICETYPESDIR`

  service types for KDE Frameworks 5 (`DATAROOTDIR/kservicetypes5`) [`SERVICETYPES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KXMLGUI5DIR` or (since 5.89) `KXMLGUIDIR`

  kxmlgui .rc files (`DATAROOTDIR/kxmlgui5`) [`KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR`]

`KAPPTEMPLATESDIR`

  KAppTemplate and KDevelop templates (`DATAROOTDIR/kdevappwizard/templates`) [`KDE_INSTALL_KTEMPLATESDIR`] Since 5.77.

`KFILETEMPLATESDIR`

  KDevelop file templates (`DATAROOTDIR/kdevfiletemplates/templates`) Since 5.77.

`KNOTIFY5RCDIR` or (since 5.89) `KNOTIFYRCDIR`

  knotify description files (`DATAROOTDIR/knotifications5`) [`KNOTIFYRC_INSTALL_DIR`]

`ICONDIR`

  icons (`DATAROOTDIR/icons`) [`ICON_INSTALL_DIR`]

`LOCALEDIR`

  locale-dependent data (`DATAROOTDIR/locale`) [`LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR`]

`SOUNDDIR`

  sound files (`DATAROOTDIR/sounds`) [`SOUND_INSTALL_DIR`]

`TEMPLATEDIR`

  templates (`DATAROOTDIR/templates`) [`TEMPLATES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`WALLPAPERDIR`

  desktop wallpaper images (`DATAROOTDIR/wallpapers`) [`WALLPAPER_INSTALL_DIR`]

`APPDIR`

  application desktop files (`DATAROOTDIR/applications`) Since 1.1.0. [`XDG_APPS_INSTALL_DIR`]

`DESKTOPDIR`

  desktop directories (`DATAROOTDIR/desktop-directories`) [`XDG_DIRECTORY_INSTALL_DIR`]

`MIMEDIR`

  mime description files (`DATAROOTDIR/mime/packages`) [`XDG_MIME_INSTALL_DIR`]

`METAINFODIR`

  AppStream component metadata files (`DATAROOTDIR/metainfo`)

`QTQCHDIR`

  documentation bundles in QCH format for Qt-extending libraries (`DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch` or qmake-qt5’s `QT_INSTALL_DOCS`) Since 5.36.0.

`QCHDIR`

  documentation bundles in QCH format (`DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch`) Since 5.36.0.

`MANDIR`

  man documentation (`DATAROOTDIR/man`) [`MAN_INSTALL_DIR`]

`INFODIR`

  info documentation (`DATAROOTDIR/info`)

`DBUSDIR`

  D-Bus (`DATAROOTDIR/dbus-1`)

`DBUSINTERFACEDIR`

  D-Bus interfaces (`DBUSDIR/interfaces`) [`DBUS_INTERFACES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`DBUSSERVICEDIR`

  D-Bus session services (`DBUSDIR/services`) [`DBUS_SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`DBUSSYSTEMSERVICEDIR`

  D-Bus system services (`DBUSDIR/system-services`) [`DBUS_SYSTEM_SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR`]

`SYSCONFDIR`

  read-only single-machine data (`etc`, or `/etc` if `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` is `/usr`) [`SYSCONF_INSTALL_DIR`]

`CONFDIR`

  application configuration files (`SYSCONFDIR/xdg`) [`CONFIG_INSTALL_DIR`]

`AUTOSTARTDIR`

  autostart files (`CONFDIR/autostart`) [`AUTOSTART_INSTALL_DIR`]

`LOGGINGCATEGORIESDIR`

  Qt logging categories files directory (`DATAROOTDIR/qlogging-categories5`) Since 5.59.0

`JARDIR`

  Java AAR/JAR files for Android. Since 5.62.0

`SYSTEMDUNITDIR`

  Systemd Units (`lib/systemd`) [`SYSTEMD_UNIT_INSTALL_DIR`]. Since 5.65

`SYSTEMDUSERUNITDIR`

  Systemd User Units (`lib/systemd/user`) [`SYSTEMD_USER_UNIT_INSTALL_DIR`]. Since 5.65

`ZSHAUTOCOMPLETEDIR`

  Zsh functions and autocompletion definitions (`zsh/site-functions`) Since 5.101

If `KDE_INSTALL_USE_QT_SYS_PATHS` is set to `TRUE` before including this module, the default values for some variables are instead queried from Qt5’s qmake (where mentioned in the parentheses above). If not set, it will default to `TRUE` if Qt5’s qmake is found and it’s `QT_INSTALL_PREFIX` is the same as `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`, otherwise default to `FALSE`. This variable should NOT be set from within CMakeLists.txt files, instead is intended to be set manually when configuring a project which uses KDEInstallDirs (e.g. by packagers).

If `KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_DEPRECATED` is set to `TRUE` before including this module, the deprecated variables (listed in the square brackets above) are not defined.

In addition, for each `KDE_INSTALL_*` variable, an equivalent `CMAKE_INSTALL_*` variable is defined. If `KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_DEPRECATED` is set to `TRUE`, only those variables defined by the `GNUInstallDirs` module (shipped with CMake) are defined. If `KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_CMAKE_VARIABLES` is set to `TRUE`, no variables with a `CMAKE_` prefix will be defined by this module (other than `CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME` - see below).

The `KDE_INSTALL_<dir>` variables (or their `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` or deprecated counterparts) may be passed to the `DESTINATION` options of `install()` commands for the corresponding file type. They are set in the CMake cache, and so the defaults above can be overridden by users.

Note that if the `KDE_INSTALL_<dir>`, `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` or deprecated form of the variable are set before `include(KDEInstallDirs)`, they won’t be overwritten by `KDEInstallDirs`. This is useful if you eg. want to use CMake command line variable definitions to set custom values. There are however some other implications you need to be aware of: `GNUInstallDirs` defines `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` variables, before hence `KDEInstallDirs` will not overwrite them if it is included later. In most cases this is unintended and if you need to include `GNUInstallDirs` you should always do that after after you included `KDEInstallDirs`.

If you set custom values to `KDE_INSTALL_<dir>` or `CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir>` as described above always both forms of the variable will be affected. The effect of passing multiple forms of the same variable eg. on the command line (such as `KDE_INSTALL_BINDIR` and `CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR`) is undefined and should be avoided.

The variable `KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS` is also defined (along with the deprecated form `INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS`). This should be used when libraries or user-executable applications are installed, in the following manner:

    install(TARGETS mylib myapp ${KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})

It MUST NOT be used for installing plugins, system admin executables or executables only intended for use internally by other code. Those should use `KDE_INSTALL_PLUGINDIR`, `KDE_INSTALL_SBINDIR` or `KDE_INSTALL_LIBEXECDIR` respectively.

Additionally, `CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME` will be set to `${PROJECT_NAME}` to provide a sensible default for this CMake option.

Note that mixing absolute and relative paths, particularly for `BINDIR`, `LIBDIR` and `INCLUDEDIR`, can cause issues with exported targets. Given that the default values for these are relative paths, relative paths should be used on the command line when possible (eg: use `-DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib64` instead of `-DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=/usr/lib/lib64` to override the library directory).

Since 5.82.0, prior to that available as `KDEInstallDirs`.

NB: The variables starting `KDE_INSTALL_` are available since 1.6.0, unless otherwise noted with the variable.

The `KDE_INSTALL_PREFIX_SCRIPT` option will install a ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/prefix.sh file that allows to easily incorporate the necessary environment variables for the prefix into a process.