Question

I’m new to cmake and I’m trying to install .hpp files while preserving directory structure.

So far I have

FILE(GLOB files "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/*.hpp"
  "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/MyLib/*.hpp"
  "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/MyLib/detail/*.hpp"

install (FILES ${files}  DESTINATION include)

All the files get found but the directory hierarchy is flattened.

FWIW The bjam command I’m trying to emulate is

install headers 
    : ../include/EnsembleLearning.hpp  
      [ glob ../include/MyLib/*.hpp ]  
      [ glob ../include/MyLib/detail/*.hpp ]  
    : <install-source-root>../include ;

Answer 1

You can use the DIRECTORY variant of the CMake install command. This command will preserve the structure of the copied directory:

install(DIRECTORY include/ DESTINATION include
          FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.hpp")

If the directory to be copied contains subdirectories that should not be installed, you’ll have to explicitly exclude those with a PATTERN EXCLUDE option:

install(DIRECTORY include/ DESTINATION include
          FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*.hpp"
          PATTERN "include/MyOtherLib" EXCLUDE)