docs/source/cpp/cmake.rst

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.. to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
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..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

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.. default-domain:: cpp
.. highlight:: cpp

Using Arrow C++ in your own project
===================================

This section assumes you already have the Arrow C++ libraries on your
system, either after installing them using a package manager or after
:ref:`building them yourself <building-arrow-cpp>`.

The recommended way to integrate the Arrow C++ libraries in your own C++
project is to use CMake's
`find_package <https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/find_package.html>`_
function for locating and integrating dependencies.

Basic usage
-----------

This minimal ``CMakeLists.txt`` file compiles a ``my_example.cc`` source
file into an executable linked with the Arrow C++ shared library:

.. code-block:: cmake

   project(MyExample)

   find_package(Arrow REQUIRED)

   add_executable(my_example my_example.cc)
   target_link_libraries(my_example PRIVATE arrow_shared)

Available variables and targets
-------------------------------

The directive ``find_package(Arrow REQUIRED)`` asks CMake to find an Arrow
C++ installation on your system.  When it returns, it will have set a few
CMake variables:

* ``${Arrow_FOUND}`` is true if the Arrow C++ libraries have been found
* ``${ARROW_VERSION}`` contains the Arrow version string
* ``${ARROW_FULL_SO_VERSION}`` contains the Arrow DLL version string

In addition, it will have created some targets that you can link against
(note these are plain strings, not variables):

* ``arrow_shared`` links to the Arrow shared libraries
* ``arrow_static`` links to the Arrow static libraries

In most cases, it is recommended to use the Arrow shared libraries.

.. note::
   CMake is case-sensitive.  The names and variables listed above have to be
   spelt exactly that way!

.. seealso::
   A Docker-based :doc:`minimal build example <examples/cmake_minimal_build>`.